I'm so glad to be here to welcome you to the Clark Howard Show where our

mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make

better financial decisions at your life. In this episode I've got something I'm

really excited about a new way to protect yourself from title fraud.

Also, we've talked a lot about the rising cost of homeowners insurance.

But I've neglected to warn you about a problem

that has become so ever present with the run-up

in home prices and construction prices. you and I being underinsured when the chips are

down when we do have a problem and I'm going to talk about that

someone attempting to sell Graceland. The sale of it was all fake.

It was absolutely unreal how this whole

plot had been contrived and it led to so many people being freaked out that somebody could just as

easily steal their own home. So what you need to know is that there have been these bizarre crimes where someone has come in and stolen someone's home right out from under them one of two ways through doing a lot of

fraudulent paperwork where they pretend to be you on a home that has no mortgage

and they sell it out from under you, very, very rare, little more common with a home

that is own free or clear or has very little debt against the equity in it. Someone impersonates you and takes out a home

equity line of credit pretending to be you and then passes checks against that home equity line is if they're you

creating all this debt against the home.

Now, first of all, again, I want to state the good news,

this crime is very very rare but it can happen and that's

why there are a lot of ads out there pitching you having like a title alert service. I want to tell you a few things.

One, it's likely not necessary for you to pay for one of these alert services.

...