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Recent 2023 2022

Non-Title Recorded Agreements for Personal Services (NTRAPS) were first identified in Florida in 2017. The majority of the 25,000 cases in 32 states currently on record happened in 2022, according to the title agents and consumer protection advocates investigating this elusive scam. “The scope is large, although I always say, just one is unacceptable when you’re talking about an unfair agreement that can have such a devastating impact on a consumer,” said Elizabeth Blosser, vice president of government affairs at the American Land Title Association (ALTA), which joined forces with AARP last year to draft legislation addressing NTRAPS.

Indiana became the sixth state to file a complaint against MV Realty, alleging the company misled consumers over the terms of the brokerage's “Homeowner Benefit Program.”

The American Land Title Association (ALTA) and AARP came together Wednesday with a warning about what they called predatory agreements aimed at homeowners. The agreements are known as Non-Title Recorded Agreements for Personal Service (NTRAPS) and came into the groups’ radar last year when they were flagged by a number of title agents.

It works like this: Someone thinking about selling their home heads to the internet to look for some info. They see an advertisement offering a free market analysis — actually, it’s better than free, because this company is offering to pay the homeowner now, a show of how seriously they want to build a relationship with you.

Several U.S. senators recently sent a letter demanding answers from MV Realty about its current legal scrutiny over allegations of predatory business practices targeting older adults, people of color and people with disabilities. The letter seeks information about MV Realty’s Homeowner Benefit Program (HBP), which court documents have alleged misleads and unfairly targets consumers.