By:
Elyce Schweitzer, Esq., Regulatory Compliance Officer, Alliant National
and
Valerie J. Grandin, Esq., Sr. Underwriting Counsel Florida and Vice President, Alliant National
Here’s a riddle for the title insurance and real estate industries: what does Dolly Parton’s song, “Here You Come Again” have to do with FinCEN, its Geographic Targeting Orders (GTOs), and its Final Real Estate Report Rule (Final Rule)? Answer: the last verse of the song repeats the lyrics, “Here you come again . . . And here I go” several times, analogous to FinCEN’s multiple, back-to-back, ever-expanding GTO’s issued since 2016, culminating in its permanent Final Rule issued on August 28, 2024, and effective on December 1, 2025, and our efforts to adapt and comply with all of its changes and requirements.
We first published a blog in November of 2024 discussing FinCEN’s Final Rule, its anticipated effective date of December 1, 2025, and the things you should be thinking about to get an early start on operationalizing compliance with the numerous requirements. Well, a lot has happened since then—let’s bring you up to speed.
What has the industry been up to?
First of all, industry stakeholders have been diligently working to try and reduce the impact of the Final Rule on your title insurance business. Some players have even started pushing back hard against the Final Rule.
- On April 14, 2025, East Texas Title filed suit in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, to get an injunction against the permanent FinCen Real Estate Rule from going into effect on December 1, 2025. Some of the legal arguments:
- Violation of the Constitution’s separation of powers – title agents should not be “forced to perform government surveillance on their clients by reporting private information from legitimate transactions”
- Constitution only grants Congress the power to regulate commerce between states and that the federal government has no standing to require businesses to collect information on real estate cash transactions that take place entirely within Texas
- Fourth Amendment protects against “unreasonable searches and seizures” of “persons, houses, papers, and effects,” including business record – no right to require private business to violate the privacy of Americans.
- On May 20, 2025, a national underwriter filed suit against Department of the Treasury and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, along with FinCEN and its director, Andrea Gacki, in the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division. Some of the legal arguments set out in their complaint include:
- The rule exceeds FinCEN’s statutory authority
- The rule is arbitrary and capricious
- The rule violates the Fourth Amendment prohibition against warrantless searches
- The rule violates the First Amendment’s prohibition on compelled speech
- The rule exceeds any authority Congress could have delegated under the Commerce Clause or its other Article I powers
- On May 15, 2025, ALTA made a formal appeal to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), asking for the “Anti-Money Laundering Regulations for Residential Real Estates” Final Rule to be rescinded “if changes are not made to lessen the overly burdensome requirements on small title companies.” (See ALTA’s Industry News article of May 15, 2025)
Second of all, ALTA took the lead and created a working group to develop information collection forms to capture the information required for FinCEN reporting under the Final Rule. After all, FinCEN’s initial draft Real Estate Report had 111 distinct fields so there will be a good bit of information to be collected!
Third of all, ALTA has been working on creating helpful industry training webinars. The first of these webinars was presented in March 2025 – Learn How Proposed Real Estate Anti Money Laundering Rule Impacts You – and is available to watch as a free recording on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFVlplx0ROs. The second of these webinars was a comprehensive 2-day FinCEN Bootcamp training session held on June 2 and 3, 2025; while the Bootcamp was not a free event, we will be sharing valuable information from it in our future blogs and in agent training currently under development. For now, you should know that the big takeaway from the Bootcamp is that it is NOT too early to begin operational preparations for the Final Rule. It was pointed out that orders for cash transactions received in October and November could very well close in December and therefor be subject to the requirements of the Final Rule, so processes need to be in place to recognize and capture those early orders and ensure your agency’s compliance. In fact, settlement agents are encouraged to register for the FinCEN filing portal in advance of the Final Rule’s effective date by going to https://bsaefiling.fincen.gov/BSALoginMain and setting up a Supervisory User Account. You can even prepare a practice report to understand the actual process and even provide your team with training. Just do not hit SUBMIT!
Lastly, on April 17, 2025, ALTA published FAQS About FinCEN Reporting Requirements for Non-financed Residential Real Estate Transfers as developed by Knight Barry Title based upon questions from their customers. The questions involve numerous scenarios, and the answers do a good job of interpreting and applying the provisions of the Final Rule to the hypotheticals.
What has FinCEN been up to since it’s publication of the Final Rule?
On November 12, 2024, it released a proposed draft report form to implement the Final Rule. As with the posting of the Final Rule, the posting of the draft report form also has a preamble discussion, but if you want to skip over it and hop directly to the draft report section in the Appendix – Real Estate Report Summary of Data Fields, then click here https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2024-26262/page-89705.
On June 5, 2025, FinCEN announced that the U.S. Department of the Treasury, on behalf of FinCEN, will submit the Real Estate Report (RER) information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA); the public comment period on the information collection request is open until July 7, 2025. By law, an agency cannot collect information without displaying a valid OMB number, so this is another required step as FinCEN moves forward with its plans for a final report form to implement its Final Rule. To skip the preamble and go directly to the Appendix-Real Estate Report Summary of Data Fields, click here https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2025-10263/p-132.
What has Alliant National been up to?
Members of Alliant National’s legal team have participated in developing the ALTA information collection forms and trainings discussed above. We recognize that all stakeholders in this process will need education to understand the benefits of the Final Rule as well as its impact on residential real estate transactions after December 1, 2025. Stay tuned for practical Alliant National agent training webinars starting later this summer. We will also offer programs for your real estate professional partners as their support of your information collection efforts will be critical to a smooth closing under the Final Rule. We are already working to train our internal team members so you will have a team of experts at your disposal. Then we will help “train the trainers” so you are equipped to respond and educate your business referring partners as well. One thing is clear, moving forward the more players in your real estate transaction who are up to date with the benefits of the Final Rule and the protections it offers, the more rapidly acceptance and adaptation will follow. Alliant National will be your expert now and as the Final Rule implementation becomes part of your standard operation procedures.
