Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
Escrow: means :
(i)
a transaction that effects the sale, transfer, encumbering, or leasing of real property, when a person not a party to the transaction, and neither having nor acquiring an interest in the title, performs, in accordance with the written instructions or terms of the written agreement between the parties to the transaction, any of the following actions:
(A)
the explanation, holding, or creation of a document; or
(B)
the receipt, deposit, and disbursement of money;
(ii)
a settlement or closing involving:
(A)
a mobile home;
(B)
a grazing right;
(C)
a water right; or
(D)
other personal property authorized by the commissioner. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
Expenses: means that portion of a rate attributable to:
a risk distributing arrangement providing for compensation or replacement for damages or loss through the provision of a service or a benefit in kind;
(ii)
a contract of guaranty or suretyship entered into by the guarantor or surety as a business and not as merely incidental to a business transaction; and
(iii)
a plan in which the risk does not rest upon the person who makes an arrangement, but with a class of persons who have agreed to share the risk. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
insurance company: means a person doing an insurance business as a principal including:
(i)
a fraternal benefit society;
(ii)
an issuer of a gift annuity other than an annuity specified in Subsections 31A-22-1305(2) and (3);
(iii)
a motor club;
(iv)
an employee welfare plan;
(v)
a person purporting or intending to do an insurance business as a principal on that person's own account; and
producer: means a person licensed or required to be licensed under the laws of this state to sell, solicit, or negotiate insurance. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
Rate: means that cost of insurance per exposure unit either expressed as:
(i)
a single number; or
(ii)
as a pure premium rate, adjusted before any application of individual risk variations, based on loss or expense considerations to account for the treatment of:
Title insurance: means the insuring, guaranteeing, or indemnifying of an owner of real or personal property or the holder of liens or encumbrances on that property, or others interested in the property against loss or damage suffered by reason of liens or encumbrances upon, defects in, or the unmarketability of the title to the property, or invalidity or unenforceability of any liens or encumbrances on the property. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
Underwrite: means the authority to accept or reject risk on behalf of the insurer. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
The commissioner shall determine compliance with rate standards and rating methods for title insurers, individualtitle insurance producers, and agency title insurance producers.
(b)
In addition to the considerations in determining compliance with rate standards and rating methods as set forth in Sections 31A-19a-201 and 31A-19a-202, including for title insurers, the commissioner and the Title and Escrow Commission shall consider the costs and expenses incurred by title insurers, individual title insurance producers, and agency title insurance producers pertaining to the business of title insurance including:
(i)
the maintenance of title plants; and
(ii)
the examining of public records to determine insurability of title to real property.
(2)
A title insurer, individual title insurance producer, or agency title insurance producer may not use any rate or other charge relating to the business of title insurance, including rates or charges for escrow that would cause the title insurance company, individual title insurance producer, or agency title insurance producer to:
(a)
operate at less than the cost of doing the insurance business; or
(b)
fail to adequately underwrite a title insurance policy.
