Truliant Will Be the First North Carolina Credit Union to offer eClosings to All Members, Marking a Major Expansion of the N.C. Secretary of State Initiative

North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall and Truliant Federal Credit Union President Todd Hall announced today that Truliant will be the first North Carolina credit union to be able to offer complete eClosing services on mortgages.

They will be the second North Carolina-based financial institution to offer a fully electronic mortgage closing process – saving Truliant members time and money.

“North Carolina is far and away the leader in this space,” said North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall. “We are more prepared than any other state in terms of the legal infrastructure. Truliant’s announcement today opens the door to more and more eClosings, which are more efficient for consumers, save time and money for financial institutions, and allow land records to be recorded instantly at the register of deeds.”

Full eClosings – from mortgage applications to closing – significantly shorten the length of the mortgage process. Some of the biggest time savings occur during the final closing with shorter signing appointments. In addition, full e-Closings reduce the use of paper, legal fees, mailing and courier costs. And the process is done on a secure network with all documents being encrypted and stored in an electronic vault. “With Truliant’s interest,” said Ozie Stallworth, the director of electronic notarization and notary enforcement in the office of the N.C. Secretary of State, “this is going to open the doors more and more. For many years there have been hybrid mortgage closings that have included digital pieces. But now there is the potential and the reality for a full e-process for mortgages.”

“We have been committed to this since the first e-commerce legislation in 1998. We now have all the laws and regulations in place,” said Stallworth, who is the chair of the North Carolina e-Mortgage Closing Advisory Committee. “In the last year, 20-25 states have just started the process of creating the needed laws to enable e-Closings. But North Carolina is the only state that has a viable electronic-closing platform in place.”

North Carolina is unique in its requirement that attorneys participate in closings. “We won’t sacrifice security and integrity. Requiring a notary who is face-to-face with the buyer adds to the security. We are not willing to give that up for the convenience of a remote process,” Stallworth said.

“EClosings are literally in their infancy,” Stallworth said. “It’s going to do nothing but grow and grow. No state has taken on this initiative like North Carolina. We are pushing the envelope in North Carolina and we are proud to say that.”

Truliant plans to offer fully digital e-Closings in its online loan origination system and at its North Carolina Member Financial Centers in the first quarter of 2020 – and expects to complete its first full eClosing in the same quarter.