Escrow Assistant - Woodland Hills, CA

Escrow Assistant

Williston Financial Group (WFG) is the Portland, Oregon-based parent company of several national title insurance and settlement services providers, including WFG Lender Services and WFG National Title Insurance Company. One of only six national underwriters, WFG achieved a national footprint faster than any title insurance provider in history. The WFG family of companies offers full-service title insurance and settlement services for use in residential and commercial mortgage and real estate transactions nationwide.

Job Purpose: Escrow Assistant is responsible for assisting the Escrow Officer in providing superior escrow services while maximizing profitability utilizing technology, communication, collaboration and co-existence with clients, consumers and WFG personnel in a manner compliant with WFG Policies and Procedures.

Essential Job Functions:

• Assist with pre-closing preparation and/or post-closing tasks.
• Provide administrative support to Escrow officer including inputting figures, balancing with lender, handling disbursement of funds, money transfers, preparing documentation, closing transactions, advising customers and handling funds.
• Act as a liaison and maintain communication between customers and all parties involved in transaction.
• Review contracts, commitments and orders in preparation for the closing, as well as assemble the necessary documents to prepare the file.
• Submit post-closing documents to lender to obtain funding and disbursement approval.
• Ensure all parties, including buyers, sellers, agents, lenders or borrowers receive copies of final settlement statements prior to closing, after receiving lender's final approval.
• Coordinate the collection of information to finalize the sale or refinancing of property.
• Engage in WFG company culture that emphasizes engagement in our 4 Cs, quality of work and high performance.
• Engage in ongoing personal improvement and track real estate industry trends.
• Knowledge of WFG products, services and company policies and procedures.
• Maintain compliance with company policies and procedures.
• Submit timely requests for PTO and overtime scheduling to Escrow Manager.
• Maintain transparent communication with Escrow Officer and Escrow Manager.
• Interact with clients, real estate agents/brokers, attorneys, consumers, lenders and any other parties involved in transactions when necessary.
• Assist in conducting e-recordings with local county clerks office.
• Escalate complaints to Escrow Manager and maintain records per policies and procedures.
• Maintain a positive attitude.
• Additional duties as may be assigned by management.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Comply with applicable State licensing requirements.
• Learn basic understanding of escrow law, local city and state requirements.
• Learn basic understanding of RESPA, TILA, Dodd-Frank and CFPB rules.
• Learn basic understanding and adoption of ALTA Best Practices.
• Ability to read, write and interpret English.
• Possess excellent verbal communication and problem solving skills.
• Familiarity with Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and escrow production software e.g. ResWare, RamQuest, AtClose, IClosings and/or others.
• Ability to work with mathematical concepts (fractions, percentages, ratio's and proration's).
• Possess strong customer service skills and demonstrate excellent comprehension and organizational skills.
• Ability to manage multiple actions at once; flexibility to reprioritize quickly.

Basic Qualifications:

• High school diploma or general education degree (GED).
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office and basic computer skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Previous experience in an escrow processing capacity preferred.

Supervisory Responsibility: This position has no supervisory responsibilities.

Work Environment: This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.

Physical Requirements/ADA:

No unusual physical requirements. Requires no heavy lifting, and nearly all work is performed in a comfortable indoor facility.

Routine deadlines; usually sufficient lead time; variance in work volume seasonal and predictable; priorities can be anticipated; some interruptions are present; travel or other inconveniences have advance notice; involves occasional exposure to demands and pressures from persons other than immediate supervisor.

Job frequently requires sitting, handling objects with hands.

Job occasionally requires standing, walking, reaching, talking, hearing, and lifting up to 10 lbs.

Vision requirements: Ability to see information in print and/or electronically.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work: Days and hours of full time position are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. Part-time positions may be considered.

Travel: No travel is expected for this position.