Fraud & Scam Alerts

Deed Scam

Home owners across the country are receiving solicitations in the mail from a company called National Deed Service, Inc. National Deed Service, Inc. offers in their letter to obtain a certified copy for the homeowner for a fee.

The St. Clair County Recorder of Deeds strongly urges property owners to disregard this solicitation. While the solicitations made by this company are not illegal, they are misleading.

The company claims on their website (www.nationaldeed.com) that; “It is not an easy process to obtain public records from a governmental agency. It often requires people to travel to the recorder’s office, lose time from work and pay, locate the proper office, deal with the people at the office, and locate their document and wait for the document to be produced. Sometimes, the process will take two trips, and in some cities the cost of parking alone could be $20 plus each day. This is not an easy process. When considering all of the above, the service provided by National Deed Service, Inc. is a cost and time effective service.” In addition, National Deed Service, Inc. charges between $60.00 and $90.00 to obtain copies for the homeowner and 30 to 60 days to process and fulfill each request. The Federal Information Center as well as the Better Business Bureau has issued warnings in regards to dealing with National Deed Service, Inc. As of today’s date National Deed Service, Inc. has a BBB rating of “F” on a scale from A+ to F.

Homeowners can rest assured that they can deal directly with the St. Clair County Recorder of Deeds Office to obtain copies with no hassle and at a fraction of the cost. Copy requests can be made by mail, email or in person. Plain copies of deeds are $2.00 per page while a certified copy averages around $20.00. In most cases homeowners will find that having a certified copy of a document is not necessary. A copy request via mail or email will be fulfilled within 24 hours and a copy request made in person will be fulfilled immediately. No appointment is necessary and parking downtown runs around $ .50 - $1.00 per hour. In addition, the St. Clair County Recorder has partnered with Fidlar Technologies to offer remote records access. Documents recorded from 1986 forward can be searched and in most cases copied via internet access 24/7 at www.landrecords.net. There is a small fee of $5.95 per search and $ .50 per page for copies on landrecords.net.

Copy requests can be mailed to: Recorder of Deeds, PO Box 543, Belleville, IL 62222
Copy requests can be emailed to: recorder@co.st-clair.il.us
Copy requests can be made in person at:

Recorder of Deeds Office, 5th Floor,
10 Public Sq., Belleville, IL 62220


Please contact the St. Clair County Recorder’s Office with any questions: 618-277-6600 or recorder@co.st-clair.il.us.

Property Fraud Alert

New County Service Provides Property Fraud Alert!

The St. Clair County Recorder’s Office is pleased to announce a new online service to help monitor and protect land owners against property fraud.  We are offering this subscription service at no charge to our customers.         

It is no secret that property fraud and identity theft is on the rise across the country.  Victims of these crimes often don’t find out until months after the crime has been committed and thousands of dollars worth of unpaid debt is on their credit reports.   Protecting our customer’s information and real property is one of our top priorities in the Recorder of Deeds Office.  While Property Fraud Alert cannot prevent identity theft or fraud, it will provide our customers with an early warning system.  Should any questionable activity occur, they can take appropriate actions to protect their assets before any long term damage is done.

How does Property Fraud Alert work?

To subscribe free of charge go to:

https://www.propertyfraudalert.com/Phoenix/PFASignUp.Website/ILStClair

Enter name and contact information.  Subscribers can choose to be contacted by phone or email.  No further information is required and there is no fee to enroll.      

After enrollment the information that has been provided will be automatically monitored.  Anytime new information is entered into our system here in the St. Clair County Recorder of Deeds Office that matches the information entered during enrollment the customer will be notified.

The St. Clair County Recorder of Deeds Office is committed to serving the people of St. Clair County.  We realize that your home is more than a home to you; it is your largest financial asset.  With that in mind, we are extremely excited to be able to offer this service to you at no cost.  You’re home is safe with us!

Sincerely,

Michael T. Costello
Recorder of Deeds
St. Clair County, IL