Our Guarantee

Additionally, Lenders who use our services receive the benefit of our flood determination guarantee with each flood determination we provide. While the actual terms of any warranty will be set forth in our service agreement with you, you can be assured of the following:

Conversely, if we issue a Determination on a property stating that the insurable structure is located within a Special Flood Hazard Area, and the structure is in fact not located in a Special Flood Hazard Area according to the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map effective as of the date of the Determination, we will reimburse you for any unnecessary or excessive flood insurance.

Quality Control

Our Quality Assurance team is engaged with every department to ensure that we meet the high standards of accuracy and efficiency we've set for our flood zone determinations and all our operational procedures. Our quality assurance efforts cover several areas:

• Department specific initiatives to streamline processes
• Internal audits to make sure we meet quality standards in every area
• Ensuring that information is appropriately distributed throughout the company
• Continuing education and development of our staff
• Updating and testing our Emergency Recovery Plan

The staff operates as a separate organization to conduct and analyze internal audits, implement new quality control checks, and ensure that all internal processes are streamlined. Any area of potential improvement to our current processes is analyzed by interdepartment project teams.

Technology

First American's wide range of connectivity options means fast, streamlined ordering, tracking, and delivery. Let our connectivity specialists design an optimal system that's fully compatible with your platform.

Real-Time Interfaces
Our most popular connectivity solution is our XML interface. This interface delivers real-time responses and supports the majority of our website's functionality, including new orders, cancels, edits, and disputes. Secure connectivity is available through SOAP and https posts. Through the XML response, a completed flood determination is returned with the associated flood information as well as an embedded PDF of the FEMA form. Our XML interface is MISMO compliant in the flood response for versions 2.3.2 and 2.4.

Loan Origination System (LOS) Interfaces
Whether you already have an established LOS, or would like to begin using one, you can take advantage of our various connections with the majority of LOS software packages including Calyx, Dynatek, Harland, MortgageFlex, FiServ, Encompass, Mortgage Cadence, Mortgage Builder, Avista and many others. Contact us to inquiry on the availability of your LOS interface within our facility. If we are not currently offering the interface, we will contact the LOS company to seek a means of integrating the interface.

Our transparent interfaces enable you to order your flood determinations without exiting your LOS to another ordering platform. The data is returned directly to your LOS.

Third-Party Vendor Portals
In addition to the connectivity solutions mentioned previously, First American products and services can also be ordered through portals including First American Equity Loan Services, Ellie Mae ePass Business Center, Fannie Mae DU Connections, and other portals.

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Web-based Solutions

FloodCert.com
First American's Web-based ordering and delivery system provides a simple connectivity and account management solution. Providing instant access to our extensive database of flood data resources, FloodCert.com easily accommodates single orders, delivering the vast majority of responses in real time.

You can also manage all aspects of your account with FloodCert.com's user-friendly functions including searching, tracking, order history, completed order notifications, and reporting.

First American Web Services
Our Web services allow you to order multiple loan closing products-including flood zone determinations-without re-entering loan data. First American Web Services (accessible at https://www.faws.firstam.com/faws/) is your interactive, one-stop ordering site for all of First American's origination products.*

*Note: Be sure to enter https before the URL to access First American's secure ordering site.

Servicing System Uploads
For many of our loan servicing clients, we can routinely deliver files via secure connections to Fidelity MSP and FiServ MortgageServ servicing systems.

Emergency Recovery

First American has invested significant resources to establish a comprehensive, off-site disaster recovery facility and standard disaster recovery procedures. This investment ensures that our customers receive seamless service, even during natural disasters or major disruptive events.

Our disaster recovery procedures provide for the continuity of our automated and manual business functions. Our disaster recovery facility is fully operational and ready for transition at any time. It is fully outfitted with duplicate maps and file servers, inbound and outbound fax servers, workstations, telecommunications and Internet connectivity.

Activity on our critical file servers at our primary operations facility is mirrored in real time on identical hardware at our disaster recovery facility. FloodCert.com, our Web-based ordering and delivery system, is made seamlessly available from both locations through technologies such as BGP4 and global site selection. Redundant, load balanced Web servers occupy both facilities. If either site encounters a situation that causes diminished capacity, the other site will support the load and will do so dynamically. Either site is capable of carrying the entire load. The off-site facility resides on a separate power grid and has an independent diesel generator that can provide electrical power indefinitely. As a result, our network and communications infrastructure is completely protected from electrical disruption.

Our business continuity plan is reviewed semiannually and our recovery capabilities are routinely tested by a specialized team representing all our operational departments. The testing protocol examines all operations, automated functions, communications, network procedures and ordering mechanisms. During the test, actual orders are received, processed and returned to our clients without any interruption in service.

Security

Secure Systems

We maintain security card access all areas of our building, including our research and systems areas, and all computer rooms that house customer data. Access to data on our servers requires password authentication, resulting in an electronic record of all login activity. Our Internet ordering site uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol to ensure that all transactions remain private and secure.

First American Flood Data Services is TruSecure certified, reflecting the successful completion of an extensive security review by the Cybertrust Corporation. The review process examines, measures and verifies our security controls, policies and procedures against rigorous Cybertrust standards. This review is repeated periodically to ensure continued conformity to those standards.

Please visit Cybertrust for additional information about this certification or contact our Technical Support personnel at 800-447-4550.

Secure Email

To protect client information during email transmission, First American employs Transport Layer Security (TLS), an advanced SSL technology applied to email servers. If a given client requires secure email and supports TLS, any messages sent or received are automatically and transparently encrypted from server to server as a normal part of the email process. This enables both clients and First American to stay in compliance with security requirements without any end user interaction. All communication with servers currently running TLS on their SMTP gateways is continually encrypted.

As a widely accepted, open-standards security solution, TLS eliminates time-consuming steps involved in securing emails via proprietary, third party sites. Applying TLS also avoids technological incompatibilities that may result from using plug-ins to encrypt emails. TLS is supported by Microsoft Exchange, Linux, UNIX and other computer platforms.