RISMEDIA, May 10, 2007-Home buyers, sellers and other closing customers in more than 900 Stewart Titleoffices across the nation will have access to over-the-phone interpretations in 150 languages through a new agreement made by Stewart’s multicultural markets group with a language services provider.
“This comprehensive service allows our associates in all our owned offices to access interpreters over the phone to assist in closings or other scenarios when language barriers arise,” said Matthew Morris, president of Stewart Professional Solutions, a support services group for Stewart Title.
“We chose this service in particular because their linguists are educated about words and subjects that are specific to real estate and closing,” added Morris. “The ability to understand those terms will be helpful to buyers, sellers, and their real estate professionals and attorneys – as well as to our closing officers.”
Translators and interpreters are available in Spanish, Tagalog, Mandarin, Russian, Vietnamese, French, Punjabi, Romanian and many other languages.
To schedule a telephone interpreter for a closing, an appointment is made through the Stewart Title office where the closing is located. On-site interpretation is also available with a five-day advance notice. Audio, video and Web conferencing are also available when home buyers, their families and other parties to a closing can’t all attend in person.
Stewart’s suite of services also includes document translation with translators who have extensive experience with lenders and law firms.
“Stewart already has side-by-side English and Spanish title insurance policies available for its customers, and we have translated several of our brochures into other languages,” said José Menéndez, national multicultural markets director, Stewart Title. “This new agreement will provide our offices the ability to translate other documents or materials into languages that are in demand in their marketplaces. In addition, they can have other closing documents translated so buyers and sellers who are not fluent in English can have a side-by-side translation to help them during the closing process.
“Stewart remains committed to helping people from all walks of life achieve the American dream of homeownership,” added Menéndez. “We understand that the home purchase process can be complicated and confusing for those individuals who are very fluent in English. The process is doubly difficult for buyers for whom English is not their first language. This new program will help our customers from traditionally underserved home-buyer segments be more comfortable as they take that big step to buy a home.”
For more information, visit http://www.stewart.com.
