Right now someone could be using your license for illegal proposes over and over again. Your license, livelihood, and reputation are on the line. Someone who is using a stolen license number does not give any regard to USPAP, value pushing, or Fannie Mae Guidelines.

According to estimates from regulation departments, there currently exists $40 million dollars of forged appraisals.  Unfortunately, this number is predicted to climb at rapid rates. Approximately 30% of the complaints of fraud and forgery revolve around falsified appraisal documents.   

Unprotected appraisers can suffer from permanently damaged careers and irreparable reputations if they find themselves to be victims of identity theft and forgery.  Since an appraiser’s name and license number is easily accessible via the internet, appraisers are constantly the victims of identity theft.  According to the Office of Real Estate Appraisers, “The only way of finding out if someone is forging your name is when you get sued five to seven years later.” 

If you have an account with Safe Appraisal it gives you a simple and effective way to protect yourself.  Here's how it works: First you complete your appraisal as usual; then you enter your Username and Secure Password to access your private Safe; now you enter a few simple items about the appraisal such as APN#, address, date and that's it.  

When a Lender logs on to Safe Appraisal they enter your License Number and APN# and up pops the Safe Appraisal Certificate stating that you in fact did complete the Appraisal matching that APN#.   Thats it, its that simple you are protected against someone else using your name and appraisal license.  If no match was found in your safe then you are notified by email that someone is trying to locate tthis apn# under your license and may have forged your name.  Everyone is protected!