Authorities are investigating title and escrow companies again and that's a signal for you to also take a hard look at the firms you hire and the charges you pay for the service.

Five of California's largest title insurance companies are under investigation for charging too much following allegations by Consumers Union that refinancing homeowners are getting especially hard hit.

In New York, eight class-action suits against large title insurance companies allege that they intentionally overcharged homeowners refinancing their loans.

Several years ago, California went after the title and escrow industry and collected millions of dollars in the nation's largest ever suit against the industry, for allegedly bilking the state's consumers out of a half billion dollars.

At about the same time, Maryland's insurance commissioner obtained a court order to take control of a title company and suspend the company's and two agents' licenses in an investigation of more than $1 million in missing escrow funds and insurance premiums owed to home buyers, sellers, insurers and others.

Also during the same crack down era, Colorado fined seven title insurance agencies for violating state insurance laws and regulations, among them, charging the wrong rates to customers and applying unregulated rates.

"We urge the (California) Insurance Commissioner to investigate whether insurers are charging excessive rates and to help consumers save money by fostering greater competition in the marketplace. And if the Commissioner determines that companies have been charging excessive rates, he should order them to make refunds to consumers," said Norma Garcia, senior attorney for Consumers Union's West Coast Regional Office regarding the latest case against title and escrow companies.

Given the title and escrow industry over the past few years has remained as rife with complaints about the fees it charges as the subprime mortgage market has been with complaints about predatory lending, it behooves consumers to be just as diligent scrutinzing title and escrow fees as they should be when examining loan papers.

Title and escrow fees, among others, come into play when the seller accepts a buyer's offer and the two "open escrow" with a title or escrow company or, in some cases, an escrow attorney.

The escrow account holder is supposed to be a neutral third party that holds onto, and then exchanges, disburses and transfers deeds and other documents and money. With disbursements it pays off existing loans and it records deeds, prorates property tax payments and interest and it helps with the transaction's other transfer details.

Most of the monies associated with the home purchase are funneled through the escrow account including the buyer's deposit, money for the escrow account itself and related services, title insurance and title search fees, the mortgage money and associated fees, the real estate agent's commission, recording fees, filing fees, transfer fees, notary fees, courier fees and a host of others.

All these costs become "settlement costs" recorded on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's HUD-1 "Settlement Statement" or a reasonable facsimile, which discloses all of a housing transaction's costs for both the buyer and the seller.

If you want too keep title and escrow companies out of your wallet, follow these guidelines.