5.03.2007 - 01:25pm ET

(CSRwire) HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 3, 2007--Home buyers, sellers and other closing customers in more than 900 Stewart Title offices 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 appointmen 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 Jose Menendez, 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 home ownership," added Menendez. "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."

Stewart Title and Stewart Professional Solutions are wholly owned subsidiaries of Stewart Information Services Corp. (NYSE:STC), a customer-oriented, technology-driven, strategically competitive, real estate information and transaction management company. Stewart provides title insurance and related information services required for settlement by the real estate and mortgage industries through more than 9,500 policy-issuing offices and agencies in the United States and international markets. Stewart also provides post-closing lender services, automated county clerk land records, property ownership mapping, geographic information systems, property information reports, flood certificates, document preparation, background checks and expertise in tax-deferred exchanges. More information can be found at http://www.stewart.com


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