Tarrant County Clerk teams up with Tarrant Appraisal District to protect citizens

The Tarrant County Clerk’s Office is teaming up with the Tarrant County Appraisal District to protect citizens by including a flyer offering a free service known as Property Fraud Alert (PFA) in the citizen’s 2012 Property Value Statements.

PFA is a free notification on-line service that alerts subscribers via email or telephone each time a document is recorded in the County Clerk’s office with their name listed as a signing party.  More than 10,000 Tarrant County citizens have subscribed to protect themselves since 2009 when the program was implemented.

“In order to generate more exposure about this free service, our management team had to get really creative and that led us to the opportunity to partner with the Tarrant Appraisal District,” said Tarrant County Clerk Mary Louise Garcia.  “This collaborative effort saves thousands of taxpayer dollars by joining in on the more than 300,000 value statements that are already being mailed.”

The flyer, which should be arriving in mailboxes next week, includes general information, a web address where a property owner can go to have questions answered as well as subscribe.  In addition, there is a hotline number where questions can be addressed as well.

It only takes a few moments to sign up for the service.  Property owners may go to www.tarrantcounty.com, and then click on the “Property Fraud Alert” button on the right side of the web page.  Participants will be notified only when the exact name they have provided is listed as a ‘Grantor’ or ‘Grantee’ on any of 90 different document types recorded in the County Clerk’s Office.  PFA is customizable in that alerts can be generated by email or telephone call from a PFA representative.