You got it Lisa- I was saying the same thing without recognizing that different localities or customs might be lumping fees on the HUD- here in Virginia they list the abstract or title fee on line 1102 and a title examination fee on lines 1103-(this is rarely done anymore while it is a line for the settlement companies to bilk the customer without their knowledge) doc prep, commitment and title insurance fees all have separate lines to show the fees charged for those line items and that was my basic inquiry as to how they were accounting for the additional fees, since  marking up is a section 8 violation and subject to heavy fines- if the title fee is 100, 125 or 225, no matter what, that is supposed to be listed on the  HUD exactly as it is, anything other than that can be interpreted as "marking up" the fee.Let me be a little more clear, I know that is being done, everyday, by unscrupulous persons in unscrupulous settlement companies- all with the apparent blessing of the title companies and it is being treated as just another way for the agents to collect more money, when in fact the abstracter/ title examiner should be reaping the rewards for having done his or her job , then take the liability-which , as Scott so clearly points out, is far greater than anyone else in the chain of feeding sharks  assumes when an error occurs and you have the injustice we all face everyday-I would just like to point out what you have recognized is the riping off of the title person in this whole sequence of events. And we complain about the discounting of fees-when I get a request for fees I always let the company know that my charges are the same as must appear on the appropriate lines on the HUD, let them add their own line " consumer rip off fee" or "golf vacation fee for settlement agent" and they can explain that themselves. As it is right now ,we as title examiners, are looked on as being paid pretty well when the HUD shows us getting $300 to $800 per transaction!! I have a copy of a HUD-1 that shows, on a number of lines so as to confuse the poor property owners, a total fee paid to the abstract company of - now get your deposit slips out and see if any of yours match up with this-total abstract fees =$425- settlement fees=$295, title exam fee=$495 and doc prep fee=$395- that adds up to $1510 in fees. And they got away with it! This was a refi(second time they did this with the same settlement company) with a loan amount of $300k. Just hope more become aware of how we are , unknowingly , being portrayed to the general public that use our services.