Sadly, I think we all need to face the fact that the business of abstracting is changing, and not to our advantage.  Each abstractor or small abstracting company is essentially like "mom & pop" stores, and the larger companies taking over whole areas by lowering their fees are the "superstore" .  I dont think we can win.  Whole communities gather together to fight the superstore being built in their neighborhood, but the superstore always wins.  Once all the mom & pops are gone, the supervendor can start to slowly raise their fees if they want, although they may not need to.  Just like the superstore, they'll pay the lowest fee possible so that they can charge the lower fees.  I think the days of the small abstractors are slipping away, and its time to start thinking of another way for your business to produce income, or change careers.  I started going to school at night to make a career change and I'm so glad I made that decision.  Change is hard, trust me, I dont like it myself. We all long for the days we were making money during the re-fi boom. I think the good old days of asbtracting are gone for the mom & pops.

Constance, I'm sorry that happened to you.  I think its happening to more and more of us.  It happened to me in 2010, which is what caused me to drag my but to night school.  But once I got there, once I got over the "I dont want to change" mentality, I was so happy I did it.