The District of Columbia Title Insurance Producer license

This is the one license in the District that carries a pre-licensing education requirement, and its whole content is the applicant's own signature. DISB publishes a one-page Confirmation of Pre-Licensing Requirement on which the applicant writes "I confirm that I have met the District of Columbia Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking Pre-Licensing requirement in that I have taken sufficient Pre-Licensing Education to pass the DC Title Insurance Producer's Examination", signs it and dates it. Pearson VUE's candidate handbook says where it goes: the candidate completes the document and presents it at the testing site as verification of course completion. No hours, no subjects, no approved provider and no register. Where the requirement does not come from is the striking part: D.C. Code 31-1131.05a(a) lets the Commissioner require a pre-licensing course by rule of "an individual, other than an applicant for a title insurance producer license", and chapter 50B, which is where this license lives, has twelve sections and mentions neither education nor an examination. The examination is Title, code 83, an hour and a half, $75, passing at a scaled 70. It is the paper the District's own candidates do best on: DISB's passing-rate report puts Title at 62 per cent in 2025 against 38 for Life. What the license really costs is financial. D.C. Code 31-5041.02(c)(1A) asks at every initial, renewal and reinstatement for errors and omissions cover of at least $500,000 per occurrence or claim, a surety bond of at least $200,000 running to the District government for the benefit of the District or any aggrieved party including consumers and title insurers, and, for a business entity, a fidelity bond or similar policy of at least $200,000 covering all employees and contractors, from which a sole proprietor or limited liability entity with no employees is exempt. An individual may hold all three through the entity that employs them or individually. DISB collects them on a Title Individual/Business Entity Financial Responsibility Certificate.

Read at the Department on 2026-08-20

DISB puts it in one sentence: "Resident producers with the exception of title attorneys, are required to pass an examination". D.C. Code 31-5041.01(4) defines an attorney for this chapter as a person admitted to practice law in the District, and the Department names the result a Title Attorney License, listing it beside the Title Producer License wherever it describes who may conduct a settlement. The financial responsibility certificate is owed on this route too. What separates the two beyond the paper is continuing education, and the Department publishes three figures rather than one: a resident title attorney owes 8 hours every two years, a resident title producer 16, and a non-resident title producer 4, all of which must be District-specific, meaning courses about title laws, regulations and industry practices here.

Read at the Department on 2026-08-20

DISB: "non-resident applicants will be granted licensure through reciprocity". The financial responsibility certificate under D.C. Code 31-5041.02(c)(1A) is owed all the same, and so is continuing education, though a non-resident's is four hours rather than sixteen and every one of them must be District-specific.

Read at the Department on 2026-08-20