Title underwriters and many agents tout automation, yet underwriters seem to have a darn hard time identifying their insured homeowners and the policies they hold. 

Why, theoretically, can a title underwriter produce a title commitment based upon an automated or seni-automated search, but cannot when queried, find the records for a specific property or specific property owners?

I know that - at least in PA - the underwriters must contact the agent who manually searches and produces the data and it's not a fast process.

Do underwriters in other states have better systems?

This disconnect between the purported promised land of automation and the reality of data retrieval is really bugging me.

I just got a request from an underwriter who is out there competing against me by offering fully and semi-automated product to lenders and homebuyers.  This underwriter is asking me for five years of policy data which I already provided to them with remittances but that they apparently did a crap job of retaining or compiling.