Qualia, the closing software company used by title and escrow firms, has started handling homebuyers’ money directly. On Oct. 22, 2026, it launched Qualia Earnest Money Deposit and Qualia Cash to Close, two digital payment products built into its Qualia Core platform. They are meant to replace the paper checks and emailed wire instructions buyers still use for the two largest payments in a home purchase.
The first payment is the earnest money deposit a buyer puts down after signing a purchase contract. The second is the cash due at closing. Qualia called these “two high-stakes moments in a transaction,” and argues that paying by check or by emailed wire instructions at either point leaves an opening for fraudsters.
How the products work
A title or escrow company sends the buyer a payment link from the open file. The buyer connects a bank account and pays in a few clicks, and gets a confirmation once the payment is submitted. Earnest money can also come in through a payment portal on the title company’s own website, even before a file is opened. For earnest money, Qualia said the funds go to the company’s existing escrow account, so firms do not have to change banks.
Cash to Close works the same way. Qualia calculates what the buyer owes, accounting for money already collected and any credits. The company said funds arrive in escrow as “good funds,” money that has cleared and can be disbursed, the same business day. Payments submitted after 3 p.m. Eastern arrive the next business morning. When the buyer pays, the system adds a confirmation document to the order and creates the receipt on the order and the general ledger once the money reaches the escrow account.
Availability is staggered. Qualia said the earnest money product is available now to all Qualia Core customers, who can sign up from inside the software. Cash to Close is in limited release, with wider availability planned later this year. Title and escrow companies used the earnest money tool on live transactions during an early-access period. Qualia also said it plans more payment products “in the coming months.”
A fraud problem the industry has not solved
Qualia’s case for the launch rests on fraud. In its announcement, the company said real estate fraud losses reported to the FBI rose from about $145 million in 2023 to more than $275 million in 2025. It also said its own “Wire Fraud Trends in Title & Escrow, 2026” report found that the cash-to-close stage had the largest year-over-year increase in perceived fraud risk of any part of the closing.
The usual scheme is simple: a criminal impersonates a title company or agent, emails fake wire instructions, and redirects the buyer’s down payment or closing funds. Pay-by-link tools remove the emailed instructions. “Buyers are looking to their title & escrow company for two things: a frictionless payment experience and certainty that their money arrives where it should,” said Jackson Reynolds, Qualia’s chief strategy officer.
Closing fraud is drawing more investment from vendors across the industry. CertifID bought Closinglock in its second closing-technology acquisition in four months, and a title-industry study found seller impersonation fraud attempts more than doubled in two years.
Built into the system of record
Many tools already let buyers pay digitally. Qualia’s pitch is that its payments sit inside the software where title companies already manage the file. Standalone payment tools, Qualia argues, still leave staff to find each deposit, match it to the right file, rekey the details and reconcile the ledger. In Qualia Core, payments requested from an order post directly to that order’s ledger, and other deposits arrive with the buyer’s details attached and a suggested file match.
The new products join payment and fraud tools Qualia already sells. These include Qualia Shield, which assesses the risk of outgoing wires before funds are sent; a Bank Partner Network of escrow banks that work directly with Qualia; and a Fraud Recovery Service that coordinates with banks and law enforcement when an outgoing wire is compromised. “Now the incoming funds get the same treatment as the money going out,” Reynolds said.
Early users quoted by Qualia focused on time saved. Jacob Webb, chief executive of Level 10 Title, said his firm had decided it is “not accepting checks anymore” and would use Qualia’s earnest money product instead.
For agents, the change is mostly about how they coach buyers. A link from the title company that never involves emailed wire instructions takes out one of the steps fraudsters most often exploit. Buyers will still need to confirm that any payment request really comes from their title or escrow company. How much this reduces fraud will depend on how widely title firms adopt it, and Qualia did not disclose how many firms or transactions used the products during early access. More coverage of closing and brokerage technology is in RealtyWire’s Technology & AI section.
