Posted by Nicole_NCali on 2/7/05 12:04pm
Msg #19621

Prepaying for a signing done on my behalf:ss should follow

I accepted a signing from a signing service on Wednesday for a thursday evening. On Thursday morning my 8 mo old takes a dive off the bed and I am petrified, calls to the advice nurse and an appointment is made for 5:30pm. (she is alright by the way, I was the one who need xanax) I call the signing service and advise them that I won't be able to make the appointment but I have a notary who is an ex-escrow assistant who can do the signing for me.

I called my contact and she agreed, I already had the docs (overnighted), in doing my business, I pre-paid her the agreed upon fee. I felt this was only fair because I had engaged her in her busy day, and she agreed to do this favor for me.

Maybe I am being radical, but I feel like the notary should be paid upfront, just like the appraiser. Neither entity has a vested interest in the loan and they are performing a service which gets the loan moved forward.

Tell me what do you think.

P.S. for all of the N. California referrals in Contra Costa and Alameda that I send, I will prepay the fee for the signing.

Reply by sue on 2/7/05 12:15pm
Msg #19623

one of the flaws in this is that everyone isn't as honest as you are. What if the company had prepaid you. They would have had to either prepay another notary or trust you to do so. Other than an isolated incident or so this is never going to happen. What about the notaries who just don't show up? What about the ones who apparently royally mess up the loans due to their incompetence (sp?)? What about all the wackos out there in cyber world reading the internet who would get notary commissions, accept the fees and never ever do one job (remember, getting a commission in other states is often pretty easy)? They could conceivably make some good money in a few weeks time. The point is we are a service business and our clients generally are no where close to us in physical proximity so this is not going to happen. It would be nice. One of the bonus' of being in this business for several years is you eventually get to pick and choose the clients you want to work for (rather than just accepting orders from 'voices' on the other end of the phone) and some of the first you start to cut out are the ones that have poor payment histories.

Reply by CaliNotary on 2/7/05 1:05pm
Msg #19629

I think it's nice in theory but in reality it's never going to happen.

Reply by Nicole_NCali on 2/7/05 1:22pm
Msg #19631

I know I may be eating some mushrooms, but I conduct my transactions by prepaying for the service requested. I know and trust this notary and therefore I paid her.

Reply by Julie-MI on 2/7/05 5:26pm
Msg #19674

I have used notaries that I personally know about 15 times, I paid them upfront as I knew them--two were former co-workers from Register of Deeds.

For the reasons stated by Sue, NSA's will not be paid up front anytime soon. While I agree in theory about the appraisers being paid up front, we are the lowest on the totem pole.

Reply by Joan-OH on 2/7/05 10:42pm
Msg #19713

I've done the same thing. Between Christmas & New Years, we got and unexpected 3" of ice and there was just no way I was going to make it 55 miles to the other side of Cleveland. Luckily, I knew another signing agent that lived about 5 minutes from the signing location - purchase closing.

I called her to see if she was willing and able, and then I got permission from the title company. I mailed a check to her the very next day. She saved my butt that day and I wasn't going to make her wait for her money. You never know when the next ice storm will come in and I want her to be willing if I ever have to call her again.

Now Signing Companies......a lot don't care. They'll make you wait. They can always call someone else. I really don't see any of them prepaying unless you really have them over a barrell.

It pays to network!

Joan-OH