Posted by davidK/CA on 6/25/08 1:20pm
Msg #252909

Faxbacks

Assignment: e-docs for a $60K HELOC. 130 pages to be printed twice of course. Title company then requires 50 pages of faxbacks! IMHO this is totally stupid and an unfair burden to the notary/NSA.

In the good old days when we were required to faxback it was signature page of DOT or Mortgage, anything actually notarized and the RTC. Less than 10 pages.

Of course you don't know about the quantity of faxbacks until after you have accepted the assignment, received (late as usual) and printed the documents. Then comes the surprise and it's now to late to renegotiate your fee.

From now on I'm going to make two changes to my fees: (1) an extra printing charge for all pages over 100 originals, and (2) and extra charge for all faxbacks over 10 pages total. Otherwise I'm staying home and the gas stays in the tank.

Reply by FP_CA on 6/25/08 1:30pm
Msg #252911

CMD ?

Reply by Lee/AR on 6/25/08 1:30pm
Msg #252912

Re: Faxbacks - I 2nd that motion! All in favor say "Aye"

Told 4 pgs of faxbacks. Was 17. Told 'less than 10 faxbacks'. Was 43. Told 'normal' refi. Was 180 pgs. Yep, new 'qualifier' being added, here, too--effective immediately. Have also been told 'this city' and it turns out to be 'that city'....15 miles further-one way.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 6/26/08 2:17am
Msg #253002

Re: Faxbacks - I 2nd that motion! All in favor say "Aye"

Sounds like one I had recently. Last minute call - can you be there in 40 minutes? (This during rush hour.) They caught me just getting into my car to go home from last appointment, so I basically just turned right instead of left. Signing was in broker's office, docs were there. I asked if there was anything else I needed to know, faxbacks, etc. They said, no, just your basic refi, no fax-backs.

I get there and it's a purchase, lender is Provident Funding (which no one present except me had any clue about) and everyone is speaking Spanish. I'm sure they knew I speak Spanish from my profile, but they didn't mention that the borrower's English wasn't too good until after we agreed to a fee. It was higher than they usually pay, but not as much as I would have charged had I known all of the above.

Fortunately, it ended up going fairly smoothly and didn't really take much longer than a typical refi. But I just hate it when they try to deceive us. I imagine they think they're very clever getting away with something, but those are the kinds of things that stick in our memories...

Reply by Stamper_WI on 6/25/08 1:31pm
Msg #252913

Often they will accept the doc's back via email. If you are set up with a multifeed scanner that you can convert the docs to PDF, It costs you nothing but a few extra minutes.

Reply by WDMD on 6/25/08 1:36pm
Msg #252916

What companies are doing faxbacks? I would like to know to watch out for them. The only faxbacks I've had in recent years were for purchases.

Reply by Lee/AR on 6/25/08 1:41pm
Msg #252917

Not really true, Stamper. It 'costs' a trip home to fax & then out again to drop docs.
It 'costs' time pawing thru the package for said docs. Time is money. When I've gotten into a 'time crunch' and can either faxback OR drop--they almost always say DROP--so how important is this, really?

Reply by Stamper_WI on 6/25/08 2:00pm
Msg #252926

Faxbacks are rare and i always point out the option of drop or fax when the reality is that they would prefer the doc's in hand the next day vs the day after that
Yes time is money and there are charges for extra steps or services. I am speaking in terms of the cost of faxing vs the free email

Reply by Negrete on 6/25/08 1:56pm
Msg #252923

WHY OH WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO YOURSELVES ?

I can not for the life of me understand WHY you folks continue to take e-mail closings for $60.

I am a SS myself and would NEVER consider even asking a notary to go to a closing for $60. WHY OH WHY do you continue to SHOOT yourselves in the foot, time after time.

Maybe I don't see the big picture or something, could someone please explain this to me, please.

Anthony J Negrete
Negrete's Notary Service Inc.

Reply by WDMD on 6/25/08 1:59pm
Msg #252925

Re: WHY OH WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO YOURSELVES ?

"I can not for the life of me understand WHY you folks continue to take e-mail closings for $60."

Doesn't the original post say it was a $60 thousand HELOC, not $60 signing?

Reply by davidK/CA on 6/25/08 2:19pm
Msg #252928

Re: WHY OH WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO YOURSELVES ?

Yes it was a $60K Heloc. That means it was a $60,000 HELOC loan, not a sixty dollar assignment. I don't do $60 signings. Never.

My point was that it should have been a simple set of documents since the dollar amount being borrowed was so small, but instead it was like a first mortgage complete refinance. They were paying of an existing HELOC of about $40,000 so the cash out was less than $20,000. That's not a very big deal even in this depressed real estate market. So why does the title comany need to have 50 pages faxed and make me wait for approval to drop the documents to FEDEX? Do they really get signings that are that screwed up that they can't and won't trust the notary to do his/her job correctly?

In addition, the written faxback instructions (4 pages long) said to send only the first page of the 1003. Of course hours later I'm told that they meant I should send all the pages of the 1003. I imagine that it would just be way to hard for them to change their printed instructions.

And of course they can't be bothered to have the documents have the correct Jurat and Acknowledgement language that California adopted effective January 1, 2008.

Reply by Negrete on 6/25/08 3:28pm
Msg #252937

My Mistake.

I do apoligize, I thought that he said $60 for the closing.

I had a senior moment there for a minute.

Anthony J Negrete
Negrete's Notary Service Inc.

Reply by nolanotary on 6/25/08 2:13pm
Msg #252927

I had one yesterday that required faxback (40 pages total). It was a Countrywide refi. Over the last 6 months, I have noticed that the number of sigings I have accepted which require faxbacks has increased. So, after I was burned on this about 3 times, I always ask if there are any fax back requirements. If so, I automatically add $25 to my fee, whether it's 1 or 50. It requires additional time, which is not free.

Reply by jba/fl on 6/25/08 2:35pm
Msg #252930

So I asked, was told no faxbacks. Got the order, "please fax back", get out same day, yada, yada, yada.

So, I called, "do you want tomorrow am or following day? Tomorrow, skip the faxing. Like you, I push back and intend to do away w/fax backs or $25 add to order.

I do not need my hand held, period.

Reply by Sandra Clark on 6/25/08 4:31pm
Msg #252944

My first thoughts on this is "why in the world would you do a closing for $60. ? Let alone have them talk you into fax backs. We wonder why companies are lowering fees! Now we know - because they find takers.

Reply by Lee/AR on 6/25/08 5:32pm
Msg #252951

Sandra. Read the original post again, carefully. n/m

Reply by LKT/CA on 6/25/08 4:29pm
Msg #252943

Faxbacks can be very impractical because:

(1) the loan signing may not be the only appoinment I have that day, I do a lot of regular mobile notary work - I'm not just at home twiddling my thumbs, with nothing to do all day

(2) afternoon signings, I ship the docs at the shipper nearest the borrower, which typically is a mile or so from them so I can get the docs out before the shipper closes

(3) if the signing were 20+ miles from my home office, I'd have to drive home, fax and then go back out to the shipper, which is extra gas and time spent

(4) fighting traffic to get home to fax may mean by the time I'm done, the shipper is closed

The best way to put a stop to surprise faxbacks is to quote your fee schedule during the initial call - not waiting for them to tell you there are faxbacks, or large loans. That way when they tell you only 7 fax backs and there ends up being 75, you've already informed them of what you charge. Or if they say, "it's just a small refi with 70 pages and it's actually 190 pages" they know what your print fee is. If they refuse to renegotiate based on what you've already informed them of, just give back the job.

Reply by Kathy/ID on 6/26/08 11:21am
Msg #253057

Re: Faxbacks -LFC

I had one for them and it was a Country wide loan. Faxback the whole package.

Reply by Hugh Nations Signing Agents of Austin on 6/26/08 11:34am
Msg #253063

***Of course you don't know about the quantity of faxbacks until after you have accepted the assignment, received (late as usual) and printed the documents. Then comes the surprise and it's now to late to renegotiate your fee.***

It's never too late to renegotiate your fee if you are asked to do something beyond your original contract.

When I accept an assignment, the acceptance is based on what was conveyed to me during the initial phone call or email inquiry. If I then receive a confirmation requiring substantial effort beyond that, I am free to request any additional fee I deem appropriate to cover the additional work.

My fee for faxbacks -- beyond the standard signature pages of the note and mortgage -- is $1 per page. That applies regardless of when I am informed of the faxback requirement.