Posted by Barbara___IL on 3/24/09 10:02pm
Msg #282026

Settlement Agent Signature

I'm doing a refi tomorrow morning and the company asked me to sign all the documents where their name is and also where the settlement agent should sign. This is the first time I've been asked to do that. I'm not sure what the rules are on it, but no one has asked me to sign where it says settlement agent before. Any feedback will be appreciated. Thanks. Barbara

Reply by Roger_OH on 3/24/09 10:15pm
Msg #282027

Don't do it!

You're NOT the company EMPLOYEE settlement agent responsible for preparing the HUD, attesting that it is accurate, distributing disbursements, etc.

Reply by John_NorCal on 3/24/09 10:26pm
Msg #282028

Your signing as settlement agent negates all your disinterested party status and opens you to liability. As Roger below states, you are not an employee of the company so don't do it.

Reply by Barbara___IL on 3/24/09 10:42pm
Msg #282029

I didn't think that sounded right. Thank you both so much. I won't do it. I'll speak to the company in the morning. B.

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 3/25/09 12:02am
Msg #282033

Not only are you NOT an employee of the company, you aren't even the settlement agent! You're a notary... not an "agent" of any kind, really. We are notaries... and glorified document couriers, that's about it.

Too many people get the role of "closing agent" or "settlement agent" confused with that of a notary or a notary signing agent. They are not the same thing at all.

In fact, those here who say they've closed loans in the role of a notary are not helping matters any. We really aren't closers of any kind, and the appointment when the borrowers sign paperwork may feel like a closing to *them* but it isn't.

Reply by Pat/IL on 3/25/09 12:39am
Msg #282040

"We really aren't closers of any kind, and the appointment when the borrowers sign paperwork may feel like a closing to *them* but it isn't. "

Closing is a process, not a single function. The NSA is acting in a part of the closing process. I am perfectly comfortable in calling the signing a closing. I realize that some people consider the disbursement of funds to be the entire closing. But they are wrong.

Reply by Pat/IL on 3/25/09 12:42am
Msg #282042

Wait!

When I posted up there, I didn't mean to suggest, if that's how anyone took it, that the NSA should sign as the settlement agent. No, the NSA is not the settlement agent and should not sign as such.

Reply by Barbara___IL on 3/25/09 12:43am
Msg #282043

Yes, I usually call them "signings" not "closings."

I agree.

Reply by sue_pa on 3/25/09 7:52am
Msg #282054

We are absolutely an "agent". We are sent out there as the lender/title company's agent at their direction to get their loans closed. It's not only a difference in wording but a difference in perception as to what our jobs really entail. There is absolutely a difference in the way a $50 company wants you to represent them and the way a $175 company expects you to represent them. Bottom line is a lender wants to fund a loan and you are expected to return a perfectly executed loan package .... the difference is the way you are expected to handle your portion of the job.

I "close" loans. I am a "closer". I do not do "signings". "Signings" was a term coined within the past decade. "Closings" and "settlements" are what people, at least in my area, know and that's what I do. As I've said previously, I run my business in quite a different manner than so many on these boards.

Reply by MW/VA on 3/25/09 9:20am
Msg #282060

Do you handle escrow funds in PA? I've always been told there is a distinct difference between "signing" and "closing". The Settlement Agent handles the funding, and I have no part of the financial side of the transaction. The terminology gets confusing. At some levels, it's all considered the "closing". I'm under the impression that the transaction doesn't actually "close" until funds are disbursed. Either way, I never sign as "Settlement Agent".
I do wish the industry would come up with a different title for what we do, instead of referring to us as the "notary".

Reply by Ilene C. Seidel on 3/25/09 6:09am
Msg #282049

I only do it for local title companies(when requested) never out of state.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 3/25/09 9:00am
Msg #282057

Ilene, just my personal opinion, but whether the company's local or out of state doesn't lessen the liability involved in signing off as something you're not - if you're not the settlement agent, you're not the settlement agent, period...

Might want to re-think your procedure there...MHO

Reply by PAW on 3/25/09 6:44am
Msg #282050

Not a problem, IF ...

The title company is willing to have an authorized employee provide a signed letter stating that I am acting as their agent, authorizing me to bind the title company in contractual relationships. And, a full 'hold harmless' and indemnification of responsibility, expressed or implied.

Of course, I wouldn't expect that to happen.

Reply by A S Johnson on 3/25/09 9:38am
Msg #282063

Barbara, What lender, title/escrow and sing service is asking this of you?
I just want ot know in case they call me.
These two post brings red flags up to me , as much as asking me to backdate.

Reply by BrendaTx on 3/25/09 3:31pm
Msg #282124

Re: Settlement Agent Signature - I wouldn't do it but

you know what?

I don't think there's any big dark reason for the request. I think this is listed on a checklist in front of them and they are simply trying to get it taken care of.

So....that's my feedback on that.

Reply by Mary_CT on 4/10/09 3:37pm
Msg #284376

Re: Settlement Agent

I had a title company that wanted me to invoice them only using their invoice form. The invoice form said Settlement Agent. I crossed out all the Settlement agent nomenclature and put in Notary Public.

I advised the closing coordinator at the title company that I did send in their invoice form but amended since I am not the settlement agent. She advised me that I WAS the settlement agent.

I sent her several definitions of settlement agents so that she could see that I am clearly NOT the settlement agents.

I think I irritated her, but seeing as the last closing I had with them was so badly drawn up - I had already put them on my "No thanks, I am busy list".

I am not about to put myself at risk as the "settlement agent" by invoicing them via a doc that is calling me that. Uncorrected, it could stand as proof that I was holding myself out as performing that role.... nope..