Posted by Ali/IL on 4/7/10 10:02am
Msg #330613

not getting paid

I did a signing. Was called the following week to go back out because borrower getting new interest rate.
Now title company won't pay me for first trip. They say that I never received docs for the first one.Or because they were so busy that they probably shredded the first docs and noone followed up.
Now they want to know if I still have the email with the docs. I told them that I don't save emails with docs on them.
What do you do to protect yourself against this besides the confirmation that they send.

Reply by Cari on 4/7/10 10:06am
Msg #330615

ALWAYS save the email confirmation with your fee listed

therein, as this is proof they contracted with you to do the job and you agreed.

AND, always keep a copy of the UPS/FED EX tracking number.

BTW...I find this hard to believe....

Reply by Ali/IL on 4/7/10 10:09am
Msg #330618

Cari find what hard to believe? n/m

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 4/7/10 10:08am
Msg #330616

I keep all e-mails, including docs, for a signing

until I'm paid - this also helps avert the old "you didn't get such-and-such signed" - I can go back and look to see if "such-and-such" was included in the package.

Reply by Notarysigner on 4/7/10 11:02am
Msg #330643

Re: I keep all e-mails, including docs, for a signing

same here

Reply by Ilene C. Seidel on 4/7/10 11:35am
Msg #330656

Re: I keep all e-mails, including docs, for a signing

I also keep all emails whether just correspondence or attachments. If it's a company I do a lot of business they have a file in their name in the hotmail account.

Reply by jba/fl on 4/7/10 10:08am
Msg #330617

I keep the confirmaion, my journal with BO's signature, the shipping label copy and keep the HUD and the docs on my computer until I am paid. With the shipping label # you can track the package and see whether it was received. If the HUD is not jumbled in with the doc package I just save it and not the entire package as it has all the info I would need to fight their claims of whatever. I trust myself more than others.

Reply by Ali/IL on 4/7/10 10:18am
Msg #330624

I do have the confirmation. They are saying that docs were not emailed to me because they didn't receive them from lender. And, that if I did get them signed and returned then they were shredded and noone logged this in.
Their understanding is that I never got docs for the first closing. Even though I overnighted them back.
And, here I am looking for the shipping label copy and by mistake I threw away my February labels.
I will just have to learn my lesson and be more careful.

Accounting did just ask me to fax over the confirmations to see what they could do.

Reply by trnsa_IL on 4/7/10 10:26am
Msg #330631

Are they willing to speak with the borrower to confirm they actually signed 2 sets of loan docs on 2 separate days? Do you keep a journal with the entries from both days?

Reply by Notarysigner on 4/7/10 11:06am
Msg #330644

If you dropped the doc off at a shipping center, you can go back and give them the approx time you were there and they should be able to find it that way. If you dropped them at a drop box, forget it. Good luck. You would be doing us all a favor by posting in SC the particulars..IMO

Reply by TraceyFD/VA on 4/7/10 7:23pm
Msg #330699

I've also called the carrier and had them track the package based on ship to address and ship from zip code. It won't help you if it is a large company and you are in a zip code that does a lot of business with them.

Reply by Cari on 4/7/10 12:30pm
Msg #330664

...don't you keep a file on every single closing?? I do...

...how else can you run your business, keep organized, confirm if you received payment, create/maintain a client list, do marketing, etc?

...seems like you don't take this biz too seriously...otherwise, you'd have better office management skills...

Reply by MW/VA on 4/7/10 10:20am
Msg #330627

The borrowers can confirm that you were there twice, right? n/m

Reply by Ali/IL on 4/7/10 10:23am
Msg #330630

Re: The borrowers can confirm that you were there twice, right?

Yes, but we are not supposed to contact them. The title company is able to do that. I don't know that they will.

Reply by Linda Juenger on 4/7/10 10:40am
Msg #330634

Re: The borrowers can confirm that you were there twice, right?

Ali, It sounds to me that you need to get a little better organized. You don't have the confirmation, you don't have the docs, you mistakenly threw away all your labels for Feb. Does this sound like an organized business woman? Take a few hours and figure out how you are going to keep track of everything. Make some file folders, set up a spreadsheet, use 1 email address for your closings only (no family, no junk, no nothing but work stuff). At any given moment I am able to pull a file folder for that company and find the confirmation, shipping label and any instructions for each signing and borrower. I keep a folder for my regular companies and for odd and end signings I make a seperate folder. Believe me, by doing this it has saved my b*** many times by being able to prove this or that. Don't rely on your memory. We see way too many people and numbers. Hope it works out for you.

Reply by Sandra Clark on 4/7/10 10:46am
Msg #330637

Re: The borrowers can confirm that you were there twice, right?

Linda you are so right! I use the same system and it has been proven to be the best way for me to handle all the files related to this business

Reply by jba/fl on 4/7/10 10:51am
Msg #330638

Re: The borrowers can confirm that you were there twice, right?

Ali - If you want less paper hanging around, and who doesn't?, then use your invoice to put all those important numbers on: Shipping tracking number and date sent, BO's name and address, TC/Settlement agent, loan number, file number, order number and who ordered from you, etc. with every single phone number and who it belongs to that I can find. I make an invoice for everyone whether I report online or not. That gives me a paper to refer to for receiving payment with all the other pertinent info should I have to 'remind" them of payments issues. When payment arrives and clears bank, I shred the supporting stuff and just have my invoice to account for and file away.

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 4/7/10 10:44am
Msg #330636

Re: The borrowers can confirm that you were there twice, right?

Ali
If it was a question of getting paid, I would absolutely get something from the borrowers to state you were there twice.

Many years ago I went on a split signing, husband was overseas or something. Wife signed all papers and I notarized her signature. Didn't get paid, so I contacted signing service who said they would look into it. They called me back and said I hadn't got paid as I hadn't gone out and done the signing. I then got a statement from the wife confirming I had gone out and she had signed the papers etc. Called the signing service again.
They checked into it, and it appears the lender had said that the signing never happenened - the husband changed his mind and didn't sign any of the papers, so the loan was cancelled.
I told the signing service that I had a statement from the wife stating that I had definitely gone out and did my job. I got paid!

Reply by BossLadyMD on 4/7/10 11:11am
Msg #330646

Re: The borrowers can confirm that you were there twice, right?

i do not do business with anyone who tells me to leave my home office without being able to call to confirm. that is ridiculous, unprofessional, and not how i want to run my business. i am not their employee, i am a business owner.

Reply by Linda Juenger on 4/7/10 11:21am
Msg #330651

Bosslady

"i do not do business with anyone who tells me to leave my home office without being able to call to confirm. that is ridiculous, unprofessional, and not how i want to run my business. i am not their employee, i am a business owner."

I don't believe that this is what Ali is talking about. She mentions nothing about not being able to confirm with borrower. She is saying that they don't think she made the 1st trip.

Reply by Ali/IL on 4/7/10 11:51am
Msg #330662

Re: Bosslady

They are saying that they did not get docs for first closing so I should have not been there. But, I did get the docs in enough time and got them signed.
I got a call a few days later scheduler didn't know why I was being sent back. He said it could have been for interest rate change.
The docs for first signing was received from me.
Accounting just cannot see anything showing that I did this closing. They said that I have to understand that they were busy and deal with thousands of notaries. I said that doesn't matter.
They have asked me since to fax over my confirmations to see if they can cut me a check.

Reply by BossLadyMD on 4/7/10 4:20pm
Msg #330690

thanks..today was very busy for me, reading too fast

i actually had to turn work down today...go figure!

Reply by BossLadyMD on 4/7/10 4:19pm
Msg #330689

gotcha..thanks for the clarification n/m

Reply by MW/VA on 4/7/10 11:39am
Msg #330658

Since it is the tc that is demanding proof of 2 signings, I

would absolutely insist they contact the borrowers. They are the only ones who can verify that you were physically there twice for two signings.

Reply by dickb/wi on 4/7/10 2:46pm
Msg #330686

thats bs ali [not from u]...you are an ind contractor and...

when they start telling you how to run your business that makes you an employee and they have to kick in for fica , with hold taxes, carry unemployment and workers comp ins and on ad infinitum [spelling?]......i know it's to late now but as the others said, make a folder for that closing and keep everything in it at least untill you get paid.....you could also get a note from the borrowers that you wwere there for two closings.....i had a closing that reared it's ugly head 3 years after the closing, but thank God it was a title co mistake and they just needed an afidavit from me.......the borrower did say in their affidavit that i didn't leave copies of the docs with them, which of course was not true and the court didn't believe them but it goes to show that things can happen well after the closing and you may need some documentation........i do make hard copies of all my confirmations and save them in file boxes for at least 3 years..............jmho

Reply by Linda Juenger on 4/7/10 3:11pm
Msg #330687

Re: thats bs ali [not from u]...you are an ind contractor and...

........i do make hard copies of all my confirmations and save them in file boxes for at least 3 years..............jmho


AMEN. I have a hard copy of every confirmation I have ever recieved. I have at least 2 file boxes for every year. I am lucky that I have a large place to store these (a warehouse large enough for a big rig).
A quick short story that could have cost us 1/2 million dollars or more (no joke here). We used to own gas stations. Every tank in the ground had to be registered with the State of IL. When we pulled the tanks out of the ground to sell the property the EPA came in and tested the ground. It was contaminated with gasoline (for over 30 years). We paid the first $10,000 of the clean up. The state was to pay the rest. They tried to tell us that these tanks were NOT registered with the state of IL. If my husband had not had the documentation to prove that they were (over 30 years ago), we would have been in a world of trouble. We don't have 1/2 million dollars laying around.
So, keep anything and everything you think you will ever need to prove your case someday. You just never know when you are going to need it. I also have 4 fire proof filing cabinets to store our important stuff in both personal and business.

Reply by Ali/IL on 4/8/10 10:56am
Msg #330750

Re: thats bs ali [not from u]...you are an ind contractor and...

I do store the confirmations with the mailing labels. One thing I don't do is save the documents. I had an old pc but, now have bought a new one.
Can someone tell me how I can store the doc packages on my pc without taking up space on computer? I know that I can have folders in my comcast but, not sure how much that will hold.

Followup on my payment issue. They finally asked me to just fax the two confirmations and had payment approved by management.

They still didn't show me as doing the first closing.

Reply by John/CT on 4/8/10 11:33am
Msg #330760

Saving dox: Use a USB flash drive ...

prices keep dropping for large capacity, 4+ GB ... and store it in a secure location.

Reply by jba/fl on 4/8/10 11:45am
Msg #330761

Re: Saving dox: Use a USB flash drive ...

and store it in a secure location.

On a keychain - you don't lose your keys, right?

Reply by Cari on 4/7/10 12:35pm
Msg #330665

can u name the TC or SS that hired you?? n/m