came up -
No one is saying you're trying to start trouble - I think this type of education is sorely needed in this industry - I've seen far too many notaries who are totally clueless about what they're doing out there in mortgage land and it's frightening.
However, this part did concern me - "When my dad passed away and I was looking at his mortgage I saw that there was a prepayment penalty. When I told my mom she said there was no way dad would have signed that. I said they never bothered to tell him. Sorry but I think that is important stuff to tell the client along with other things."
We have to be very careful about treading that fine line between notary business and UPL - the contents of the documents are not to be our concern, and making a point of pointing out things like this can get one in a world of trouble. We are there to identify, notarize and ensure that the documents are executed properly - that's it. (although this is difficult for those of us here, and there are many, who have spent our careers working with mortgage documents and know the ins and outs of the docs and terms). We have to bite our tongues or, at most, say "let's call your loan officer {or title}" And even then, many times we STILL have to bite our tongues when we hear the LO give an explanation we know is not correct.
Be very careful what you're planning on teaching, Beverly. I would suggest maybe marketing yourself as a hotline for FLORIDA notaries to call from the table if they run into a problem? Also, how were you planning to charge for this service? And how much? Keeping in mind most of the answers are a google search away. I'm also going to throw out there that most times your answer to this notary at a loan signing is going to be "call your hiring party for direction/clarification"
My .02 FWIW |
