I must admit you and Jennifer show a lot of courage, opening a SS in this climate, when SSs are dying left and right, and have been for two years now. Just today in my county, one title company laid off three staff, a lender laid off two staff. Union Bank recently bought a huge tri-county bank, and laid off 100s in the loan origination department.
The BIGGEST companies have gone under, slamming their AP doors in the faces of notaries across the country. This is the most communicative forum in the industry, and believe me, we're all aware of who pays, who stays, and which companies have stiffed notaries, giving them assignments knowing full well they would not be paying these notaries for their work. Then, as greedy and arrogant as they were, they had the nerve to advertise their expensive global vacation destinations on social media networks, flaunting how they were spending notaries' unpaid fees.
I'll bet those 100s of notaries who've signed up with you have no clue about what they're doing because they are milled right out of the NNA whose entire revenue is based on annual background checks. I'm pretty sure you're not seeing the best and the brightest of this business signing up with Indepth Solutions.
The last thing I intend to do is to complete 35 pages of a one-way street agreement with a company that I know nothing about. Frankly, Ralph, I'd rather be paid $150 plus directly by client, title/escrow or lender, than give a SS most of my fee 30 days down the road.
If Indepth Solutions has a vision of MUTUAL respect and shared prosperity, it would be the first one out there of its kind.
Distain is correctly spelled DISDAIN. Curtesy is correctly spelled COURTESY. You must be a newcomer to this field, because there are plenty of signing services out there, 100s of them, who have come and gone and have no idea what MUTUAL respect and shared prosperity are. Sorry if we seem jaded here, but we've had lots of experience with that brand of SS.
We're just not that easy these days. Pare that 35 page agreement down to something more reasonable. Also, as for my vendors, who pay me all the respect in the world, and me them, I'm not showing them my automobile insurance policy, my drivers license, $300K in business liability policy, etc. You and Jennifer will attract notaries who are desperate and will work for peanuts. That's not who the first responders on this forum are.
Ralph, I would welcome your company if you prove us wrong, but I'm pretty sure, your company is going to be like all the rest. Putting yourself in the middle and retaining a bulk of the fee, because after all, just like the NNA, you have very high overhead costs with 25 employees. Some of the biggest signing services around have a lean and mean staff. The business is not what it was three years ago when everyone was refi'ing over and over. They've cut their staff, and their fees.
You will attract people who won't ask these difficult questions, because they have no experience, they're just cutting their teeth on documents. You will get what you pay for, believe me, because a lot of my work is cleaning up after clueless, inexperienced notaries.
The people who are responding here to you now ARE professionals. We've weathered the storms. We've been stiffed by SS's over the years. But we're a much wiser board today. Seasoned, professional, skilled and armed with survival skills. Frankly, all the companies listed on the SPW list of partners are low ball, slow paying signing services. You need to clearly understand why we don't welcome new SSs with open arms.
You're not listed on this forum as a SS in Signing Central. That will be a great place to start, so that notaries who sign up with you can rate your company, good, bad and ugly. |
