I did a POA signing this evening with a person who was signing for the third time because the two previous times the notary messed up. This was a pretty standard POA signing with the correct verbiage to sign typed under the signature lines, but the notary found some creative ways to let it get messed up.
It's one thing to have to go through all that signing over and over again (did I mention that the notary asked the signer to also sign the borrower set the first time?!), but it's having some significant financial consequences for this person. The purpose of the refi was to pay off some bills that were the result of a health issue. Some cash out was a necessary part of why this was being done.
Sadly, though, the existing loan being paid off is an FHA loan. The delay reduced the cash out and increased the payoff amount substantially, even though the first payment date didn't change. Most likely, it's because they're charging for another complete month of interest, since it won't be able to fund before the end of the month.
This could have been prevented. There were so many things the person mentioned as we went through the package that the previous notary had missed (like administering an oath, among many others), that it was clear that this notary was inexperienced, to be as kind as I can manage.
So who do you think should end up eating the costs for these errors? (Notary E&O is not likely to cover it.) The LO is probably going to try to make good on it for them (he's a family friend), but the mistakes weren't his. I'll probably never know, but we can speculate.
In my humble opinion, this is the classic example of being penny-wise and pound-foolish by hiring notaries cheaply. Sometimes you really do get no more than what you pay for. Even if this borrower manages to get made whole financially by the LO, it still cost this person a significant amount of time and stress - that I'm sure didn't help the medical condition being dealt with.
Vent over. |