Posted by FLNOTARY on 12/13/04 3:07pm
Msg #13452

BE CAREFUL OUT THERE

Hi fellow Notaries:

I went to a signing on Friday night. The borrowers explained to me that they were so upset before because they where cancelled on twice before I went out and now they are eating crow!!

WHY????

Apparently the 2nd SA to get sent was cancelled due to car trouble. The borrowers call the lender to make a big issue about it and was told that the SA had in fact been killed in a car accident on her way to their home.

Just a note to all of you out there to be careful on the highways and bi-ways out there. Stay safe and if your running late, make a call and take your time and arrive alive.

Reply by Donna_CA on 12/13/04 4:04pm
Msg #13457

Good advice at any time of the year, but especially so around the holiday season.

Reply by KC/IN on 12/13/04 7:42pm
Msg #13468

Yeah, I was about 15 minutes late to a closing this morning because of bad weather. The people were a little upset but I didn't let their attitude get to me. I just appoligized to them and explained that the roads were bad. When the roads are bad, I take my time. It isn't worth wrecking your car or loosing your life.

Reply by sue on 12/13/04 8:36pm
Msg #13478

one of the many intangibles of our jobs is our risk for being 'out there' - in my case 3000+ miles a month. calculating your fee should include all those intangibles, although certainly no fee is worth any accident or the fate this poor notary and his/her family suffered.

Reply by BrendaKhan on 12/13/04 9:58pm
Msg #13488

I'm am so sorry to hear of this terrible accident, my thoughts and sorrow go out to the family.

I knew by living in South Florida and all the horrible drivers on the roads now a days would have its effect on me being a mobile notary signing agent and it did already.
I was rear ended at a red light about 1 month ago while going to a signing. Fortune for me it was only minor damage.
The borrowers were more than understanding of me being a little late once I explained what had happended. I was too irrate to remember to call the borrowers when it happened and just exchanged info and rushed to my signing. It was a new van in perfect condition but not anymore!
Please be careful no matter where you live or what time of the year it is when driving. BK-FL

Reply by CaliNotary on 12/13/04 11:58pm
Msg #13511

Ooooh, I can top Brenda's story!

About 2 months ago I was given a signing in downtown Los Angeles in the morning. While at a stoplight somebody hit me from behind. Not hard but not exactly a light tap either. In downtown LA some of the major streets don't have curbside parking so I was trying to figure out where exactly to pull over, which looked like I could do it about 2 blocks ahead. I went straight through the light, the car that hit me turned right. I was shocked.

I went to the next light, turned, turned again and saw the car stopped at the intersection (the one time I was grateful for morning traffic in LA, sometimes you have to wait 2 or 3 lights to get through an intersection). I then noticed a cop car right behind me at the light. I jumped out, pointed out the car that had hit me and told them what happened. They pulled her over, everything was fine with my car, she said that she saw there was no damage so didn't see why she should pull over. Didn't actually apologize. Some people.

Anyway, this all took a bit of time and I was running late, so I called the borrower to tell her. She said that she didn't want to sign the paperwork because she hadn't had a chance to read it yet, and that she just wanted me to drop it off with her. It wasn't even a loan package, it was just about 10 pages of affadavits that Ameriquest hadn't included when she signed the refi paperwork (with somebody else). I told her that she would have to work that out with Ameriquest, that I couldn't leave the documents with her, and that they were just basic affadavits. But she didn't want me to come. Whether this was because I was running late or some other reason I don't know.

So I made the trip and got into my "accident" for nothing. And, for good measure, when I was leaving my apartment to go to the signing I tripped on the stairs and fell about 4 steps landing on my back and scraping my knee and wrist. All that for a signing that never took place for a reason the borrower could have brought up the FIRST time I talked to her to confirm the appointment.

For extra good measure, they sent me back out to her about a week later. I went to what I thought was the address, a produce market that took up the entire city block. I couldn't actually see the address on the building, but it was the only thing there and made logical sense based on the addresses across the street. The address I was given had a suite number, there were about 300 vendors at this produce market, nobody knew which stall was that number. Called the borrower numerous times for about 25 minutes while I was wandering around and dodging forklifts, kept getting her voicemail.

She finally called me wondering where I was. After a frustrating conversation I discovered that Ameriquest had given the signing service the wrong CITY. I was on Flower St in Los Angeles, she was on Flower St in Glendale. When I asked her why she hadn't told me this when I verbally confirmed the address to her she told me that Glendale was part of Los Angeles. Which of course, it's not, it's an entirely different city.

So I made the trip to the Glendale location. Which was about 5 minutes from where I live, much closer and easier to get to than Downtown LA. And the final kicker - she had requested and received the faxed affadavits from Ameriquest. But she never got around to reading them so she did the signing with the same lack of knowledge that she had the week before.

Reply by HisHughness on 12/14/04 12:07am
Msg #13512

Cal, I don't think I'll ever invite you to accompany me to Vegas or Atlantic City. I can't afford your luck.

Reply by Happy in Fl on 12/14/04 5:12am
Msg #13528

Re: BE CAREFUL OUT THERE-Cali Notary

Curious-- Are you a Retired Postman or Pony Express Rider?

You were so Dogmatic about getting those papers to the borrower- Wow!

You know " Through Rain or Snow- Hail or Sleet-- The Mail will Go Thru ".

Goes to show you- Notaries are Second to None..! Good Job!!

Reply by HisHughness on 12/14/04 9:25am
Msg #13539

Re: BE CAREFUL OUT THERE-Cali Notary

CaliNotary commends Happy in Fl:

***You were so Dogmatic about getting those papers to the borrower- Wow!***

Dogmatic = characterized by the expression of opinions very strongly, as if they were fact.
Dogged = marked by stubborn determination.

Maybe, Cal, Happy was delivering religious tracts along with those documents, in which case I assume he was being doggedly dogmatic.

As an aside that absolutely no one except BrendaTX is going to give a tinker's damn about, "dogged" can also mean track or follow, as in "Sadness dogged his every footstep." For some reason buried deep in the swamps of the etymological past, "dogged" (stubborn) is two syllables, pronounced "dog-ged," but "dogged" (followed) is only one, pronounced just like you would think.

Sorry about all this. When you're stuck in an apartment at Christmastime, with an estranged wife off somewhere having God knows what kind of fun, the mind begins to deteriorate, and mushrooms begin springing up around the edges. Some of them are hallucinatory.

Reply by BrendaTX on 12/14/04 10:27am
Msg #13546

Re: BE CAREFUL OUT THERE-Cali Notary

Hughness said:

"As an aside that absolutely no one except BrendaTX is ... past, "dogged" (stubborn) is two syllables, pronounced "dog-ged," but "dogged" (followed) is only one, pronounced just like you would think."

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Look, Hugh, you can give me all the grief and fits you want to, but if you start in on my dog I'll have to hurt you. Even my much celebrated son (in whom I find much pride) is not allowed to speak to her with anything but the utmost respect and highest regard.

A good notary dog is hard to find.

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