Posted by Nicole_NCali on 12/16/04 3:33pm
Msg #13804

Beating a Dead Horse..setting fees

After reading all of the posts on here and carefully posting my questions and answers, I am still amazed that some of the siging agents are taking such low fees. I just had 2 ss call me and offer 45 dollars as if this was normal. I advised them that my fees are posted on notary rotary and for title companies, I have another pricing for them.

The young lady of one ss told me that in the east bay, she could find 5 notaries who will do the signing. I advised her that if that in an average loan package the notaries fees would be over 60 dollars.

I know capitalism is subject to the market and demand, but notaries, even the lowball ones, you are eventually going to go 150 miles away to do a signing for 25 dollars if we don't standardize our fees. Trust me, if this comes to pass, I will definitely keep my day job and let this go.

Reply by CaliNotary on 12/16/04 4:40pm
Msg #13824

It would be nice if we could standardize our fees. But it's never going to happen, you can't have that kind of organization among independent contractors. There will always be somebody desperate for work who will accept pretty much any fee.

There are a lot of good companies around who know that they get what they pay for. Quality work will never go out of style and there will always be a market for it.

Reply by Nicole_NCali on 12/16/04 6:25pm
Msg #13838

I am just really annoyed and I know I have not invented the annoyance, but if in california the minimum notarization costs $10 and some loan packets require about 5 notarizations, then where is the payment for the signing agent portion of this in a 40 dollar fee. I think that some of these companies are doing crack and the notaries who accept the signings are on crystal meph.

Reply by Bob/Ca on 12/16/04 6:35pm
Msg #13840

To CaliNotary:

after you work that formula, is that the total for notarizing the documents plus travel. Or, is that total just for travel expenses.


thanks

Reply by CaliNotary on 12/16/04 6:44pm
Msg #13842

That's the flat fee for everything - travel and notarizations.

Reply by CaliNotary on 12/16/04 6:43pm
Msg #13841

No, in California the maximum allowable fee for a notarization is $10 per signature. I could charge 50 cents per notarization if I wanted to.

The norm in the signing agent industry is a flat fee that includes travel, notarizations and signing all the documents. Whatever we could get per signature for regular notary work really isn't relevant.

If you can make more money doing single notarizations at $10 per pop, then by all means you should do so.

Reply by Nicole_NCali on 12/16/04 7:07pm
Msg #13845

the per signature notarization in volume plus a 10 travel fee is my bread and butter. I do alot of affidavits which is word of mouth and I charge a flat travel fee for zip codes 94805,94804,94702.94701,94612,94619,94608. Anything beyond these area codes are at $15 travel fee. It is amazing how much stuff needs to be notarized especially for contra costa county request for birth certificates via mail.

Reply by mike/ca on 12/17/04 11:58am
Msg #13918

four things i look at when setting fees

1. the company and how they pay
2. how much work they give me per month
3. the distance i need to travel
4. size of the docs and if there e-docs

my fee's run anywhere from 50.00 to 150.00

Reply by BrendaKhan on 12/16/04 9:25pm
Msg #13853

I too have noticed ss calling me lately mainly in the last week offering below my minimum base fee of $75. When I object and state my base fee they say they are not authorized to go above their fee. I tell them I am sorry I am not authorized to go below my base fee either, good luck finding another notary and call me should you be able to meet my base fee for future assignments.
I have figured the average notarizations, travel expenses and my time to be worth atleast $75 my base fee. If they can't meet my fee that is OK too. I am not going to sell my services short and end up losing in the long run. This is just my opinion. BK-FL

Reply by Ronald Philbrick on 12/17/04 10:27am
Msg #13908

If you are a member of NNA go to their webb site. They have suggested minimums.

Reply by Nicole_NCali on 12/17/04 11:53am
Msg #13917

The NNA website is a joke on fees. The basic loan package sometimes contain over 6 items that need to be notarized. which would equal $60, travel to most places in california is over 10 miles at 1.25=12.50 round trip that is 25 and that is just going 10 miles. Add edoc fees (35 dollars) paper at paper at 33.98 per case. I think that a reasonable base fee is $85 dollars and over the 10 mile distance is the 1.25/mile. For title companies, I have no problem getting this fee, but with the nickel and dime SS, it is like pulling teeth.

Reply by CarolynCO on 12/18/04 11:21am
Msg #14010

**The basic loan package sometimes contain over 6 items that need to be notarized, which would equal $60**

As Cali already pointed out in an earlier post, "per signature notary rate isn't relevant in loan signing." General notarization and loan signings are two entirely different things. If you can stay busy with general notarizations and could make more money than for loan signings, maybe you should look into marketing strictly general notarizations.

You should set your rate so it pretty well equals out, i.e., some loans packages I'm in and out in 10 minutes because they are very small and require one notarization, while others are larger and require more notarizations and take me between 45 minutes to an hour.