Posted by Anonymous on 5/20/04 8:26pm
Msg #2169

Another case of veterans telling us not to take $50 signings

I received a call today from a company who wanted me to go right away and notarize a dozen documents associated with a sales contract. They wanted to email 65 pages, have copies made, and fax back all of the pages. I quoted them a price over $50. They said they would send a confirmation. An hour went by and no confirmation. They called me back and said they had another notary that could do it later in the day for $50. I told them to let her do it and we hung up. He called back to see if I might have reconsidered. I told him my price didn't change. He told me who the other notary was. And guess what, it was one of those seasoned veterans who only work for over $125. It must have been a slow day. It makes you wonder if there isn't another reason why some, not all, tell us never take $50. Oh, I did the signing.

Reply by AnonymousToo on 5/20/04 9:18pm
Msg #2170

You actually:

1. Printed 65 pages;
2. Copied those 65 pages;
3. Faxed back many or all of those pages; and
4. Went out on a last-minute signing --

all for $50? Are you a full-time notary?

Reply by Anonymous on 5/21/04 6:32am
Msg #2177

No! I did not do it for $50. I told them the other notary had a good reputation and to use her. I ended up doing the signing for $100+.

Reply by sue on 5/21/04 7:50am
Msg #2179

well that certainly makes no sense does it. if they had someone to do it for $50 why in the world would they recall you and agree to $100+.

so, either your post is misfactual or the signing service is a liar. can't think of any other scenario but perhaps there is one

Reply by notary on 5/21/04 10:59am
Msg #2184

Good for you! I am very glad you held out for $100+. The amount of work you described warranted it.

Sounds like the SS lied to you when they said the "other notary" would do it for $50. The SSs are awful. (No insult to you, Sylvia. You are one in a million.)

Reply by Anonymous on 5/21/04 12:15pm
Msg #2186

I believe the SS was trying to foster a sense of competition between the other notary and myself. I am sure they do it all the time. After all, they are the ones who benefit from this sort of competition. It goes back to the economic theory of supply and demand. My original post was not intended to be directed to any one notary. When someone gives advice about establishing fees it could be they are trying to help. Or it could be that they are trying to get rid of the competition in their area by encouraging us to price ourselves right out of the market. Just another prospective worth considering.

Reply by Stephanie on 5/21/04 3:25pm
Msg #2188

Re: Another case of veterans telling us not to take $50-An..

I hadn't thought about the encouragement of pricing oneself (sp) right out of the market - interesting angle.

Reply by Donna McGee on 5/23/04 6:56pm
Msg #2224

Hello,
This is an interesting situation you've experienced. However, I don't agree with the trying to get rid of the competition theory. In my opinion, if a seasoned notary is recommending that you not accept the $50 signings, it is a help to all of us. I seriously doubt that someone would do that so they could accept the $50 signing and the aggrevation that goes along with it. If no one accepted these $50 jobs, signing services wouldn't offer them. Case in point - no one in their right mind would go to a grocery store and pay $10 for a 2 liter bottle of soda. However, what will that same person pay at a movie theatre or amusement park? Why? Because the public accepts it.

I am still a new signing agent however, I do not accept signings for $50. I feel my time and qualifications are worth more than that. I think many notaries are afraid that if they ask for more money, they will not have any work. That is simply not true. It sounds to me that the signing company was lying in the situation you experienced.

Many notaries have websites with their rates listed. Compare those rates to yours. Do you belong to a professional association in your state? See if there is one where you can get advice on the local "competition". Find out what other agents are charging and then you will know whether or not your rates are good for your market. Can you develop a working relationship with another notary in your area? Having a reliable colleague is invaluable.

There is entirely too much work available for someone to work that hard to get rid of the competition for a $50 signing. IMHO on this perspective.

Reply by Sylvia/FL on 5/24/04 8:00am
Msg #2234

I seriously doubt the other notary was going to do all that for $50.
If so, they would have used her and not called you back.

As for taking $50 signings, I guess I could be considered a veteran, and I would never tell anyone to turn down a $50 signing.

I suggest new signing agents do what I did when I was new.
I figured my base fee at $50. For this I would go 20 miles (which is a 40 mile RT), that works out to $1.25 per mile.
So anything over the 40 mile RT was billed at $1.25 a mile - rounded up to the nearest $5.
After a year I raised my base fee to $65, still going the 40 mile RT for the $65 and still figuring out $1.25 for additional miles.

There are some SS that want to pay $40. Those I would advise even new signing agents to turn down.

Even when I raised my base fee, if a company called that only wanted to pay $50, if the signing was in my immediate area and the company had a good reputation of paying in a timely manner, and there were no fax back requirements, then I would do it.

Reply by notary on 5/20/04 10:59pm
Msg #2171

If they found another notary who would do this big job for $50, why did they call YOU back to see if you would take the job? It would make more sense if they booked her and you never heard another word about it. Or if they booked her and the only way you found out was because you called them to ask.

I would assume that the SS is lying. They lie all the time. (Mostly about checks in the mail.) I have been told some real stinkers!!! And I have had SSs try to play me against "another notary in my area."

If you know the name and number of this notary, why don't you call her and compare notes?

Reply by DocumentService.com on 6/3/04 10:50am
Msg #2640

Hello Anonymous,

We're a signing company made up primarily of sigining agents. We came from the field full time and can relate to the $50.00 conundrum. Once we became too big to personally handle our book of business we outsourced to fellow notaries. To our dismay, we were forced to pay $50.00 for some of our larger accounts. They are higher volume accounts that we only charge a little more than we pay out. However, we do have some other accounts that pay more, which we are able to pass on to the notary. Currently we do not have enough business from those types of accounts.

Our $50.00 loans are generally helocs with very little in the way of stamping. It sounds like you were being asked to do an incredible amount of work for the same $50.00. As a notary, I would have also charged them more than $50.00, and as a signing company would have gladly paid you more for this effort. There is a time and place for $50.00 signings, just not in this case.

Sincerely,
Michael

Reply by HisHughness on 6/3/04 11:09am
Msg #2642

It is a fallacy to relate only the size of the document package to the signing agent's fee. That's only one factor, and most often not the major one.
I live in a city with the nation's most congested expressway. I cover five counties. The drive time to an assignment often substantially exceeds the signing time. Further, I invest a good amount of office time in a closing: faxing a report memo to the signing service, a report letter to the title company, setting up, updating and closing a file, getting the package to the courier. All of that takes time, and it is time that I know in advance I will have to expend. My fee takes that into account. I normally don't even know the size of the document package within 30-50 pages when I take a closing.
So, when someone tells me there are only a few stampings, it essentially is irrelevant to what I charge. The exception is when I get into two loans; in such cases, someone is getting paid for seeing that two loans get executed, and as the one overseeing the execution, I want a share of that.