Posted by Victoria/FL on 3/11/05 4:33pm
Msg #25021

E-docs - $75

Which one of you took my e-doc assignment for $75???? Got a call from SS wanting me to travel 45min to 1 hr one-way and accept e-docs for $75. Of course I quoted them my fee for that area, got the usual "I'll have to get that approved and call you back." Out of curiosity, I called back 15 minutes later, and they had already given it to someone else.

Let's set some standards people! I'm still a "newbie" (less than 1 year) and I despise turning down business, but enough is enough!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Reply by Ted_MI on 3/11/05 7:11pm
Msg #25034

heh, Victoria,

Sorry about that; I did. In a flash, I decided that three months of winter was more than enough and I needed some excuse to rationalize going to Florida. So I accepted and soon will be on my way winging south!! Heh, just think I will have seventy-five bucks that I wouldn't have had otherwise!! LOL

Reply by Liz/MD on 3/11/05 7:57pm
Msg #25042

Just curious, why did you call back?

Reply by Victoria/FL on 3/12/05 6:28am
Msg #25080

Good for you, Ted!

And you can write it off as a business expense as well! Give me a call when you're in town and we'll get together for lunch!

Reply by Victoria/FL on 3/12/05 6:28am
Msg #25081

Re: Good for you, Ted!

Of course you're buying, since you got the $75.

Reply by Ted_MI on 3/12/05 7:12am
Msg #25090

Re: OK n/m

Reply by Gloria/GA on 3/11/05 9:22pm
Msg #25054

Your post was comical....if you didn't accept the assignment then it wasn't "your" assignment. What did you really expect the SS to do? For what ever reason one decides to turn down an assignment whether they be too busy, or it's not enough money-or whatever reason then the SS should try and contact someone to take the assignment. They may have contacted a notary who was closer and $75 seemed pretty damn good to them! Who know's it may have been a notary who was even further away and decided to take the assignment. That's the nature of this beast of a business we are in.

Fact of the matter is if you are not taking assignments because they don't pay "your fee" that's all well and good, but if you think that NOONE else will do it for the fee "they" offer-you are kidding only yourself and hurting yourself in this business. The SS won't be hurt at all, because no matter how many times people post about low balling fees and all of that some notary will take the "low" fee.

Next time you don't accept an assignment because of the fee -that's definately your choice, but don't do it thinking the SS is going to call you back later begging you to take the assignment and willing to pay anything you ask. That's a gamble and anytime one gambles there's a chance that you may Win and there's a chance you may Lose. You may want to reevaluate how and why you turn down business if turning down business has you in an unneccessary uproar like this.

Reply by CarolynCO on 3/11/05 10:26pm
Msg #25056

From the original post I didn't get the impression that the poster was in an unnecessaray uproar. She stated that she was a "newbie" -- but even so, she has done enough research to know that you don't take an e-doc signing, travel 45 minutes to 1 hour each way for $75. Personally, the only thing that I see that she did wrong was call the SS back after 15 minutes.

You think the poster is hurting herself because she didn't take the assignment. Wrong. The person who accepted the assignment for $75 is the one hurting the business. Instead of the original poster reevaluating how and why she is turning down biz, if you are accepting similar assignments for roughly the same fee, you are the one that needs to reevaluate.

Reply by Gloria/GA on 3/11/05 11:18pm
Msg #25063

Well, it was obvious that she had a problem with not accepting the assignment or maybe it was the fact that the SS offered her $75 for that assignment and someone else took it. Either way when you turn down an assignment -turn it down and go on about your business. You (not literally you) turned down that assignment and someone else WILL probably take it-KNOW THAT. If that bothers you so much that you call the SS to see what happened. Then again you are disillusioning yourself about this business.

Yes, maam -I will take a $75 edoc if the assignment works for ME! That means I have evaluated the particulars of that assignment and -Accepted. There are many factors that I look at, however if I decide to turn down an assignment for fee issues or whatever other issues. It's a done deal. They made an offer, I turned it down, I'm moving on, they are going to get someone else to take it. I can't be mad at the SS or the notary that decides the assignment works for them. If they (SS) can't find anyone else and call me back and are willing to pay my fee (if I turned it down for fee reason's) then GOOD for me.

In my opinion it's a waste of your time worrying about assignments that you had the opportunity to take-but did not for whatever reasons. In the posters instance, she called the SS for a status. Did she really think the SS was going to say "Yeah, Jane Notary (whatever the name of the actual notary) took the assignment!" Also, it's very doubtful that the someone on this board would actually reply "Yeah, I was the one who took "your" assignment!" Mainly, because the person that accepted the assignment may be busy preparring for it and not have time be responding on this board. One's time could be better spent doing something else productive for your business that you can control, rather than worrying about what you can't control.

Reply by Reginald Wilks on 3/12/05 12:21am
Msg #25069

Add my two cents to this

I had a call Wednesday wanting me to take an assignment that's 60 miles round trip and edocs also I quoted him a price of $135 He said he'd get back to me but would I consider $100 I told Him I'd consider it but right now $135 He never called back. But Thursday the same ss only different person calls wanting to know if I'd take $125 I said I'd think about it. Well he never called back. Then Today same ss company different person called and wanted to know if I'd still take the job for $100 I told him yes He said they would ship the docs to me well about an hour later the lending co called and asked if I'd take the docs edocs instead of Saturday delivery?

Well I told him I would it wound up being 62 pages times 2 so I wound up printing124 pages and traveling 120 miles for $100. At this point I need the money and the $100 looks good to me. You may want to rag on me for doing this but $100 is a $100 and that puts gas in the truck.

Reggie
Kansas

Reply by Jim/CA on 3/12/05 12:38am
Msg #25073

One-hundred dollars beats Zero-hundred dollars in most instances.

Reply by CarolynCO on 3/12/05 9:32am
Msg #25103

If I understand correctly, you did a signing for $100 that the day before you turned down for $125 ??

Reply by Reginald Wilks on 3/12/05 11:36am
Msg #25119

No I am doing a signing for $100 Monday that they offered $75 and because of not being able to find anyone at that price and it being Friday they accepted my $100 fee. I should have stuck with $135 because later the lender called and asked me to accept edocs instead of next day delivery which would have been Saturday. I did accept the edocs and wound up printing 120 pages. I am still going to do the signing BECAUSE $100 IS BETTER THAN NOTHING. for those who think it should have been more.



Reggie
Kansas

Reply by CarolynCO on 3/12/05 1:26pm
Msg #25137

Re: BECAUSE $100 IS BETTER THAN NOTHING.

It depends. How far do you have to travel for the signing? If you have to go more than 10-12-miles one way, than $100 *isn't* better than nothing.

In Victoria's post, her travel time alone was going to be 1-1/2 to 2 hours for $75. Even if they would have upped her fee to $100, the wear and tear on her printer, vehicle, maintenance and cost of gasoline still wouldn't have been worth $100. Don't let these SS's know how hungry you are. The reason they offer such small signing fees is that they know there are people who will take the lower rates. As for the comment that it would fill up the gas tank -- if you are just taking the signing to fill up the gas tank, turn down the signing and stay at home -- then the money wouldn't be going directly from SS to your hand to your gas tank.

After the cost of the toner, paper, mileage, vehicle maintenance, self employment taxes -- there would have been very little left of the $75 in Victoria's case. And as for your own case, once again, it depends on how far you have to travel, if you have faxbacks and how many, and if so, are you looking at long distance fax charges. Something is not necessarily better than nothing.

Reply by Gloria/GA on 3/12/05 12:33am
Msg #25070

I was under the impression that Georgia is AN ATTORNEY ONLY State & that Notaries weren't allowed to do any Signings/Closings for ANY AMOUNT of money! Is this correct?

Reply by Oops! on 3/12/05 12:36am
Msg #25072

That last post was FOR Gloria/GA, not by her.

Reply by Victoria/FL on 3/12/05 6:37am
Msg #25085

Thanks, Carolyn.

I WAS trying to make an indirect point. Because even though I am a "newbie," I think that as a collective group, we do need to stand-up for the value of our services. Having new notaries come in and accept lower fees is hurting EVERYONE (and since I am a "newbie" - I feel like I can say this). Back in the 90's, I was a mortgage loan originator - I know firsthand how much money there is floating around with a loan origination, processing and closing - let's get our fair share!

Reply by CarolynCO on 3/12/05 9:12am
Msg #25101

Re: Thanks, Carolyn.

Victoria,
I understood your post completely. In essence, this was a $50 signing and $25 for edocs with round trip travel time of 2 hours or one hour and 45 minutes. Add to that, an hour for the signing. Of course there will be combacks that something is better than nothing, but I'm glad you stood your grounds. In addition, many seasoned signers would have added on a mileage charge. You did good!

Reply by Reginald Wilks on 3/12/05 11:40am
Msg #25120

Re: Thanks, Carolyn.

Thanks CarolnCO

I tried to stick to $135 but I needed the money so I did drop to $100 but like I said that's better than nothing



Reggie
Kansas

Reply by Victoria/FL on 3/12/05 6:26am
Msg #25079

I'm not in an uproar - I was trying to be funny (obviously that point didn't come across). I called the SS back because I didn't quite get the name when they called and I wanted to make note in my records. I thought I'd get an automated sytstem, but was surprised when they answered, so I thought, "What the heck, I'm going to find out if they're really 'checking for approval' or if they've already given it to someone else." I didn't really expect them to still have it waiting for me.

I think taking $75 for e-docs is fine - in some circumstances. But not in this case, it was close to 100 miles round-trip - from my house - and I was going to be in the opposite direction with other closings, so in reality, it was more than 100 miles. I think it's great that someone else received the assignment, trust me, there's plenty of business to go around if you're doing your job right.

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 3/12/05 8:22pm
Msg #25189

My guess is when they called you they didn't realize you were 45 minutes to an hour away, and found someone closer. Remember someone in the immediate neighbourhood would do the signing for $50, and a lot of signing agents only charge $25 extra for edocs, so the $75 would seem reasonable to them.