Posted by Nicole_NCali on 5/6/05 4:04pm
Msg #36300

New SA, please ask before you blow it

A Signing Service posted a message that a SA allowed borrowers to sign improperly printed documents. I had a dilemma a couple of days ago where a Citibank Heloc was sent and the documents were all on 8.5x11. This puzzled me, based on the fact that I am now working on loan number 250. (wheeew). I called the SS that contracted me, but with no response, yet due to the time constraints of printing the edocs, I had to turn to this forum for clarification and experience in dealing with this situation.

I have had some SS who when sending over the documents will specify the size of the paper and even give a checklist of the documents in the packet. I have also had some Title companies send over (email) packets where the pages were at best screwy. Based on the fact that I have gained some experience and I read this forum faithfully, I question any deviation before I execute the signing.

The original poster (Signing Service) apparently utilized an inexperienced SA who did not have the knowledge to question the page sizes or even the ability to advise the SS that they did not have a clue how to resize the pages.

I know that being a new SA is hard and gaining the experience is a long hard road. Trust me, I am learning new things everyday. My trigonometry homework is easy in comparison. But for all of the new Signing Agents, don’t be afraid to ask questions even if the older signing agents may lambaste you. It is better to ask before you screw up the loan

I have questions all the time, especially on the Trust signings that I have been blessed (sarcasm) to close lately. As an aside, the Trust must grant deed the property to the individuals and then the individuals will grant deed the property back to the trust once the loan funds. This is because residential lenders cannot loan to an entity but only to individuals, I called an escrow officer and she explained this to me for free. I picked up this bit of education by just asking a simple question.

Reply by BeccaWI on 5/6/05 4:29pm
Msg #36301

So do you always resize your edocs? Sometimes some of the pages have a lot of "white" to them! Or do you discuss that with the ss when the call?

Reply by JanetK/CA on 5/6/05 5:00pm
Msg #36308

You make a good point about "just asking". I would add that I would always first try your contact person before depending on a forum like this, if possible. For one thing, there is no accountability to those who are doling out advice here and it's hard to know how reliable that advice is most of the time.

Having said that, I would also have to slightly disagree with some of what the escrow officer told you about trusts. I agree that they tend to be more problematic and that MOST of the time, escrow will handle it by taking the property out of the trust before refinancing, then adding it back in afterwards. However, it is not always done that way. (I've handled quite a few that weren't.) It's more difficult and complicated (for them and us) when they leave it in the trust (i.e., the borrower may need to sign as trustee and individually, etc.) I'm not going to do a tutorial on trusts here, first because I'm no expert, but also because it seems I'm told differently almost every time - and I nearly always ask to be on the safe side, unless it's a client where we've already been down that road, or it's clear to me what they want. (Sometimes they don't have all the answers, either, and I often see what appear to be mistakes!) However, we should be safe if we proceed the way our clients request.

Reply by Nicole_NCali on 5/6/05 5:41pm
Msg #36323

I refer to the Title/SS on specifics..

I do refer to title on specifics, but when I need a quick answer especially after hours on weekends, I will post a question/ask one of my sa friends/or just go with plain ole common sense.

I have been told different things about trusts, but with this title co that handles this lender, they grant deed to the individuals w/in the trust, process the loan, and then grant deed the property back to the trust. I was puzzled why the trust could not take the loan, but the lender determines the terms. As far as resizing paper, I am above average in reading pdf files and I review each page separately to determine the size, before print.

I also do a print preview with Word for the title docs. This makes life simpler for me. This also lets me know if I can print to a 4200 or to my HP 4