Posted by Cindy-PA on 5/5/05 11:27am
Msg #35993

Pennsylvania Register

Pennsylvania requires notaries to fill out a Notary Registry for each notarial act performed. Does anyone know if it is legal to, rather than fill out a registry, to create a registry in Access database to enter the information that way.

Reply by sue/pa on 5/5/05 11:30am
Msg #35995

you can make up your own. I've got mine in table format on the computer

Reply by Ernest_CT on 5/5/05 11:31am
Msg #35996

The "Register" in PA sounds like what CT calls a "Journal". If that is the case, you'd probably find it difficult to have your signers sign your computer.

If you mean that you'd print out Excel spreadsheets and have them signed, then also no. The Journal is supposed to be bound so that pages cannot be added, removed, or substituted.

Hope this helps.

Reply by MarleneM/USNA on 5/5/05 11:47am
Msg #36003

Re: Pennsylvania Register - signing not required

Ernest, a Pennsylvania Register is a journal, but there is no requirement in the law for the customer to sign it. PA also doesn't have any requirements as to the type of register - it can be paper, loose-leaf notebook, spiral-bound, hard-bound, electronic, etc., just so a copy of it can be produced upon request.

Reply by Ernest_CT on 5/5/05 11:59am
Msg #36006

Thank you, MarleneM!

There's always danger in answering questions from the point of view of one's own state. Thank you for telling all of us how PA Registers are supposed to work.

Just my opinions here, not fact, but here goes: Having a signer's signature in our journal helps to protect us and the signer both. That way there should be virtually no doubt that the person really did appear before us. If there is any doubt about the date of the notarial act, the date and time appear in my journal between other notarizations and it would be obvious if anyone tried to change the sequence. (Yes, you're welcome to call me paranoid!)

There have been two occasions that I ID'd a witness to a loan closing and had them sign my journal. I was concerned not about the witnesses' identity, but that there might be some legal tapdancing after the loan funded.

Where a signing has been cancelled at the signing table by the borrower I have positive proof that the (potential) borrower and I were physically together. There's no chance that the signing service or lender or borrower could say it never happened.

IMHO, a Journal (or Register) is an extra insurance policy.

Reply by MarleneM/USNA on 5/5/05 12:21pm
Msg #36011

Re: Thank you, MarleneM! - I agree!

A register/journal is the best insurance a notary can have in the event a transaction is ever called into question. Our USNA journal has a space for the customer signature; our PA-specific registers do not, simply because it is not required. We are looking at making changes in the PA register now to provide more protection for the notary.

Reply by sue on 5/5/05 11:55am
Msg #36005

not in PA. they don't have to sign it. it doesn't have to be bound. This is a state specific type question.

Reply by MsRobboPA on 5/5/05 5:04pm
Msg #36100

I know that it is state law in PA to keep a journal because of client's signatures or if there is ever a problem with identity fraud. Also, the state can request the journal at any time if any questions ever arise from your work.

Reply by Ernest_CT on 5/5/05 11:32am
Msg #35998

Of course the final answer is ...

... contact the department that issues notary commissions. They have the final word.

Reply by Cindy-PA on 5/5/05 4:16pm
Msg #36079

Thanks to all of you for your help. I also understand your concerns regarding not having to get signatures in PA. I always ask for photocopies of drivers license as backup in lieu of signatures in the Register. Not that I always get photocopies but it does help.

Reply by Ernest_CT on 5/5/05 4:43pm
Msg #36092

Umm, careful here!

Keeping photocopies of signers' drivers' licenses (as opposed to shipping them with the docs when the lender requires them) poses a host of problems! I'm assuming that you meant that when you could comply with the lenders' requests for photocopies of ID.

Keeping copies of IDs yourself would open all kinds of privacy and identity theft issues. I, for one, would flatly refuse to give you a photocopy for YOUR records. When a signing service demands that I submit a copy of my driver's license I black out several data.

Be careful of how much data you keep!

Reply by Cindy-PA on 5/5/05 4:46pm
Msg #36095

Re: Umm, careful here!

I have worked in the past as an employee for several title companies and they all made copies of drivers licenses for their files (not for the lender). I wasn't aware that this posed a problem.

Reply by sue on 5/5/05 5:24pm
Msg #36104

Re: Umm, careful here!

Cindy, it doesn't cause a problem. You have a valid reason for obtaining license info from a borrower.

Reply by Ernest_CT on 5/5/05 7:31pm
Msg #36133

Yes, no problem for her IF ...

... the copy goes with the signed docs!

Could be a problem if she KEEPS the copies.

(Today there's another thread about this topic.)