Posted by Joe Ewing on 12/10/06 2:12am
Msg #165095

Notary Exam

Beware, almost every question on this months notary exam has to do with notarization of mortgage documents.

Reply by Larry/Ca on 12/10/06 2:01pm
Msg #165149

Seems unfair since these docs....

are not necessarily covered in classes taken to become educated on notary law. Having said that, it would seem that any question they asked would have to be covered in notary law. How could they ask for your understanding of RTC, TIL, Note etc. on a state notary exam? I would think that most notaries are not becoming such to be NSA's.

Larry

Reply by Joe Ewing on 12/10/06 2:34pm
Msg #165160

Re: Seems unfair since these docs....

Ditto larry. I had several RE agents, one LO and the owner of a Signing Service in my class yesterday. The RE's and the LO were in my Loan Signing class an hour later. The senarios were "if you were in a borrowers home" etc. One would think that the Notary exam was to be about Notary code not a signing agent exam.

Reply by BrendaTx on 12/10/06 3:00pm
Msg #165168

Re: Seems unfair since these docs....

Joe, I am so glad you brought this fact to the board about what is on the CA exam.

I have been feeling very frustrated lately that many people do not have a frame of reference regarding notary work except for loan documents.

I feel this is why the many questions on ID.

In my experience, there is a totally different approach to notarizing...I was a notary first before loan docs. I served the person who needed a signature notarized, not a stack of documents which supposedly needs to be matched to the signer's ID.

I hope that makes sense.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 12/11/06 3:21pm
Msg #165279

Excellent point...

"I served the person who needed a signature notarized, not a stack of documents which supposedly needs to be matched to the signer's ID."

This absolutely makes sense and what an important distinction. Unless a person has a decent enough foundation as a notary, it's all too easy for the lines to blur on this issue. I, too, was a notary for a couple of years before becoming an NSA. I feel that it's been a major advantage to me in carrying out my duties.

Reply by Lee/AR on 12/10/06 3:44pm
Msg #165174

I think I smell a certain CA organization's heavy-hand.

And it stinks.

Reply by CaliNotary on 12/11/06 11:40am
Msg #165233

Re: Seems unfair since these docs....

"How could they ask for your understanding of RTC, TIL, Note etc. on a state notary exam"

They don't.

I just took the test on Saturday and honestly, I didn't notice what Joe's describing. But if there were questions that gave a scenario of being at a loan document signing, the question was about the notarization, not about the loan docs.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 12/11/06 3:26pm
Msg #165280

Re: Seems unfair since these docs....

I'm glad you clarified, Cali. Seems to me that this may be a good thing - and possibly necessary because no many new people are becoming notaries just to be able to do loan docs and don't have enough of a solid foundation (especially after just completing one class without any additional study...) to translate what they've learned into real life applications. If it means that they are tightening up on knowledge level required, so be it!!

Reply by David Kral on 12/12/06 4:12pm
Msg #165451

Is this allowed?

Are you allowed to tip off people what area the exam focuses on? Most exams state or private preclude this.