Posted by NotaryGirl71 on 7/28/06 5:19pm
Msg #135863

All you need to do is STAMP the documents and leave

So the other day a friend of mine called and asked if I could help her roommate with the signing of his loan documents. Of course I dropped everything I was doing and arrived in 30 minutes.

When I arrived I sat down to look at the documents (it was a 1st and 2nd) and started filling out my notary book. My friend's roommate came up to me and said, "What are you doing? All you need to do is stamp the documents and leave".

I explained to him that my job entailed a little more that just stamping documents....that I was a Signing Agent and I was here to ensure his loan documents are signed, dated, and initalled propery. I also explained to him that the loan signing would take up to an hour but if he was in a hurry I would go as fast as I could for him.

Again, he said to me "All you need to do is stamp the documents and leave!"

Right at this point I noticed his documents were dated July 27th....it was only July 26th...I explained to him that I would not be able to help him until tomorrow. He then asked me to do it any way....I explained to him that if I were to notarize his documents for today (the 26th) that the county would reject the recording. He then TOLD me to date it for tomorrow and I informed him that it was against the law to to that.

I left the house at this point...The next day my friend who referred me to him said he went to a Mail Boxes Etc and the notary there had no problem notarizing the post dated documents. The notary dated them for the 26th. She also told me he was only there for 25 minutes (not an hour)...

I hate to be mean but this JERK cost me 2 hours of my day plus over a 40 mile round trip. I hope his loan docs get rejected by the county!!!

Reply by BrendaTx on 7/28/06 6:38pm
Msg #135885

No good deed goes unpunished.

There is double punishment if you are a notary.

Reply by Ndwa on 7/28/06 6:55pm
Msg #135891

Your job as notary is to witness and notarize a person's signature on the document at that time, date, and place. What's on the document (except blank space) is irrelevant.

Whether the docs get rejected or not by the recording office was not your decision.

Reply by AngelinaAZ on 7/28/06 7:05pm
Msg #135892

FYI - Andy... AZ law states that I cannot notarize a document before it exists (that's how they define it) and state that the document date must be the prior to or the day of notarization. It has never come up for me... but I thought it was interesting that they address post-dated documents. According to discussions we've had here, I always thought the doc date was of no concern to me.

Reply by NotaryGirl71 on 7/28/06 7:06pm
Msg #135893

Per California State Notarial Laws we are NOT to notarize post dated documents!

Reply by BarbaraL_CA on 7/28/06 7:34pm
Msg #135896

Can you reference the notarial law?

Wells Fargo sends loan packages direct to borrowers with instructions to find a notary and get the necessary notarizations. Those docs are usually dated in the future. The borrowers sign and date them for the date they are signng., and the notary notarizes on that same day. Never been rejected.

Can you supply the "Notarial Law" you are referring to? I searched the Notary Handbook and looked at all references to "date" and did not find anything pertaining to date of documents.

Reply by NCLisa on 7/28/06 8:18pm
Msg #135900

You can not backdate the notary section, but you could have filled in the notarial section with the date of the notarization and it would have been fine.

Reply by PB_CA on 7/28/06 8:31pm
Msg #135908

In the 2006 California notary Law Primer on page14, #7, 2nd paragraph it states; A document dated to follow the date on its notarial certificate risk rejection by a recorded, who may question how the document could have been notarized before it was signed.

Reply by NCLisa on 7/28/06 9:36pm
Msg #135918

I realize that, but if the borrower insists, and it wasn't as if this notary was hired by a TC or SS to perform the notarization with instructions otherwise, then it is the borrowers problem if the document is rejected. It also is not hard to find out which county rejects and which doesn't.

Reply by BarbaraL_CA on 7/28/06 10:29pm
Msg #135926

It doesn't say it is "illegal" - just that it might "risk rejection". I've never had one rejected (Wells Fargo).

Reply by ewing2surf on 7/29/06 1:10am
Msg #135959

Notary FIRST

You are a Certified Signing Agent so you could not just sign and stamp. Your certification required that you must go through the entire loan carefully explaining each document. Your certification also required you to reduce your fees to $50 no matter how many signatures you certified.

Reply by Lee/AR on 7/28/06 9:08pm
Msg #135913

Ndwa has it right, and...

you were a bit confused as to which 'hat' you were wearing. You were not hired by TC as an NSA. You were hired by a borrower strictly as a notary. ID, witness, stamp, sign on date this happened. Date on docs is not your concern.

Reply by TitleGalCA on 7/28/06 10:42pm
Msg #135930

Sorry Notary Girl

***Right at this point I noticed his documents were dated July 27th....it was only July 26th...I explained to him that I would not be able to help him until tomorrow***

And why was that? A notary is not responsible for the contents of the document. Read your handbook.

***I explained to him that if I were to notarize his documents for today (the 26th) that the county would reject the recording.***

"The County would reject the recording"??? And you are an authority on this because.......?

***I left the house at this point.***

I bet he was glad about that. "Notary Self-Important-itis" at it's worst.

He was the Jerk? He told you up front what he expected - you decided to be a jerk, not him. He was clear about the docs and the loan and he wanted to get it over with. It is NOT up to you to decide for him what's best for him. This signing was all about what was best for YOU.

Reply by LkArrowhd/CA on 7/28/06 11:35pm
Msg #135935

Re: Sorry Notary Girl- I have a differen take on Notary Girl

I see Notary Girl as young, new in the profession, I think she felt sincere in what she was saying and doing no matter how wrong it may have been. I don't think she is all about her or her self important-itis.....I really don't.

Reply by TitleGalCA on 7/28/06 11:48pm
Msg #135941

Re: Sorry Notary Girl- I have a differen take on Notary Girl

I might agree with you except for the fact that her information was wrong. To have that attitude when you aren't even correct in what that attitude is based on, isn't a formula for success, especially in this market.

Reply by LkArrowhd/CA on 7/28/06 11:56pm
Msg #135942

Re: She felt she was correct....... n/m

Reply by Joan Bergstrom on 7/29/06 12:00am
Msg #135943

Title Gal is correct

Just concern yourself with the date in the notarial certificate Acknowledgment where is says

on......... (this is today's date whatever today's date is?

Changing this date in the notarial certificate per our CA "New violations and penalties laws effective January 1, 2006" Penal code # 470 False Acknowledgments/Forgery:
The new law makes a notary public guilty of Forgery if he/she issues an Acknowledgment knowing it to be false.

Reply by LkArrowhd/CA on 7/29/06 12:10am
Msg #135945

Re: Title Gal is correct-Joan Joan no one said Title Gal was

wrong......my comment simply states that Notary Girl sincerely felt she was correct in her belief.
You don't need to quote the bible.....or kiss up.