Posted by Glenn Strickler on 7/9/06 4:00am
Msg #131867

For California Notaries

For the past few months, I have written and spoken with several state assembly persons and Secretary of State Bruce McPhearson's office concerning introducing a bill to ensure the notary signing agent receives full payment of the agreed upon fees in the event that the borrower exercises their RTC after the loan is closed. I have approached the subject from a consumer protection standpoint. The possibility of not getting paid for 2 or 3 hours work if the RTC is exercised is creating enough pressure for the weaker notaries break the law and give positive advice concerning the loan. I had a friend in another area of the state call me and ask if the notary is suppose to tell him that it is a wonderful loan. So it is happening out there. Now, the feedback I have been getting from the assembly persons I have spoken with, is that we now appear to have an opportunity to solve two problems. The first is the temptation of the lender not to pay in the event of a cancelation and the temtation for the notary to give advice to try to in an attempt to influence the borrowor into not cancelling the loan.

The opportunity is to write your assembly person in order to get enough of them to sponsor a bill addressing the issue. The entire assembly is up for re-election this November and they are listening right now. Whe window will close after November. So go to

http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/defaulttext.asp,

click on the "Find my District" on the left, enter your address and the name and address of your representatives will appear. Write your letters strictly from a consumer protection standpoint and your concern about keeping all notaries inpartial during a loan assignment. Keep them very short and to the point and maybe name the times that you have been confronted with this issue. Postcards through the mail and faxes are read faster than sealed letters (security concerns) and email (the sheer volume of crackpots using email).

Now I have sued a couple of SS and one lender over this issue in small claims (I won, by the way simply because our contract is with the service, not the borrowor) and have been told that I would be put on the so called dreaded "Black List". But I am still meeting my income goals. I will take the heat, after all, I am a semi-retired old guy, not much to loose and have the time for this. And maybe we can make our profession a little better .....

Reply by Calnotary on 7/9/06 7:22am
Msg #131869

That's a great idea, I will do my part Glenn.

Thank you.

Reply by John_NorCal on 7/9/06 8:41am
Msg #131873

Thanks Glenn, I'll draft up my letter and send it in.

Reply by Kelly M Robertson on 7/9/06 9:04am
Msg #131874

Excellent Post Glenn

And Glenn, thanks for your efforts. I am very familiar with Reg Z, etc and could not agree with you more. The idea may be that the Signing Agent is also POC , according to my conversations with MISMO and other leaders in our industry. Let me know if you need some assistance with this project and I'll forward all the info I have on the subject. Like John and CalNotary, I support this challenge and will follow the link you provided.

Reply by Joe Ewing on 7/9/06 11:44am
Msg #131914

Excellent post Glen. Thanks for doing the reaserch. I too have sued various deadbeat Lenders and was Blackballed by a Lender that was eventually Blacklisted (nationally) themselves.

My opinion is that we don't need a bill or more importantly the legeslature involving themselves in the Notary Signing agent business. Debate on this will endanger it and the last thing we need is Attorney only closings.

Reply by BrendaTx on 7/9/06 11:51am
Msg #131917

**My opinion is that we don't need a bill or more importantly the legeslature involving themselves in the Notary Signing agent business. Debate on this will endanger it and the last thing we need is Attorney only closings.**

My fear also for here in Texas. I fear that any type of awareness in the legislature will kick us further out into the street and away from handling any type of RE transaction.

JMO, though I can well see why Glenn would take up this cause. Another kudos to him for his post, but personally I think the best way to develop better notary loan signers is to court the mortgage bankers association in order to facilitate a dialogue with them. I am not politically savvy but I do feel that the lawmakers in Texas would shut us down in a heartbeat if they realized they were losing so much money via closings by notaries doing so many types of land transactions.

However, I would not shy away from a situation like Mass has if it came down to it. This makes more sense to me than setting a venue for home equity closing. Apples and oranges though.