Posted by BrendaTx on 3/9/06 1:29pm
Msg #103624

Texas Notaries - Two Messages for you

Please be careful with Home Eq. Loans.

Do not do these appointments in the wrong place.

I received an order this morning. Every scheduler / tc escrow person in Texas knows that we cannot do Home Eq. Loans in homes. [Only in a branch of the lender, a tc or attorney's office. That is for both HELOCS and CASH OUTs (Like AQ). It is also for some types of home imp. loans. ]

Nonetheless the scheduler flat lied to me and sent it. For awhile I did not worry too much when others did these in homes. However, if you want to discredit us and make it so we cannot do any kind of a loan, go ahead and do it it the bwr's home.

The State Bar of Texas won't put up with it. As more bwrs figure out that the lender will have to pay them $1000 or $2000 for doing it (cannot remember which it is) to make it right, they will call the lender and demand that it be paid. If the lender doesn't pay it, the lien cannot be foreclosed on if they don't pay.

An SS owner recently told me she had to go to testify at a hearing on a loan where she went to the bwr's home rather than going to a title company or an attorney's office.

Nothing happened to her, but she was embarrassed and it was very time consuming. If you do this in the wrong venue, as I understand it you are causing the loan to be imperfect.

I asked the gal this morning if they did this regularly. She said it's okay in small towns where there is no place to do it and the bwrs say it's okay. NO. IT IS NOT OKAY as far as I understand.

I'd be interested to hear from you personally if you have experienced this. That way I won't waste my time when I get those calls. You show me yours and I will show you mine.

New notaries are especially vulnerable to this. They often do not realize that the schedulers are not the "god" of the transaction.

YOU CAN PLAY DUMB...except that the docs have a statement in them that the loan closed in the right place. The bwrs sign it and the notary will do an ack or jurat. Will you be comfortable notarizing a false statement?

Keep your nose clean Texas.


==================
TX NOTARY MINUTIA -

When you are goofing off sometime, read
CIVIL PRACTICE & REMEDIES CODE
TITLE 6. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
CHAPTER 121. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND PROOFS OF WRITTEN INSTRUMENTS

I knew I could leave the marital status in my certs and had trouble remembering where it said that I could, but here it is. There are other little tidbits you might enjoy in this Chapter. If you cannot find this by doing a search, email me for the link. I don't have it at the moment.



§ 121.006. ALTERATION OF AUTHORIZED FORMS;
DEFINITION. (a) An acknowledgment form provided by this chapter
may be altered as circumstances require. The authorization of a
form does not prevent the use of other forms. T***The marital status or
other status of the acknowledging person may be shown after the
person's name.****


The point of this little bit of info is this is yet another place where our notary law differs from other states. We can say they are married or single or any other status if the docs were prepped that way. You do not need to mark it out or change the language of your cert.



DISCLAIMER - Remember that I am certainly no lady...or was it lawyer? No...it is that I am certainly not a lawyer and cannot give legal advise. These statements are my opinion only.

Thanks.

Reply by AngelinaAZ on 3/9/06 1:35pm
Msg #103628

What a strange rule? Do you know the purpose behind it? Do the TC reps sit and watch you when you do them in office?

Reply by BrendaTx on 3/9/06 1:43pm
Msg #103630

What a strange rule? Do you know the purpose behind it?

According to discussions I have read on the finance commission's website it is to keep pred. lenders out of a bwr's liv. room.

Some folks think it is to keep the local title company in the loop so that national tc's cannot scoop ALL of this type of business.

I can do purchase/sells in a home. They forgot to close that gate off to us...I think. There's no law against it that I know of.

Do the TC reps sit and watch you when you do them in office?

Their tc reps in the office you are in have nothing to do with the loan. You are a guest there. You are borrowering or renting a room from the TC or the atty. Most places here will not allow it. I don't even call and ask any more because it makes them very angry. See, usually it is local property, a lender from out of state as well as a tc from out of state.

Hope that makes sense.

Reply by SLM_TX on 3/9/06 2:15pm
Msg #103634

I've had this happen to me on a few occasions, I let the TC know that the HELOCS would need to be done in either their office or an atty's office. She told me that their conference rooms were booked and the borrowers did not want to come in they wanted to stay at home and do this in their home. So the borrower had to drive into town to an attorneys office who charged $35 (I had to pay) to use his conference room after hours. However the fee was reimbursed it's a hassel when you do not know.

She asked me what did I know about Helocs- I politely let her know that I was a Mortgage Loan Closer for 2 years!

Reply by SLM_TX on 3/9/06 2:16pm
Msg #103635

Brenda: Thanks Again for your help Yesterday.......N/M n/m

Reply by eXpedN_TX on 3/9/06 4:52pm
Msg #103684

TX HELOCS

I've been asked to go to the BO's home to sign HELOC's, but of course, I have to turn them down. I tell them if they have a TC, Law Office, or such that I can meet the BO at I would be more than willing to help them out. So far, I haven't performed any.

Brenda, do you know which form it is that states where you are signing??? I want to be sure I know where to look in the future incase it's not discolsed to me that it is a HELOC.

Thanks.

Reply by eXpedN_TX on 3/9/06 4:53pm
Msg #103686

Any suggestions on how to get this law changed? n/m

Reply by BrendaTx on 3/9/06 7:08pm
Msg #103717

Re: Any suggestions on how to get this law changed?

eXp...I have thought this over many times. How do you change the Tx Constitution?
That's where this comes from.

From the bwr's perspective and notaries aside, this is a rather restrictive law which seems to limit some of a person's freedoms. But what do I know...it's just dumb to blame it on predatory lending.

It has been discussed that this is a real inconvenience to couples when one cannot get away from work. It is recommended that a POA be used to sign for the spouse who cannot make it. If you want to get all this good theory for yourself, see the website for the finance commission of Texas.

As far as forms, I think the statement about the location the document was signed in is on the DOT (security instrument, I believe is the title).

Reply by eXpedN_TX on 3/9/06 10:37pm
Msg #103768

Re: Any suggestions on how to get this law changed?

Thank you Brenda. I'll have to see what I can do about changing the Texas Constitution. It's an exasperating situation for us, but even more so for the borrowers. We are an impartial piece of the pie so they shouldn't be concerned with us assisting the closing. And I agree that blaming it on predatory lending is lame.

Wonder if I need to start with having petitions signed...we'll see? I was one of 20 people that voted in the primary this past Wed. -- in my district. How pathetic is that? Wish people cared more.

Good night.

Reply by BrendaTx on 3/9/06 7:14pm
Msg #103719

Re: Brenda: Thanks Again - You are welcome, SLM. n/m

Reply by NJ_Notary on 3/9/06 9:47pm
Msg #103757

Come on now Brenda, you know that its well worth it to sign it at the borrower's residence. I mean your only doing something illegal in a rural error. I mean like which country bumpkin is ever going to know the difference or care. * BTW I am somewhat of a country bumpkin ;-) * You know darn well that we Notaries are to bow down to the all mighty signing agencies that try to pay us a whopping 35 edoc signing. Just for that you know that your not going to go to signing agent's heaven. What are you thinking?

Ok ok just trying to put a smile on your face and get a chuckle out of ya. I know how frustrating is when things like the such come across. Again, just trying to make you smile, I know youd do the same for me.

Love ya sista!

God Bless :-D

Reply by BrendaTx on 3/10/06 8:50am
Msg #103812

Tx Notaries- even out of state...many done wrong & NJ Notary

Hi NJ, I am smiling. see?

I knew there was a catch when I quoted them $155 - 25 miles and they did not hesitate. SSs generally don't do that over $150. Maybe they figure if it's good enough money, the notary won't "notice."

EVEN OUT OF STATE...
BTW - I am in an email discussion about this with a friend who owns a ss...we were just discussing that the loan has to be closed in the same type of location even if the bwrs are in another state-- the rules are the same or the lender is in trouble. It's not about the notary law, it is signing agent "stuff."

Now...I wonder how many of hundreds of Tx HEL's have been signed in homes/hotels out of state? That will be fun to discover one of these days. LOL. My friend and I know it will cause the lenders to squirm once they realize how many this has caused.

When business gets slower...bet on it...we'll see some repercussions as re-signs become a way to generate more income at some level for an enterprising ss or sa.

Reply by BrendaTx on 3/10/06 9:06am
Msg #103819

Re: Tx Notaries- even out of state...forgot my disclaimer

DISCLAIMER - As always, I am not a lawyer so I may be incorrect about everything in this thread.

Reply by NJ_Notary on 3/10/06 11:43am
Msg #103902

Re: Tx Notaries- even out of state...forgot my disclaimer

Yep I see those pearlly whites clear up to the Garden State . Do you happen to know which other states are similar to Tx with this reg?

Reply by PAW on 3/11/06 8:14am
Msg #104059

Re: Tx Notaries- even out of state...many done wrong & NJ No

>>> EVEN OUT OF STATE...
BTW - I am in an email discussion about this with a friend who owns a ss...we were just discussing that the loan has to be closed in the same type of location even if the bwrs are in another state-- the rules are the same or the lender is in trouble. It's not about the notary law, it is signing agent "stuff." <<<

I don't think so, unless the property is actually located in Texas. I have done a couple Texas HELOCs for Florida property, in Florida, when the borrowers are Texas residents. I did not do them in an attorney's office or title company. (Take that back, I did one in a title office.) I would guess that if the property was in Texas and the borrowers were Texas residents, then maybe the statute would apply. Of course, the lender wouldn't want any problems, so even if they weren't sure, they would err on the side of caution and be in conformance with all applicable statutes, no matter what.

<Insert standard "I'm not an attorney licensed to practice law in Florida" disclaimer here>