Posted by Stamper_WI on 10/16/06 10:14pm
Msg #152913

Certification

I have been signing loans since 1998. It wasn't until last spring that I looked into certification. My reasons were to check my knowledge and to have that designation because there are so many notaries doing signings that really don't seem to know what they are doing.
There are a lot of certification opportunities out there and I think I looked at them all. What mattered to me was the opinion of experienced, knowledgeable signing agents I came across on the professional forums. The postings from certified agents say a lot. There seems to be no criteria or standardization for certification.
I still am not certified. The best course I found made me a Registered Signing Agent. They had the best materials. It was reasonably priced and I have been promised any updates that I need to know.
So you signing services, TC's and lenders need to realize that not all certifications are equal. Just do a search here on the company you are considering. Certification comes up quite often and you will have the opinions of those who have taken the time to really look at them.

Reply by ReneeK_MI on 10/17/06 3:38am
Msg #152935

I became certified by the more popular listing sites for a couple reasons - one huge benefit is that usually it provides the bonus of 'top of the page' placement on the list. It also seemed logical to me that if a person's choosing an NSA from a listing that provides a type of certification, they're probably apt to start not only at the top, but with the ones having the designation as certified. THAT only becomes a factor, however, when you're being chosen from one of those lists. It doesn't seem to be much of a factor with any other 'marketing' method.

I've only been an NSA a year and a half, but came into this with a pretty heavy-duty background. I didn't know how else to distinguish myself from the rest of the herd breaking out onto the field then, and I had assumed the certifications would help do that. I can't say whether or NOT they have, because of the higher placements on the lists that are attached to being certified - no way to separate the two 'cause/effects'.

Like a lot of other people have noted - I've never been asked by a client about any certifications, HOWEVER - if they've found me off one of the lists, they already KNOW I am, so why would they ask? I have been told a few times by several clients that they had a directive to ONLY use members of a particular list, and to attempt first to find one "Registered".

When I used to do post-close audits, I worked off a checksheet of nearly 300 items. Now, a lot of those items wouldn't be relative to the acts of the NSA or closing agent, but it still seemed that the cert tests have been pretty scaled-back, inconsistent, and fraught with gray areas buried in multiple choice answers. What I've always wondered (and honestly never asked) - do the CLIENTS have any access to these actual tests? Are they made aware of the various levels of challenge to these? Has their input been solicited on what THEY would wish to see on tests?

Then there's the MEANS of testing - usually, on-line. I'd love to see a VERBAL testing - over the phone, perhaps - NOT multiple choice, but 'essay' (conversational, since verbal), to include some of the more abstract skills that we call into play daily. It would eliminate the possibility of 'open-book' testing - and I must say, I firmly believe that a person never needs to 'know it all' but only ever needs to know WHEN to ask a question, and WHERE to get an answer - however, there should be a separate distinction between the person who NEEDS an 'open-book' test, and the person who doesn't. But again, unless the CLIENTS are fully aware of all any credential entails - then really, it becomes more of a listing placement value than anything else.