Posted by Laura Vestanen on 8/7/07 12:30pm
Msg #204310
Forms of payment for non-loan notary work - some considerati
My thoughts on acceptable forms of payment for general (non-loan) notary work.
When I did loan work, I got very tired of waiting weeks or months to be paid. The TCs sat on my money, earning interest, while they made me wait. I no longer tolerate that.
CASH
In my state, notaries are required to quote our travel fees before we accept the assignment. When I do this, I just tell them I accept payment in cash only. Once in a great while, someone will forget to get cash. If they live/work in my town and are dressed nicely, I will accept a check. Otherwise I just wait for payment until they get back from an ATM a few blocks away from my office. I hang on to the documents and finish my journal work while they go to the ATM.
CHECKS
The people who have me meet them at their doctor's office to notarize medical reports usually forget to bring cash. These people are usually adopting a baby from abroad or getting ready to take a job overseas so they have lots on their mind. If they can afford to go overseas, they are not going to have a problem with having enough money in the bank to cover my check.
Some of my business clients pay me by company check. I always accept those if the business is in my town or the next.
There are a few reasons why I am reluctant to take checks from my non-business clients. One is that the bounced check fee to me is pretty stiff - around $25. Another is that I get angry when people don't pay me. I would go to the person's home every day until I am paid in cash in full. That is a silly use of my time. Telling people I only accept cash averts any potential rubber checks.
CREDIT AND DEBIT CARDS
I don't accept credit or debit cards and I've never had a problem with that. Only a few people have even asked if I accept them. If you look into the cost of accepting credit cards, you will discover that the bank fees add up quickly. Fee to set up a credit card merchant account, transaction fees, monthly fees, terminal fees, approval fees, etc.
FUNDS WIRED INTO MY BANK ACCOUNT
I have one business client in Los Angeles who has investors working in my area. LA guy sometimes needs these investors to sign paperwork that needs to be notarized. (I did a job for him last Friday for $160.) He prefers to wire payment to me. Our routine: he emails paperwork to me, I travel to the investors' offices, do the work, email an invoice to LA guy, he wires the payment into my account, I verify the transfer with my bank, then I drop off the notarized docs to FedEx.
I don't like people having my bank account info, so I maintain a free checking account in which I keep very little money. It is for clients to wire payments to me. It is also how I access my PayPal account. When I am expecting a chunk of money, I tell the bank to transfer it to another account right after I hear that the transfer is complete.
PAYPAL
I offer to accept PayPal but no one has ever taken me up on it for notary services. Some people like to pay for my notary marketing ebook via PayPal so I keep the account open.
WESTERN UNION
One client in Guam sent me payment via Western Union. A relative of his lives in my area and the family needed notary services. He wired the money to me and then I traveled to his relative's home and did the work. The family needed the notarized docs quickly and didn't have time to set up a PayPal account. The guy in Guam wanted to pay for everything. It was a bit of hassle going to a store that dealt with Western Union (long line). But that was the easiest and quickest way for the fellow in Guam to pay me. He had a deadline so speed was important.
All this is probably too much information but I wanted to give you some considerations to mull over regarding what would work best for you.
Good luck with your notary work,
Laura
http://www.ProfessionalNotary.com/7.html
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Reply by Michelle/AL on 8/7/07 12:53pm
Msg #204311
Good Information
Thanks for sharing, Laura. I do quite a bit of non-loan work and have been accepting checks from most of my customers. In fact, I've had a check in my possession for almost 30 days because I keep forgetting to deposit it. So far no checks have bounced (knock on wood). I never thought of wire transfers or Western Union so thanks for suggesting. I do have Western Union account number that could be helpul in these situations.
Michelle
Huntsville Mobile Notary
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Reply by Lisa Prestegard on 8/7/07 2:18pm
Msg #204334
My experience with PayPal for non-loan work
hasn't been great. I offer it to all clients and on my web site. One client, New England Realty of Boca Raton, FL (Michael Torres and Joe Pinto) took me up on it since I insisted on payment at the time of service (or prior). To make a long story short, I sent the invoice and he paid it, so the documents were dropped.
Once he rec'd the docs, he issued a "chargeback" from his credit card company, stating "unauthorized use". Now I am fighting to recover the funds that were placed "on hold" in my account. I now have a negative balance in my PayPal account, which I was forced to cure or it would be sent to collections.
It hasn't soured me on the practice, but I'll be much more careful and now have a form that they need to sign and return to me stating that they will NOT charge back fees to me.
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