Posted by Laurie Notary in a flash on 5/29/07 11:49am
Msg #192521

There are always a few bad apples....

Over the weekend I was speaking with a Loan Officer about business and giving him one of my cards and he proceeded to tell me the following: We have our own notary who works in our office. We have all our clients sign the papers and then she notarizes them all afterwards.
She isn't even in the room when they sign.

I was shocked and told him that she would lose her commission for doing that, and could get in very serious trouble if she get's caught. Needless to say he started changing his story and stumbling around his explanation. It's sad when so many notaries are working hard and taking it serious!!! I find this site so extremely helpful and I appreciate being able to tap into all of the wonderful knowledge and experience. I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Reply by FCCARKANSAS on 5/29/07 12:02pm
Msg #192525

I have had several people ask me to do this. Many of them friends, including my boyfriend. I refuse! They just don't seem to understand what notorizing a document means.

Reply by Joe Ewing on 5/29/07 12:05pm
Msg #192527

I heard the same story over and over and over and over starting almost 10 years ago. That sort of general disrespect for ethical notary procedure is common in the lending and title industry. Signing services spring like mushrooms from this bunch so it's no wonder we complain so much on these message boards.

Reply by Laurie Notary in a flash on 5/29/07 2:05pm
Msg #192556

It's unfortunate. I have been a loan officer and loan processor in the past and it's absolutely amazing the unethical practices going on. Mortgage fraud is going to continue to increase at an alarming rate. I guess all you can do is continue to run a legit and ethical business and do business with integrity! What goes around comes around :-)

Reply by SharonMN on 5/29/07 2:41pm
Msg #192561

I honestly think people get dazzled by the stamp and think the document requires the stamp -not the process behind the stamp.

Few people (including many document drafters) understand that a notarization consists of (1) an independent witness (notary) identifying the signer and determining that the signer is signing of their own free will (and under oath, if jurat), and (2) completing a certificate saying that #1 was done. If #1 doesn't need to be done, it doesn't need to be notarized.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 5/30/07 1:23am
Msg #192660

"...think the document requires the stamp -not the process behind the stamp." So true - and very well put!!!

I, too, often get the impression that most people in the loan business (and elsewhere) see the notarization as an obstacle to be overcome or even a necessary evil. Their primary business is to close loans - and having a notary commission (or getting docs notarized) is simply a means to an end. They don't get that the notary laws aren't created just to complicate the process, but that there are good reasons for them.

I think that attitude was best personified in a post by Brenda TX a short time ago related to administering oaths and how that is viewed within escrow offices. The point was (as I recall...) that a notary who actually administers an oath (in the title co ofc setting) is just full of themselves! Yikes! It isn't about me, it isn't about you and it's not about them. It's about whether or not the document will hold up in court if it ever ends up there. One of the first things an opposing attorney will go after is a notarization, since it's so easy to do... (Just what I've heard. I don't consider myself an expert and I'm not an attorney!)

As I've said before, if notaries are just going through the motions and sticking a stamp on a piece of paper and ignoring the legal "process behind the stamp" because some lawyer somewhere decided it should have one, what's the point? Why bother having notaries at all?

Reply by BrendaTx on 5/30/07 6:27am
Msg #192671

**I, too, often get the impression that most people in the loan business (and elsewhere) see the notarization as an obstacle to be overcome or even a necessary evil...I think that attitude was best personified in a post by Brenda TX a short time ago related to administering oaths and how that is viewed within escrow offices. **

It's not only escrow offices...the notarial act is just a formality that must be endured so that legal act can be completed, in my experience. (Read Lisa's post on the adoption procedure thread.) It doesn't matter that it is not right, it is reality.

Reply by CJ on 5/29/07 2:36pm
Msg #192559

I like sleeping peacefully at night knowing that no one can get me for any breach of integrity. I would easily rather lose a job by turning down unethical requests, than loose my liscence, my livihood and everything else. If they want to "bend the rules", I could care less: not my problem. I just hope they call me when their notary can't work for them any more.