Posted by Above and Beyond Closings - Alice on 9/25/07 9:41am
Msg #212913

What would you do with an overpayment?

Here's the situation. I hired a SA to do a signing in WI. She asked who the TO was and I told her. She said that the TO doesn't pay and I assured her that I would pay her, so she took the assignment. In fact I paid her 6 days after the closing. I don't wait for TO companies to pay me before I pay SA's. The TO company paid her also (their mistake). I called the SA and told her that she received an overpayment and faxed her a copy (front & back) of my check and the TO's check. She said she would get back to me - that was over a month ago. She's avoiding calls and emails.

If you received overpayment for a signing agency and a title company would you refund the money or do you say the hell with it?

Bottom line - the TO is still responsible for paying me but where is a SA's loyalty to a fellow SA?

Reply by Cam/CA on 9/25/07 9:45am
Msg #212914

Re: Personally I think that is dispicable, she should do the

right thing and return the TO money as you were the one who hired her and are responsible for payment.

Reply by Charm_AL on 9/25/07 9:46am
Msg #212915

this is an elementary question. Any professional with morals would return the check. Also proves the point that anyone can become a notary public.

Reply by Linda Juenger on 9/25/07 9:49am
Msg #212916

Alice. This just happened to me last month. The TC owed me for $800 in signings. They went to a new system of having US invoice them on their sheets. I filled out the sheet with the info and they called me and told me that I had already been paid for one of them. It was confusing because I had not recieved the check yet but it had been mailed. A day later I did recieve the check. Then I got the entire $800 in 1 check which meant that I was paid 2x for 1 closing. I e-mailed them and asked what they wanted me to do. I was told that this month when I do my invoice to deduct the 1 that I was paid 2x for. Not a problem. Or, I would just not inovice them for a closing. Whatever works. I wouldn't think of keeping the money. It is not mine. Couldn't sleep at night. Honesty is the best policy and it will catch up to you one way or another and what goes around comes around.

Reply by Above and Beyond Closings - Alice on 9/25/07 10:08am
Msg #212922

Thank you all for your comments. I also believe that honesty is the best policy. Its sad that this signing agent has no integrity. Hopefully she will read this forum and do the right thing. If she does I will certainly post it. BTW - This closing took place in Feb of 2007.

Thanks Again,
Alice

Reply by John_NorCal on 9/25/07 10:06am
Msg #212920

No question about it, the money should be returned or credited depending on the situation. For someone to just keep the money and ignore you, well, that person is a thief and a liar. Sorry that you had to experience that dreg on society.

Reply by Steven Carter on 9/25/07 10:08am
Msg #212921

I had a similar situation, the TC paid the notary her fees and my fees instead of me. The notary contacted me immediately and instead of me paying her, she paid me. It was a notary that has worked with me numerous times and I would have found out shortly what had happened.

Reply by Ernest__CT on 9/25/07 10:25am
Msg #212925

There is no excuse; it is theft, plain and simple.

The only right thing to do is send a check to the company that did not contract to pay, in this case the TO.

Notaries Public are, by definition, supposed to be honest. Notary Signing Agents have so many payment horror stories that it is unconscionable for one of us to steal.

Reply by Lee/AR on 9/25/07 11:13am
Msg #212933

While I agree with absolutely everyone's take on this situation, I simply must make this smart-aleck response to the following:

....where is a SA's loyalty to a fellow SA? About the same place SS or TCs loyalty is to the SA.

Reply by SharonMN on 9/25/07 11:30am
Msg #212936

**She said that the TO doesn't pay and I assured her that I would pay her, so she took the assignment.**
** The TO company paid her also (their mistake).**

I agree with everyone else that overpayments should be refunded when asked (and at least credited to the company's account against future invoices if not asked.) However, in defense of this SA, it's not clear to me that this is an overpayment.

The SS paid her as agreed, so the SS should be out of the loop.
IF the TO owes her for previous work (as implied by her statement "the TO doesn't pay". then I don't think she needs to return their check as she can accept it as payment for past due invoices. However, she should send the TO a new statement showing "payment received - thanks" and the remaining balance due on their account.

Reply by Above and Beyond Closings - Alice on 9/25/07 12:51pm
Msg #212969

I think you are a little confused about the SA's overpayment so here is clarification;

The TC hired the SS who hired the SA. The SA received payment for the closing from both the SS and TC (The TC did not owe her any money at this time or after). Therefore she was clearly overpaid. She has the option to pay the SS directly or refund the money to the TC.

Question for you why should the SS be out of the loop? The SS is still owed for the signing. The funds went to the SA. I agree with you that if the TC owed her money she should have applied it towards her balance but that is not the case.

Reply by CaliNotary on 9/25/07 1:31pm
Msg #212985

You should be out of the loop in that the error was the by the TC, not by you. They still need to pay you, then it's their responsibility to try to get the money back from the SA. You can't be responsible for other people's accounting errors, you just need to make sure you're paid what you're owed.

Reply by Kate/CA on 9/25/07 11:31am
Msg #212937

I've been over paid four times in 7 years and have returned it every time. I now return the check and ask to have it redrawn to make sure my income is correct for tax purposes, learned that afer the first overpayment.

Reply by tfarmer on 9/25/07 12:30pm
Msg #212957

I always return the over payment to the company that accidently sent me the payment .
who ever I contract to for a closing is the one who is responsible for paying our agreed fee.
This has happened to me several times & I return the check with a note enclosed as well as contacting the company that assigned the appointment to me. its honest & fair work relations.

Reply by OR on 9/26/07 12:14am
Msg #213137

Re: What would you do with an overpayment?Send

the check back. Its has happened to me too. I always call and let them know and then send the check back with a big void on it. Then I sleep like a baby at night.

Reply by Keys_Notary on 9/26/07 12:17am
Msg #213138

Silly me, I had tc send me a check, instead of the sa, back in January, I mailed the check to the sa (with my invoice of course) and they called and thanked me when it was received lada dada dada we'll use you again, etc., then they didn't pay me!
April I turned it over for collection- now the borrowers property is subject to lien and the sa is saying she never got paid! Some signing agencies are scum. To really add insult to injury, the fee paid by tc to sa was 2.5x my fee! Did I mention 'some' signing agencies are scum?