Posted by Ronda Roaring on 4/21/08 3:54pm
Msg #244329

another way to collect

I was talking to Bill Price today. He is the lawyer for creditors in the Express Financial bankruptcy. We were exploring ways for notaries to collect fees. One way he mentioned is that in some states title companies are required to put up a bond with state insurance departments. If the title company doesn't pay you, you may be able to file a claim against that bond.

All title companies have underwriters. If you know who the underwriter is, you can file a claim with them. I currently have a claim in with Stewart Title over One Call Title, which went out of business, leaving me unpaid. I mentioned that a lot of times, I don't know who the underwriter is. He said he felt notaries had the right to know this when they did the closing and should ask for the underwriting docs. I sometimes (but rarely) get them included in the package. I think I will ask for them with every job from now on.

He also said he felt notaries should have themselves put on the HUD. It won't necessarily get you paid, but it will be evidence that you are owed money. I had another lawyer mention this to me. I think I will also request this.

Finally, he mentioned something I had always wondered about. He said he thought it would be possible to sue the borrower in small claims court (or its equivalent). He suggested adding the title company and the title insurance company and others who might be considered to owe you. I've always felt that the borrowers, as the ones who have directly or indirectly hired the title company, should be responsible if the title company or sigining service didn't pay up. It would be interesting to see if a NYS judge agreed. The only negative problem is that I usually leave the borrowers on a positive note. Taking them to court because their title company didn't pay me would be an unhappy ending to an otherwise nice story. However, by calling the borrower and asking them to contact the title company to get paid might work. I actually like the way I currently do it, by contacting the lender. That lets the lender know the title company isn't doing their job and, one would hope, get them to stop using that title company.

Reply by Philip Johnson on 4/21/08 5:10pm
Msg #244341

Once you haul the borrowers into court,

what do you plan to show the judge that these people owe you money? I guess you could show him/her the appointment confirmation, but that was from some other entity. You could show him/her your planner showing that you went to their house on that day. Of course you invited yourself, when you made the confirmation call, they didn't know you from anyone.
I don't know how NY judges would treat your case. I believe here you'd better prepare yourself for the countersuit and I'd imagine it would be for more than what you stood to gain when taking them to court.

Just my opinion, though I went to grade school with a kid named Perry.

Reply by sue_pa on 4/21/08 5:15pm
Msg #244342

unjust enrichment

xx

Reply by Ronda Roaring on 4/22/08 12:31pm
Msg #244515

Re: Once you haul the borrowers into court,

In NYS mortgages are notarized, then recorded. So providing a true copy (provided by the county clerk) of the mortgage, notarized by the plantiff, along with the confirmation should be good enough evidence to prove to the judge that you were hired at a particular fee and that you did the job requested.