Posted by Negrete on 5/9/08 9:38am
Msg #246875

E-Signing Question ? Follow Up

Everyone is asking, what will you pay ?

I have always been fair with the notaries that have worked for my company and I think most everyone will agree with that.

I would like to pay at least $ 150.00 for an e-signing. Thats if the Title Company I am hoping to work with will let me charge what I would like to charge them. ( and I think they will )

Anthony J Negrete
Negrete's Notary Service Inc.

Reply by Marlene/USNA on 5/9/08 10:26am
Msg #246881

Thanks for sharing that.

It's interesting that you are asked to state what you will pay your notary signing agents, for your competitors to see also, but that signing agents are unwilling to talk about their rates for the same reason.

Reply by Charles_Ca on 5/9/08 1:06pm
Msg #246903

Marlene, I suspect that many don't lke to talk about their

fees because in reality some of them are taking the lowball fees and know that it is wrong!

Reply by SoCal Signing Co. on 5/9/08 1:15pm
Msg #246907

Re: Marlene, I suspect that many don't lke to talk about their

Lenders are thinking e-signings will help them in many areas, one being fees. My clients that are starting to ask me for e-signings are not offering any more money.
I know they are new to this as well, so it will be a learning curve for many, but as I see it, there is still a small print package as well as the added expense of the card, and laptop.
Although often the client overnights the print package, so this will help the SA from added cost of printing and the cost associated with it.

Fees should be some what higher, but in this industry now with Title/Escrow/Brokers trying to be the lowest out there, it will be tough meeting the fee of $200.00 for a signing agent.

The problem many lenders will face is getting a signing agent who will do a e-signing because work is so slow, SA may not be able to set up this service. Those who put forth the money and effort will cash in.

so far not all clients are offering more money for this service YET!

Reply by Charles_Ca on 5/9/08 1:21pm
Msg #246909

I see nothing special about this service to justify the

higher prices that notaries are asking. I realize that this is not a popular stance but you will find after an initial period that prices for e-notarizations will plunge. The overall savings for the BO from e-signings are not necessarily from the final signing but from economies realized throughout the chain of documentation.

Reply by MichiganAl on 5/9/08 1:45pm
Msg #246916

Re: I see nothing special about this service to justify the

Anyone of us that's done one of these can tell you that the justification for charging more is that these signings take a lot more time to do (air card and laptop isn't a concern for me as I already have those). Huddling in front a laptop and scrolling page for page is a slow process. Check the bottom of the page, wait for it to accept and go to the next page. It's a pain in the ... I charge more for reverse mortgages as well, as do most of us, not so much because they're more difficult or more specialized, but because they require a lot more time at the signing table.

Reply by SoCal Signing Co. on 5/9/08 1:55pm
Msg #246921

Re: I see nothing special about this service to justify the

that makes sense to me,

Do you find that some are quick and some are slow?
Some normal signing takes no time at all, (borrowers have done it before, and know they have 3 days to review), others take hours.

Is it the same here?

Reply by MichiganAl on 5/9/08 2:19pm
Msg #246924

Re: I see nothing special about this service to justify the

Quick repsonse, heading out for appointments... The one's I've done to this point have all been slow, even with experienced borrowers. There's no way to speed it up. Fire up the laptop, log in, scrolling, click the bottom of the page, wait for it to accept and move on to the next page or next section. Trying to read docs that way is difficult and slow. If you use the borrowers hard copy instead, they still want to see the copies online to make sure they're the same.

Reply by Marlene/USNA on 5/9/08 1:22pm
Msg #246910

Re: Marlene, I suspect that many don't lke to talk about the

Maybe so, but I could also guess - based on the calls USNA gets - that many don't know what they could be charging because they have no point of reference.

We tell them it depends on location, travel, business expenses, experience, etc., but we can't figure it out for them. If we recommend that $40 is too low but don't have $XXX to recommend as a good starting point for the industry, they're going to jump on $50 or $60 as better than $40.

XYZ was lambasted for setting up a fee schedule. We don't want to put ourselves in that position (who would??). Associations are at a disadvantage when newbies ask the question, and they WILL ask the question.

Reply by Charles_Ca on 5/9/08 1:39pm
Msg #246913

Re: Marlene, perhaps as an association you could provide

your newbies with a simple worksheet to figure out their costs and pricing. It isn't rocket science. The whole thing cold be a small interative spreadsheet on one page, fill in the blanks and get your pricing.

Reply by SoCal Signing Co. on 5/9/08 1:42pm
Msg #246915

Charles

Thank you for your post, I think if we were discussing this last year, it would be a different story. The problem is its not last year, every signing that comes along, SA are fighting for $xxx and in reality this might not be the case. Fees are going down; I do not have one client who has given us more money in the last 6 months.

You can buy a lap top for $400.00 (eBay $299.00 I bought one for a friend last month still under warranty, corp. lease)
I don’t think E-signings will go away, what will happen is if SA's are not willing to set it up, the escrow/title will offer it in-house.
I have a client who has just done this, and they want me to provide 4 signing agents to come in house to handle the process. It could of easily been a in house SA who handled it and knocked us right out.
Still might happen.
We either keep technology up to date, or we might not be relevant any longer.

Reply by Charles_Ca on 5/9/08 3:00pm
Msg #246934

Re: Charles Yes, in-house its a piece of cake, crumb cake

as Harpo used to put it. I have two flatscreens set up back to back on a high speed DSL line and I now do most of my singings in the area in-house, including those that used to be mobile. Even the one's that need to be printed out we can settle things right on the computer. I've sold it to my clients. People prefer to see me in my office where everything is handily available and there is nothing to get in the way: I prefer it also. I find that I am getting the same price from TCs as I would for a mobile signing and have much happier BOs and TCs and my margins are much better.

Reply by LKT/CA on 5/9/08 10:58am
Msg #246889

I would charge $150 for a 1st & 2nd mortgages, edocs. For the added (monthly) expense of an air card, the extra time in setting up a laptop, plus faxes being a likely part of the process, an extra $50 is worth that trouble. So for me, $200 would be the minimum I would charge for an e-signing.

Reply by SoCal Signing Co. on 5/9/08 1:52pm
Msg #246920

The card cost is about $60-70 a month?
no fax backs yet on my clients with e-signings, and the small print package is often overnighted to the borrower.
So you dont have to print docs (in some cases)

No wear and tear on your printer, no toner, no drum worries. (on those signings)
No Paper fees, (on those signings)
You dont need to recoup your aircard on one signing, you can spread that out.
taking out a lap top is as easy as opening your notary journal. You dont have to plug it in, just log on right?

they do not sign every page so you dont have to worry about that.
Seems to me, the price would not go up for this service.
am I missing something?

Reply by ME/NJ on 5/9/08 2:03pm
Msg #246922

Yes there is extra charges..

1. Card -cost between 150 and up
2. Laptop - if you do not own one 600 and up
3. Increase time on cell plan - I have 1000 minutes a month and it runs 120/month I avg 800 month, so increase in the price of cell plan for 1 or 2 years
4. Most companies will make you print out a small package and have you fax it back (still paper and toner cost along with phone service charge or efax)

Thought delays with print docs were bad.. watch out

Not all counties will take e-closings and I want to see the outcome of the cases of people who will challenge e-signings.

It will be the future, but the lack of volume at this time proves to be not cost effective, and I know the counties by me will not take e-closings yet.

Reply by MistarellaFL on 5/9/08 3:10pm
Msg #246936

You dont need to recoup your aircard on one signing

Would be different if you could count on volume e-signings, but right now we can't.
I have everything except the aircard, and I have found IME locally only about 4/10 brws have wifi and or internet access. Many are of the generation who don't "do" technology.
About 4/10 don't have a cell.

Reply by Margaret_FL on 5/9/08 4:27pm
Msg #246946

My monthly fee is $30 a month because I have my aircard and cell phone through T-Mobile. I also use it for other jobs I do. I bought my aircard on Ebay and only paid $85. I also have unlimited minutes on the aircard. I have my laptop and laser printer in my car to do foreclosure inspections and to get last minute loan documents. I do not sit and wait for anything. It has made me more productive to have my mobile office. It saved a closing yesterday, as after I left for the signing they sent me a new package. Or I get a call at 3pm for a 5pm signing when I am across town at the time. I made back my cost in one week for power invertor, laptop, laser printer and aircard.

Reply by MistarellaFL on 5/9/08 8:40pm
Msg #246973

But with T Mobile you have to be in a hot spot

From what I understand.
Not very good here in my area.

Reply by Teresa/FL on 5/9/08 9:24pm
Msg #246983

Not necessarily, it depends on the service plan you're on

I used to have a T-Mobile wireless card like Margaret for $30/month. It works wherever you can get a signal from T-Mobile and has a separate SIM card. They offered a lower cost plan where you have to switch out your SIM card from your phone when you want to use the wireless card, but then you can't make and receive phone calls during that time. There is also a plan for hotspot only use, but I don't remember the details on that one.

I switched to a Sprint card because the download speed is much faster than T-Mobile. Sprint's speed is DSL while the T-Mobile speed is just a step above dial-up. Of course the service cost is twice what I was paying with T-Mobile, but it is worth it to me.

Reply by Margaret_FL on 5/10/08 5:59am
Msg #246997

Re: Misty - You do not have to be in a hot spot

I have and Aircard, I can get the internet anywhere. HOT SPOTS are for people that do not have an Aircard and are just using the 802.11 on their computer. I did the HOT Spots years ago but the only HOT SPOTS were Starbucks and I do to a lot of areas where there are NO Starbucks so it did not work for me.

Reply by MistarellaFL on 5/10/08 9:41am
Msg #247008

Re: Misty - You do not have to be in a hot spot

Thank you for clarifying that, Margaret. There has been some confusion about that even with T Mobile retailers.
T Mobile really doesn't give much information about it on their website, either.