Posted by Noname on 5/11/08 4:35pm
Msg #247089

Sad days ahead for all :(

I just received word that Stewart Title lost their largest client - Countrywide. Lay offs will start as early as tomorrow.

Sadly for all of us the account is going to FASS (at least thats what they told me). I hope for all of our sakes thats not true because we all know that FASS only offers $75 for edocs!! FASS told me on Friday that anyone who charges more than $15-25 for edocs will be taken out of their system. I guess I'm out of their system as of last Friday.

I'm praying that another door will open soon for anyone who was working in Stewart.

Reply by Nomad/OR on 5/11/08 5:03pm
Msg #247091

I did a signing for them

on the day before Thanksgiving.
I received my FULL fee on December 3rd.
Don't discuss print fees, just tell them what you would do the job for after you have found out the pertinent info.

I would definitely work for them again.

Reply by Allison_MI on 5/12/08 6:32am
Msg #247127

Not good news

I just did a signing for them last Wednesday. Please tell me it isn't so because I don't work for FASS now there is no more Stewart ugh!

Reply by MW/VA on 5/11/08 6:18pm
Msg #247097

There is talk (and some evidence) that CW is only using "national" tc's now. The CW work had slowed from some of my regulars, but I got a call within the last two weeks for a tc new to me. They require the date stamp, split pkg. thing, but pay pretty well. IMO we all need to be very flexible as the market shifts.

Reply by Charles_Ca on 5/11/08 7:02pm
Msg #247099

I received a Broker Memo from CW that BofA was going

to pick and chose the accounts and products it wants and then dump the rest so there may not be much left of CW soon. I've had a couple of excellent loans refused by CW in the last few weeks.

Reply by Becca_FL on 5/11/08 9:08pm
Msg #247106

Down here in FL, we have been hearing about the "Five - Seven National Title Companies" that CW would be allowed to use since October. This month it became evident that this is now CW policy. Many of my long term CW TCs seem to have dropped off the face of the earth. I find it is very sad as I have forged some great relationships with the TCs that used to handle CW closings and now I am seeing some very good, hard working people lose their jobs.

Reply by SANTA CLARITA MOBILE NOTARY on 5/11/08 8:08pm
Msg #247103

There is no way I do e-docs for less than $100. Other notaries shouldn't accept less either. It just makes it hard for all notaries in the business. If ALL notaries got what they're worth and didn't settle for less than these companies would have to pay it.

Who is going to do their e-docs if notaries refuse to do them for practically nothing? Don't let them low-ball you. If they won't pay, let them get someone else (a desperate newbie) who'll do it for less. When they tell me they can't pay me, I tell them good luck.. You get what you pay for.

I've been doing this far too long to settle for less than my services are worth. The cost of living is up, gas prices are up, paper and toner supplies cost a lot. Signing companies are still making money. Why shouldn't we? We're doing all the work.

In my opinion, e-docs for less than $100 is not worth the time, money and energy it takes. I get $75 for overnight docs. Truthfully, it's not even worth my time to do e-docs for an extra $25, but I do it because I know things are a little slow...but I'm not desparate and will never settle. Neither should you!

Reply by Nomad/OR on 5/11/08 9:20pm
Msg #247107

Cheers!! n/m

Reply by sue_pa on 5/12/08 7:55am
Msg #247131

I personally think you're a low baller

by doing e-docs for $100 (speaking of a general fee here naturally with no indication of loan product or travel time).

So ... how do you propose 'all notaries got what they're worth and didn't settle for less" Others charge less than you charge. You charge less than I want to charge. I charge less than others. These kinds of blanket statements make no sense to me ...

As for 'desperate newbies' there are plenty of them around; however, there are plenty of 'good' closers who charge less than I do and still do a great job for their clients. Cheaper doesn't equate to lower quality every time - sometimes it equates to not having the client base others with experience have because they entered this business late in the game.

Reply by pjc on 5/11/08 9:25pm
Msg #247110

Re: still sorta a newbie but I too won't work for under 100.

with edocs. I learned that lesson right here on NotRot and I stick to my guns

Reply by SANTA CLARITA MOBILE NOTARY on 5/11/08 11:53pm
Msg #247118

Good for you! Stick to your guns ALL NOTARIES!

Don't sell yourself short. Even in slow times.

Same thing high gas prices. If everyone would just not buy gas from the big guys, i.e., SHELL, EXXON and MOBILE, they would be force to lower their prices and others would follow suit.

If notaries work for $40-$50, then companies expect other notaries to work for the same amount and that makes it bad for all of us.

Reply by Susan Fischer on 5/12/08 2:04am
Msg #247121

"Same thing high gas prices." Just boycott gas. Don't

drive. They'd be forced to lower their prices...

So, how do you propose I get to a job 40 miles away?

The conglomerates are merging, dictating their "costs" by their "offers" of pay for services they need.

Since fewer and fewer are able to hire, where do the "costs" (i.e., our prices) go if we want work?

They plummet. It's survival of the biggest. We make less, so they can make more. We stay alive, they thrive.

If there are literally none of us left, (and with the NNA's machine, what are the chances of that,) where do you see the benefit of trying to stay in business by demanding our old workable prices when a lower "bar" of survival is the only one increasingly achievable. By design.

When the open market becomes a corporate scheme, the food we eat, the fuel and building materials necessary for shelter, and the very fabric of our clothing all are in the hands and at the mercy of The Corporations, where is the American Dream? If our labor is so worthless, who can work for nothing for long?

The way back to one of the most basic of our core values of The American Dream If We Do Our American Part is through our choice to act.

These are not partisan issues. They are American issues. If, as a supporter of this administration, you are just doing great, and you want for nothing, and have every advantage, and are satisfied with that, even though the majority of your countrymen are not, then vote for the same.

If, on the other hand, you remember, or have a hope for, a country where every citizen trusted its government to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity for each and every citizen, then be prepared to work and sacrifice for big changes in the status quo. Changes that are good for the many, but that challenge the continued wealth-gathering for the few.

As one of the presidential candidates said yesterday in my home state, when the corporate profits are way up, and the American's incomes continue in a downward spiral, there's something wrong.

We have a choice. We can get to work, and get our country back. It's not about one person, one party, or one election. The whole system is broken. Our system. The Corporate White House must fall. The People's White House must re-emerge.

People who love their country can change it.

Coming back to our industry, when the industry is centered in a few mega-coporations, there is no 'free' market. It's a fixed market, and like any fixed game, the Corporate House wins. Same with Big Oil and gas/energy prices.

Just food for thought, for those willing to think.

Reply by John_NorCal on 5/12/08 9:15am
Msg #247137

Couldn't agree more Susan! n/m