Posted by DHartley_PA on 2/2/10 12:47pm
Msg #320775

Low ball fees

What's with these companies offering $45-$50 fees and $70 for an edoc signing???
I have gotten about 6 email solicitations in the last 2 weeks with attachments of 5-10 page agreements (with ridiculous terms), policies, procedures, requests to fax or email commission, e&o, bond, drivers license, etc. What a waste of time.
I can't believe there are notaries out there agreeing to their terms and doing signings for these ridiculous fees! Pass.

Reply by FeliseSoCal on 2/2/10 12:49pm
Msg #320776

Yes, pass!

Reply by lowerAL on 2/2/10 1:06pm
Msg #320780

AMAZING!!!

Reply by Bill Hampton on 2/2/10 1:09pm
Msg #320781

Sounds like their trying to keep more money for themselfs ,, yes , i'd pass also

Reply by jfs/IL on 2/2/10 1:18pm
Msg #320784

Those are the individuals that DO NOT care about us and refuse to think harder in their business tactics. They think volume work with that type of pay will help.....when they look at their end of month expense report for their business it will be wake-up time to reality!!

Reply by BossLadyMD on 2/2/10 1:23pm
Msg #320786

all long as folks are willing to take $50-$70, they will continue to do it.

Reply by Cari on 2/2/10 1:31pm
Msg #320787

..its terrible that there are nsa's willing to go so low and

worse that there are company's paying pennies.....lint, dustbunnies, piece of hair, shoelace...

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 2/2/10 4:14pm
Msg #320818

Another perspective

on the lowball signing agents.

When I first started as a signing agent I had been a notary for a while. Then I was told I could make $50 just by taking loan docs (this was when they were all overnight docs) to the borrowers home to have them sign and I would notarize their signatures. ($50 was the going rate back then with signing companies). Sounded great to me, would make more money that way than just doing notarizations.

I suspect that some of these low ball signing agents are notaries that have not heard about the signing agent business and are seeing it as a way to make a few extra dollars.
I was in a mall one day, had just completed a notary class and had my certified notary instructor's badge on. I stopped by one of the booths and the guy running it saw my badge and asked me about notarizing loan docs (he happened to be a notary), He wanted to know if there was really any money to be made doing it, as he had had a call from a company who wanted him to have some loan docs signed etc. He turned it down as he didn't understand what they wanted of him.

So I often wonder if this is where these lowball notaries are coming from.

Reply by jfs/IL on 2/2/10 4:51pm
Msg #320834

Re: Another perspective

Interesting perspective.....Joe Scamardi!

Reply by Moneyman/TX on 2/2/10 4:54pm
Msg #320837

Re: Another perspective

Silvia,
I think you are correct. Newbie’s don't know what the going rate is or should be and they see $45-70 as a good offer. I think that the more people know about what the fees should be charged, or what is being charged by professionals in their area, we might find some of these low ball SS companies shutting their doors. The borrowers are still being charged, on average, $200-$400 for the mobile signing.

I think the funniest response I read was one that a SS (initials ND) told a SA "we have to keep the lights on" to justify them making $100-$150 above the $50 or so, offer to the SA to actually perform the work and assume the risks associated with our jobs.

Reply by Lee/AR on 2/2/10 5:05pm
Msg #320840

Re: Another perspective

Sounds sort of like my story, too, Sylvia. Out of the clear blue, in 1993, I got a phone call for o/n docs about a mile from home. $50??? Such a deal! I didn't have a clue but they explained it fairly well. (Docs also weren't as horrendously large piles of paper back then either.) The next call I received was for about 15 miles from home and they offered the same $50--which didn't sound like such a good deal-- so I said "No...that's too far to travel for $50." And they came right back with $75. Aha--so this is negotiable! Both of these were Signing Services. Want to hear the real kicker? 2nd one was SOX. Back then they paid well and timely.
Now it's 17 years later and some fool company is still offering $50??? And when edocs first came into existance, they just DOUBLED your fee. My, how times have changed and not for the better.

Reply by janCA on 2/2/10 6:05pm
Msg #320856

Re: Another perspective

The sad part is when you see people that have been in this business for many years and they're still taking the low-ball fees. I just don't get it.

Reply by LKT/CA on 2/2/10 4:04pm
Msg #320813

<<<What's with these companies offering $45-$50 fees and $70 for an edoc signing??? I have gotten about 6 email solicitations in the last 2 weeks with attachments.....>>>

That's very easy to fix. My email address is now only "available upon request", therefore, I don't get blast emails - lowball offers or otherwise - no more solicitations to sign up with this or that new directory that was just born yesterday, or any other nonsense I'm not interested in. If a company wishes to hire me, they must call. Thus the negotiation process begins.

Reply by Susan Fischer on 2/2/10 10:26pm
Msg #320915

I wonder, are they new SSs? Bet a dollar I don't have

there's very little capital to support an accounts payable, plus estimated taxes and insurances with low-ballers in general [and maybe in specific].

Are they real, actual "companies" with all the trimmings of preparedness for success?

When I started my new-construction detailing business, to break in, I had to charge 8 cents a sf. I won't bore you with details, but the paint contractor was getting $3.20 a sf. I cleaned miles of overspray and finish work - made Painter guy shine. All the contractors shone.

This work is akin; making the borrowers happy - make the howme-owner happy.

The thing I took away from those lessons is: My Price is My Price. There's an honest accounting reason for it.

We all know the low-ball takers will not survive. They come and go, just as the fly-by-night SSs, fly-by-night "lenders", and all the other fly-by-nighters.

Like puppy mills, some ideas just don't make good policy.

Reply by John/MO on 2/9/10 9:51am
Msg #322039

I agree, Notaries that take assignments for a low rate dilute the market for the rest of us. but, I guess that is the free market.
There is a company that calls me regularly and flinches at my fee and says : I'll check with my manager to get it approved and call you back"....of course they go down the list and someone out there is always willing to accept the low fee.