Posted by Stoli on 2/11/11 1:00pm
Msg #372391

Sacramento Notary abused clients


Yesterday I had a resign at a local branch of Bank of America, and sadly, the borrowers, loan officer and the branch manager couldn’t say enough about their experience with the previous notary who showed up in shorts, attempted to physically intimidate and verbally abuse the borrowers.

The notary, allegedly, denied the borrowers the opportunity to read the documents, nor would she explain the essence of the documents they were signing. In their words, she shoved the documents at them and ordered them to sign.

When the borrowers refused to sign, she drew herself nose-to-nose with the borrower in a threatening, menacing posture, slammed a pen on the desk in front of the borrowers, and told them to sign because she wouldn’t be paid if they didn’t. The notary told the borrowers that she had substantial investment of materials and transportation cost, and if the borrowers didn’t quit goofing off, she wouldn’t be paid, and the notary felt she had earned the fee.

Additionally, the notary stated that she had another appointment at 6:00 PM and didn’t have time to waste. The loan officer and the branch manager were simply aghast with her appearance and demeanor.

This morning I relayed the information to the signing service and verified that the notary was, in fact, one of their own. Of course the signing service received a different version of the no-sign incident. The signing service immediately granted me preferred notary status, but sadly, I can’t afford to take $75 signings, with fax backs, 69 pages of title documents in addition to the usual, hefty Bank of America loan packages with 129 pages.

I hope the notary if a member of Notary Rotary, reads this post and recognizes her behavior for what it really was. Shame on you.

At every loan signing we have an opportunity to enhance the public trust in the honorable position of notary public. She disrespected our office, the client—Bank of America—and the borrowers. Mostly, her business relationship with all three is toast!

I hope she reads this post.

Reply by GOLDGIRL/CA on 2/11/11 1:14pm
Msg #372392

Sounds like they (the SS/BofA/LO) got what they paid for - with a little extra thrown in.

Reply by Tish/CA on 2/11/11 2:42pm
Msg #372398

All I can say is WOW!!

Reply by Larry Bobbitt on 2/11/11 5:21pm
Msg #372428

Sad it happened but glad she is in CA and not NC lol

Reply by TacomaBoy on 2/11/11 11:08pm
Msg #372467

NotaryZilla! ;-)

Reply by nolanotary on 2/11/11 11:26pm
Msg #372471

Sounds like a great deal...for $75 you get a signing and a show. Seriously though, this is why I do not settle for less than my standard fee. If this is the service you get for going the cheap route, than I definitely need to consider raising my standard fees much higher. Incredible.

Reply by BrendaTx on 2/12/11 3:08am
Msg #372479

I am going to come down on the side of the notary...

for a moment and consider that there may be another side.

I have knowledge of a similar thing happening to a notary and it was a crazy, scary lie. It was the borrower who was the intimidator. This story tracks like that almost exactly like it...in fact, when I first read it, I thought it was my friend's story!

If the bank person witnessed this in his or her bank, then he or she is the one at fault for not terminating the signing right at the beginning.

If the borrowers were alone with the notary, they should have told her to leave. Period.

The clothes were enough for termination of the appointment in bank; the first blush of rudeness and threatening behavior should have been the clue to send her on her way. The notary described is a psycho. Why was that notary allowed to stay long enough to act out like that?

If the borrowers were drama queens who look for unpleasantness, and obviously they have a little touch of it, or they would not have gone off into that unpleasant story, then the bank person is going to go along with them to get that commission.

I guess my response would have been a shrug and "Well, goodness...isn't that interesting...I guess it takes all kinds to make the world go around...please sign here."

This is NOT to criticize you in any way...I just don't see how she got by with that much before being told to hit the road...assuming she was told to hit the road. I would have been biting my tongue trying not to ask hard questions.

There may be a more accurate story somewhere in between.

Reply by BrendaTx on 2/12/11 3:07pm
Msg #372554

Okay, with a little more info from Stoli

I'm seeing a different view.

Retracting:
*If the borrowers were drama queens who look for unpleasantness, and obviously they have a little touch of it, or they would not have gone off into that unpleasant story, then the bank person is going to go along with them to get that commission. *

Stoli's PM cleared up a lot about how she learned of the signing. There's more information that I didn't get from the OP.

I think I am a little sensitive to this subject right now and at not taking a borrower's story at face value.

My friend did a closing for a line-by-line reader, an attorney, in the attorney's office.

At 45 minutes into the signing and only 1/4 of docs reviewed and only half of those signed, Friend advised Attorney/Borrower that Friend had to go to another appointment at the end of another 30 minutes so they go ahead and get finished, then the documents could be reviewed over the three days, or Friend could help Borrower get in touch with the right folks to get another notary to the site to complete the signing.

Attorney/Borrower became hostile and verbally abusive. When Friend tried to leave A/B would not let notary have some of the documents.

A/B wrote about four pages of itemized problems to signing service about Friend. SS has been using Friend for six years with zero problems so it will not likely affect the SS/Friend relationship. It was a horrible letter, full of false information.

It sounded a lot like what Stoli described from her encounter with her borrowers, except in this case it was false.

The letter had to have taken the lawyer around 3-4 hours to pen. What a waste of billable time.

So, I guess I have become a little jaded from Friend's experience.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 2/12/11 10:53am
Msg #372500

question here is

Why in the world were you made privy to all these details? And why did you subject yourself to sitting and listening to this? IMO my job is to get the transaction at hand done and be on my way - I would not have left the door open for the whole story nor would I have taken it upon myself to notify the SS since it's really not my business. If she was that bad, then let the LO or borrowers file a complaint about her.

As Brenda said, there's always another side...and as many have said, there's three - his side, her side and the truth...

MHO