Posted by CarolF/NC on 11/1/12 8:59pm
Msg #441757

Consider This with Newbies

So many of you started years ago when documents were shipped to you with color coded tags marked who signs where and they arrived days in advance with a copy already mailed to the borrower who had a chance to review and ask questions of their lender or loan officer and there was time to correct any errors in the documents. Today newbies get a package 2 hours in advance and are in a rush to tag and flag and are supposed to be able to catch all of the mistakes being made now days and then drive some of us an hour to an appointment and arrive at a borrowers location to be asked what is this I'm signing and you are thinking to yourself, I have no clue as I've never seen this in a loan package before because more and more papers are showing up out of nowhere (LOL), but of course you don't say that and you have to think on your feet for an appropriate answer. Just saying I think it's getting more and more difficult to get going in this business when you are doing the work of the lender and TC companies as well as the notary. IMO

Reply by Jack/AL on 11/1/12 10:44pm
Msg #441762

"Today newbies get a package 2 hours in advance"

Or a couple or hours AFTER the scheduled signing time, and is not unusual near the end of month. Today's docs (erroneously dated for 11/06), were finally corrected and got to me four (4) hours after the scheduled signing, and were then MOSTLY correct!

Reply by JS_MD on 11/1/12 10:54pm
Msg #441764

Exactly why no one should accept lowball fees.....

AND anyone closing loans needs to educate themselves as to what each document is and its purpose. I am totally disgusted that notaries are accepting fees such as $65-$75 from behemoths like Service Link. SL could care less who they send out to close a loan as long as they are "cheap". This is a total lack of respect for the borrowers who deserve to have a notary with , at least......an ability to understand and give a basic explanation of the document they expect people to sign in front of them. Without UPL of course.....

Reply by jba/fl on 11/1/12 11:36pm
Msg #441775

Most documents have a name, or title, at the top of the

page. When asking about a particular doc, give as much info as possible. Some we have never seen either. We get them hot off the presses all the time - so, another little tip I will give you - read them out loud. Read phrases, use the commas if there are any, and many times it will come to you what should be done. If not and you are asking here, be prepared to quote the doc verbatim....we just don't have enough crystal balls to go around.

And please, don't ask how to do a notary.....we all think of the nasty when people do that and it gets us giggling, tittering and eye rolling....I mean, that you would even have to ask.

Reply by Joan Bergstrom on 11/1/12 11:49pm
Msg #441779

I started June 2002 and the docs were sent to me, but one of the differences, in 2002 that while we had a phone number (company) to call if we had a problem, we didn't have a cell number to call and being on the west coast, the companies that hired me were mostly back east and the company was closed for the day.

I made decisions on my own and some of them were right and some weren't.

Around the middle of 2003 the entire loan signing industry went edocs and if you weren't printing you were out of business.

I have done over 8,000 loans.
I once in a while see documents that I look at and think "what is this and who is to sign this"?

If you ever think that a lender/escrow/title have a normal loan package than you better think again.

I did one last week that had 2 Deeds of Trust and 4 HUD Settlements that needed to printed and signed by the borrower(s) and I had to make copies of these documents as they weren't in the original doc package to be printed.

I will say that west coast notaries have a better time getting docs printed on time because of the 2-3 hour difference.

I did a signing last week that was 78 pages and I did another one that was 180 pages.

I'll tell you what was really scary was in 2003 was I didn't know how to print and the loan industry didn't know how to send the docs!
LOL I'm surprised I didn't have a heart attack.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 11/2/12 3:08am
Msg #441784

So true, Joan! I started at about the same time as you, but here's one thing from the original post that I must have missed out on somehow:

"when documents were shipped to you with color coded tags marked who signs where and they arrived days in advance with a copy already mailed to the borrower who had a chance to review and ask questions of their lender or loan officer and there was time to correct any errors in the documents."

Even back then, this was still a rare exception for me - or only in my dreams! And there was no one to ask, most of the time, unless you already had a connection at a title co. (Unfortunately, I didn't discover any online notary forums until I'd been in this business for at least a year already. And it took me even longer to find Notary Rotary. I think I cut my teeth at GoMobile, which I'm not sure is even active any more.) If only...

Reply by CopperheadVA on 11/2/12 6:46am
Msg #441790

I occasionally work with a very demanding TC that does mostly forclosure purchase closings. When one of the regular notaries cannot accommodate a closing, they use Bancserv. However, they know when they use Bancserv they will be getting a low quality, point and sign notary. (They have said as much.)

I started in 2005 and my standard fee with edocs was $XXX, which I had no problem getting. After I gained some experience, I upped my fee by $25-$50 depending on job/distance and I found that when I increased my fees I began snagging better-quality clients. I rarely work for SS now, because they won't pay my fee and they are too much of a hassle for me, with their 45 day pay and their contracts they want signed. It took several years of being in this business, but I have now established a group of great clients that pay decent fees and send me regular work.

Reply by CopperheadVA on 11/2/12 6:56am
Msg #441791

And forgot to add that most of my regular clients do not schedule me at the last minute, nor do they send me edocs at the last minute. That's not to say that it never happens, just not too often.

Reply by Joe/NC on 11/2/12 9:42am
Msg #441815

One thing I noticed since being in this business 9 years is that when I started out I got paid one fee for packages shipped to my home and packages with edocs I was able to charge an additional $25 to $35 Now almost all packages are edocs and there is no additional fees they expect you to take what I was charging for an overnight package and to print.

In my area wew have many signing agents and if you turn something down they will find another, most times standard fees are starting at $100 with edocs, I have accepted this but only for packages less than 100 pages and less than 15 miles. I also make the borrowers copies on a cd unless they insist on paper copies than I print a set on letter paper.

I had to make these changes to survive if I dont I will not get many to pay higher. I do charge more for the further I go and for packages greater than 100 pages, many times I will get the extra fee if they are a title company. I rather have work than sitting around waiting for work. Its still better than going somewhere each day for 8 hours and being lucky if you can get more than $15 an hour.

I take what I want work when I want have more time to do other things and still make decent pay, so I cant complain and I cant be too greedy because if I am someone else will take it.

I do turn down low ballers those that want to pay $50- $90 with edocs.

Joe/NC

Reply by pat/WA on 11/2/12 11:36am
Msg #441830

Bancserv

I STRONGLY disagree with your comments regarding Bancserv. I find them to be very professional and I enjoy working with them and their Title companies! I wish you would name the TC that stated that Bancserv only uses low quality notaries.