Posted by lualoa on 11/2/12 3:05pm
Msg #441891

Printing, trip, Witnessing, and fax backs for $100

I would like to know if notaries are printing, making trip, signing docs and faxing backs over 100 pages for $100?

Reply by MW/VA on 11/2/12 3:08pm
Msg #441894

Not me! Faxbacks are extra & I wouldn't faxback an entire

pkg., even though I now have a great sheet-fed scanner. For funding requirements they usually only need about 35 pgs. sent. Anything else is about QC or anxiety.

Reply by Yoli/CA on 11/2/12 3:14pm
Msg #441896

Nope. Faxbacks are extra. n/m

Reply by ToniK on 11/2/12 3:32pm
Msg #441899

OMG thats ridiculous!!!

a 100 page faxback? Id charge $1 per page min. No way I would fax back the whole package for $100

Reply by Jessica Ward on 11/2/12 3:40pm
Msg #441901

Never!

During the hurricane, I faxback entire packages to my storm-affected clients at no extra charge. I do the same during any natural disaster that has affected UPS/Fedex service (Blizzards, etc).

That's just a service I offer during crisis, but my fees are pretty high year round, and my clients happily pay them. And yes, Faxbacks are extra during normal times. I've had a rash of clients trying to slip them in without disclosing them on the signing order--working on how to tackle that systematically now.

I might do a single doc signing with driving/witnessing/faxbacks for that fee... but not a loan closing.

Reply by Pro Mobile Notary on 11/2/12 4:19pm
Msg #441908

This morning we received a signing order from one of our best escrow officer clients. WE get anywhere between one and four orders per day from this one source. Everything went along smoothly and we covered it and all was fine. The escrow officer forewarned me that they were having problems with the loan broker, but I had no idea what was going on beyond our view until about an hour after we got the signing covered.

With hat in hand the escrow officer emailed us and said he needed a big favor. The loan broker was insisting that the signing agent either fax back the entire 124 page doc package or scan it and email it back. Our signing agent assigned to this had neither a scanner or a good fax machine that could handle that much faxing. For an additional $50 we would have complied with the request.

I asked the escrow officer how much they were prepared to pay for the fax backs. When he said there was no money to pay for that service. I gave him my sincerest apologies before I told him we cannot comply with his request because a signing agent has to forgo other signings for the time it takes to go back to their office or home, do fax backs or scanning and then go back out to ship the package. Their time has value too.

With great regrets we told the escrow officer that if he could not compensate our signing agent for the extra time and work, that we had to give him back the assignment and let him find someone else to handle it.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 11/2/12 4:29pm
Msg #441911

In my experience, the signing would have been

taken back by the company and reassigned to a notary who COULD and would comply with their client's request. As noble a gesture as this sounds, I am surprised, and skeptical, to hear a company will jeopardize a "4/day" escrow client over one signing and one notary.

JMO

Reply by Pro Mobile Notary on 11/2/12 4:51pm
Msg #441913

Re: In my experience, the signing would have been

The response of the escrow officer was, "When I stop working as an escrow officer I want to work with your service." We received two more orders from him within 30 minutes of our turning back that assignment.

We all need to draw limits and boundaries. Otherwise you give permission to others to take advantage of you. In this instance we would not even consider asking a asking agent to fax back an entire package with no additional compensation. We handled the situation precisely as it needed to be handle and the escrow officer respected our position and had no argument with it.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 11/2/12 5:03pm
Msg #441917

I respect that stand..and honestly have to thank you for

protecting your signing agents. Not many would...they'd move on to get the order filled.

Reply by bagger on 11/2/12 5:51pm
Msg #441927

This entire industry is in dire need of MULTIPLE

shared expectations seminars.

Hmm a new income opportunity for me, think I'll put together a class and go on the road!

Reply by CarolF/NC on 11/2/12 6:59pm
Msg #441936

Re: THANK YOU PRO MOBILE NOTARY

For respecting your NSA's. Thank You

Reply by JanetK_CA on 11/3/12 1:10am
Msg #441970

Re: In my experience, the signing would have been

I couldn't agree more with this statement:

"We all need to draw limits and boundaries. Otherwise you give permission to others to take advantage of you. In this instance we would not even consider asking a asking agent to fax back an entire package with no additional compensation. We handled the situation precisely as it needed to be handle and the escrow officer respected our position and had no argument with it."

To me, this represents the kind of thinking we need to have as signing agents and that is needed by our industry as a whole to realign expectations. Without this, the level of professionalism within the signing agent community will decline. More and more of the best qualified people may decide that the increasing expectations on our time, resources and budgets are just not worth the downward pressure on fees and the volume of business we're able to handle. That will leave companies relying on a steady stream of newcomers, a passing parade of people who are at the front end of the learning curve.

If more signing services took this type of approach, pushed back on some of the demands being made of notaries, I believe there would be a very different attitude towards them from within the NSA community! And who knows... maybe it would give some title and escrow companies the courage to push back some with lenders and try to get them to come back down to earth with THEIR expectations!

[OK, I know I'm dreaming now, but I couldn't resist... ]

Reply by Lee/AR on 11/3/12 9:47am
Msg #441981

Well said Pro Mobile Notary and JanetK CA

I have been doing this for 20 years and know how far downhill this has gone and continues to slide.
I am fortunate to be in a rural non-saturated area, but am still being pushed to the brink in some respects.

Multiple calls from assorted companies for the same signing and by the time they figure out that there is nobody who will do whatever for the fee they are offering and figure out that they are going to have to pay me what I need to do the job, it's become one big totally avoidable last minute hassle FOR ME. After they ALL 'need to get fee approved', sometimes (a day later) I can still do it, but often I no longer can accommodate because 'life has moved on'...and then they get mad at me. Who needs this?

Reply by 101livescan on 11/3/12 10:23am
Msg #441986

Re: In my experience, the signing would have been

When all is said and done, this last minute request for faxbacks is unreasonable to expect without adequate compensation.

The LO makes more than any one in these transactions...He can't spring for $50 or $100 to get this thing funded faster? Well, then, just wait for the next cycle payment, not in the current month. It's all about booking their loans in current month and getting paid in 15 days.

So, I'm with you PMN and Janet/CA, scope of work mandates extra pay.

If we all hang in there together, we can get paid for these extra services. You go to a car wash and pay for the GOOD car wash, better is with Amoral tire dressing. It costs an extra $$.

Simple, don't you think?

Reply by HisHughness on 11/2/12 4:53pm
Msg #441914

I'm not surprised at your response, I'm stunned

*** I am surprised, and skeptical***

So, basically, you're saying that Pro Mobile Notary is a liar, not that you're just surprised he didn't assign it to someone else.

This is a signing company that wasn't prepared to ask one of its agents to fax back a 124-page package for a standard closing fee, and you're calling him a liar because of it? You may wish to reexamine your priorities, and the standards you employ to judge others.

Reply by HisHughness on 11/2/12 4:56pm
Msg #441915

Re: I'm not surprised at your response, I'm stunned

The above reaction was posted before I read Pro Mobile Notary's response. Apparently, he handled the situation as I suspected he had.

Reply by Luckydog on 11/3/12 10:37am
Msg #441991

Re: In my experience, the signing would have been

Unless you are signing from a bank, or realtors office that has the correct equipment to handle it, I would not fax 100 pages. They would get the funding docs, that is it, and lately that has been about 30+ pages.

Reply by BrendaTx on 11/3/12 9:40am
Msg #441980

*I asked the escrow officer how much they were prepared to pay for the fax backs. When he said there was no money to pay for that service. I gave him my sincerest apologies before I told him we cannot comply with his request because a signing agent has to forgo other signings for the time it takes to go back to their office or home, do fax backs or scanning and then go back out to ship the package. *

-The escrow officer could have authorized the $50 out of the Escrow fees, but they chose not to. Interesting choice. He or she must have felt unconcerned about finding a notary would would fax back for $0. That's too bad.

*Their time has value too. *
- Thanks, PMN. That sounds so much nicer than earlier remarks.

Reply by 101livescan on 11/3/12 10:28am
Msg #441988

Response from me would be:

"I understand your LO's desire to have these documents faxed back so that his loan will record in this month's activities. I am happy to comply with this request, however, it involves extra time, resources and effort, which I am able to provide, at a nominal cost, $xx or $xxx.

"If you can get this fee approved, I'll be happy to assist your (esteemed) LO."

Unbelievable.