Posted by 101livescan on 1/19/13 7:45pm
Msg #451265

Wish I had a dollar for every

notary that's working for $59-$90 and driving 20-40 miles to do the work I will only do for $125 in my backyard.

Just think, all that extra is going to SS's instead of to great notaries who've spent the time to market themselves to the TCs and escrow companies.

Reply by Clem/CA on 1/19/13 7:52pm
Msg #451266

Why just a dollar? You are already getting $66.00 - $35.00 more than they are!.... and not driving! LO me too.

Reply by 101livescan on 1/19/13 7:57pm
Msg #451267

1 notary of three, down the pile here today, was Sacramento property. Client invested in three REO's there he was refi'ing, all around $112K.

Reply by Scriba/NM on 1/20/13 1:25am
Msg #451285

That's the way it is......

These idiots are busily ruining what used to be a good field. The only good part about it is that most of them are so stupid, that they don't bother doing anything correctly and eventually get discarded along the way. Then they post comments about "Gee, there's no work out here....wonder what's going on?"

The bad part of their ignorant signing attempts is that this results in thousands of pages of moronic instructions and pictures of "how to" signatures in loan packages....duuhhhh! When I print the packages anymore, I don't bother to print these examples - keeping a tally, I note that I have saved almost a ream of paper since I started keeping count of these gobs of instructions, inserted into packages for the Idiot Notary Squad.

There will always, however, be some schlub that will work for nothing, but I just go on, always providing what I consider high quality work, and I retain the same repeat customers, paying my price, and giving them peace of mind that when they assign work to me, they know it will be done right. That's all you can do.

Reply by DBFL on 1/20/13 9:36am
Msg #451295

Re: That's the way it is......

We did a HARP refinance last week and had a $60 Notary show up. I know because she placed her order confirmation on the table in front of us as she was shuffling through her papers to get organized. I know she also drove over 25 miles because I looked at her address. The most amazing part was how she handled the signing. She presented the HUD and the TIL first. When my husband commented on the APR and interest rate being only slightly different, she responded “Oh you do not need to worry about that because that is not what you are really paying. The only important one is the interest rate.” Huh, APRs are not important? She then started through the docs and only presented/gave us the pages that needed to be signed. No discussion about the other docs that were being turned over.

I quickly looked thru our copies to ensure everything was there. It all was, including copies of all those notary instructions on legal sized paper no less. She was very pleasant and seemed very new. When I asked her how long she had been doing this, she told me 8 years. Wow! Not much evolution in that time in my opinion. She was the 2nd notary scheduled and when I attempted to research them, neither was registered here or the numbers site. Both were from a large, well known to most here, national signing service

Oh, she also pulled out the wrong file to start the signing and explained to us that two files had been mixed together by accident when the Title Company sent the package to her and she did not realize it until after she had printed the docs. Made me feel very safe and secure in the protection of my personal info. She also did not recognize that my DL had a different middle initial/name than the docs. I had a second form of ID that showed that name variation. I pointed it out to her when she said she only needed the DL copy.

Ultimately, it worked for us because we were able to zip along and get the signing done quickly, but it was depressing when looked at in the aggregate. I was fine with no explanation of the docs in the pkg because I understand them and see them everyday. What about the signers who are novices? What does she do with the readers? I know we all do things differently, but this was an eye opener and shows what this profession is up against.

On a side note, our previous two refi’s were both handled by notaries who are represented on this site, and both did a very professional and thorough job. Must have something to do with notaries who care enough to belong to this community! JMHO of course

Reply by 101livescan on 1/20/13 9:47am
Msg #451296

Re: That's the way it is......

Last week, I was in one of my local title offices, and a Bancserv notary came to signup a file. Bancserv charges $95, listed on the settlement statement, and the notary gets $50. The notary drove up from 30 miles away. I could tell she was "green" and a little nervous...well, ya get what ya pay for.

Doesn't sound like your notary has "absorbed" much knowledge over the years. If I were a LO and my commission hinged on the quality of the attending NSA, I'd want the best, not a rooky. I do recall a signing I attended, a clean up, damage control event where the notary from the evening before dropped the package in their living room and she tried to recover and get it back in the same order, and could not and finally left without geting a couple critical docs signed...so I was there and we did it all over again, four signers.

Reply by CopperheadVA on 1/20/13 10:04am
Msg #451297

Re: That's the way it is......

<< If I were a LO and my commission hinged on the quality of the attending NSA, I'd want the best, not a rooky. >>

It seems to me that YES that is what all these companies want, but they ALSO want to pay bottom dollar for it.

I recently received the following email excerpt from a large national TC that is my lowest payer - I only can accept their jobs in my zip code due to the reduced fee, however I can make that fee work for the one lender I accept from them because only one copy of the package gets printed and docs are never late. Here is what it said the most frequent notary issues are:

Avoid Common Errors:
Missing or incorrect signatures or initials account for 67.13% of errors. These errors are completely preventable by paying close attention to how and where docs should be signed or initialed. Fully review docs prior to leaving the signing appointment.

Professional Attire:
A large number of complaints come in each month regarding unprofessional dress by our agents. All agents should be dressed in business casual attire or better. A good rule of thumb is “Would you wear this to a job interview?”

Timely Arrival:
Our clients value their time. If you are running late for any reason, please call the client in advance to make them aware


The packages from this lender are so easy to sign there should be no excuse for missing anything. When I read this email of course I wondered if they see any correlation between the low pay and the quality issues they are experiencing.

Reply by leeinla on 1/21/13 1:41am
Msg #451354

Re: That's the way it is......

It is that that Title Co. in Michigan. I was wondering the same thing. She did ask for suggestions.
I agree with you, is there a correlation between low pay and decent pay regarding the quality of work that is being submitted?

Did you send a suggestion to her to resolve the 67.13% errors rate?

The thing that get me is that when ask for a decent fee, some just say no you are to high and call the next notary. You get what you pay for.

Reply by LKT/CA on 1/20/13 5:38pm
Msg #451311

Re: That's the way it is......

<<<The bad part of their ignorant signing attempts is that this results in thousands of pages of moronic instructions and pictures of "how to" signatures in loan packages....duuhhhh!>>>

Awhile back, a company I hadn't worked for in about 9 months called me to handle a signing. I printed the docs and within them were 8 pages of exactly what you described - instructions with cartoon-like pictures regarding some of the most elementary/no-brainer procedures. I just about fell out of my chair and thought, "Who on earth have they been hiring that they needed to create these ridiculous 3rd grade instructions??" I wondered if who they've hiring were even FROM earth, LOL!! Geez!!!

Reply by Ellen The Notary on 1/20/13 7:08pm
Msg #451317

Re: That's the way it is......

I did a correction signing today on a 3 day right to cancel that the borrower had signed in the cancellation spot instead of the acknowledgement spot. The docs were signed on December 20th. I think that means that the mistake wasn't caught until now. The BO had to sign an Affidavit stating that they didn't mean to cancel.