Posted by Buddy Young on 11/25/13 11:02pm
Msg #494082

For the first time......

I visited the SPW website and for most of the professional notaries who post here, it is a joke.
It's obvious that this was founded because of all the newbees out there who screw up signings.
Why do professional notaries who have done 100s and 100s if not 1000s of signings have to go through useless training of materials that they already know inside and out?

I know what I'm doing and my regulars know that. If they require that training I might just take down my shingle.

I did notice in their website they did provided us with the definition of a signer. lol

Reply by LKT/CA on 11/26/13 12:02am
Msg #494085

I agree, it's a joke. The professionals must suffer this nonsense because the companies only cared about their bottom line - how cheaply they could get the job done. It begs the question of how much signings truly cost them when they ultimately had to hire cleanup professionals to correct the errors of the lowballers & newbies.

Reply by Lee/AR on 11/26/13 1:16am
Msg #494086

Their perception of us changed when they stopped looking at us as a necessary expense and important factor of being able to do business where they did not have a 'brick and mortar' location and started thinking of the expense as a potential 'profit pocket'. There ya' go~~that 'greed' thing.

Reply by Stamper_WI on 11/26/13 6:44am
Msg #494089

How much faith is there in the certification of signing agents when the entity that is pushing it requires they use a script? Sounds like a back door admission that the certification is faulty. Think about all the new signing agents who were told by NNA to come here for answers to their questions after going through their course. The best certification program that I came across over the many years I have been doing this was The Signing Registry. I went looking for it today and can't find it. There was so much more to that training and you ended up with a Registered Signing Agent designation (RSA). Script reading gives the borrower no confidence at the table that someone that knows what they are doing was sent to them. It also screams "employee".

Reply by jnew on 11/26/13 8:47am
Msg #494098

The lenders were required by the new government regulatory agency to improve the quality of closings. This is their answer. It is cosmetic in nature. Nothing of substance has changed. The title companies were already adequately monitoring signing professionals for quality. So now you pay a little more, go through whom they say to go through and get a little button saying your great.

Reply by MW/VA on 11/26/13 8:54am
Msg #494100

IMO, it all works on the assumption that NSA's are below

average intelligence. It's the NNA & their conflicting info that has messed people up in the first place, IMO. I'm speaking from experience, because I went that route when I started up.
Fortunately, I was able to put together my own method (script) for handling signings. It's worked for me & borrowers & LO's I've worked for have a lot of confidence in my skills. IMO that's what it's all about--gaining trust & confidence. I can't say that about that organization (XYZ).

Reply by NVLSlady/VA on 11/26/13 9:18am
Msg #494115

Not sure I'd say the training is altogether "useless," but certainly cumbersome and redundant to the veteran nsa. I do think it's a shame that input from seasoned signers wasn't extracted for a smoother transition.

Realistically, all here must know that the profession won't remain as it is (I mean, eventually some of you want to retire, right?). What regulation is currently in place to maintain the integrity of the profession? What happens when the seasoned folk start "taking down their shingles"?

I agree, it seems like an affront to the many who have stuck this out and became the knowledgeable and proficient experts I've learned from here; but, others are coming . . . and if they are serious about doing a good job and becoming as proficient as all of you, they MUST be trained. As for those coming out of title & mtg, they'll have to prepare themselves for more of the same (how many of them are seriously going to show up at borrowers' with a script??).

Interestingly, last week bor told me I was the youngest notary they'd had; I also wasn't as "seasoned" - but it had nothing to do with my training (or lack thereof), mortgage background, closer certification. It was an early signing (I'm not that good at sunrise services-even when the sun has made it's debut a couple of hours before), AND the company was a new client; they wanted Every page marked, initialed. I had to rework my entire brain function to have them sign where there was no indication (which inevitably meant going back a few times to catch missed initials). In this case, it wasn't about training at all - but about Experience. Experience would have made things easier, since it requires good balance to move from one operating mode to another (or a sign reading "Every Page"). Over 120 pp but it got done - Guaranteed (same day) funding and all!

Getting the SPW committee to grapple with the notion that a "script," serves as only a guide and can't take the place of Experience, Professionalism or common sense is where the "joke" ends. When you're sitting on the other side of the table facing someone who expects you to KNOW what you're doing and also expects you to Follow Through afterwards . . . that's priceless.

Reply by MW/VA on 11/26/13 9:31am
Msg #494121

Great post & 100% correct! There's no substitute for

experience. I had such a hard time getting my feet in the doors when I was young because they wouldn't hire anyone without experience. It was frustrating, but I completely understand it now.

Reply by NVLSlady/VA on 11/26/13 9:53am
Msg #494126

Re: Great post & 100% correct! (Thanks)

But I'm not "young!" I'm ducking right now before the eggs start flying.

(Actually I was older than the couple at the table with me that day; I would have never guessed the husband was about my age; he looked more "mature")

Reply by JanetK_CA on 11/26/13 3:39pm
Msg #494165

Re: Great post & 100% correct! There

I completely agree. I also like your comment about the "conflicting" info coming from XYZ. They tout the necessity for training, yet what they provide is woefully insufficient to produce notaries who are really prepared to handle a signing professionally, imo. I've long felt that way about their certification and I don't see the CSS designation as being any different. It's just too much for anyone to absorb in one day (much of which is taken up with promoting their tools, supplies, insurance, etc.), let alone be able to apply effectively - especially with large classes. (I have no idea how many are in their classes these days, but I believe there was somewhere between 50 - 100 in the NSA certification class I took in 2002.)

As I've said before, I believe this process is likely to lower the bar, just as their "recommended minimum fees" influenced lowering of fees.

Reply by C. Rivera Chicago Notary Services on 11/26/13 11:36am
Msg #494145

agreed...and I have yet to find any regulation or law

that says BGCs are required for service providers or third party vendors....where NSA's would fall under....

XYZ and company create these bogus standards and definitions and convince lenders and tc's that by joining its bogus site, they will be in compliance with the laws and regs coming out in 01-14.

But seriously, I have yet to find any laws or regulations that mandate, for example, that third party service providers or vendors MUST have criminal record background checks?

Now, I may be looking in the wrong places, but as of yet, I can't find it so if anyone can has the time or cares to look, please post here or elsewhere.