Posted by Laurie Manzanares on 11/1/13 2:03pm
Msg #490892

Notary Guild?

Any ideas on a Notary Guild? Actors & Musicians have one.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 11/1/13 2:12pm
Msg #490893

Yeah..they call it a guild - it's a Union.. n/m

Reply by desktopfull on 11/1/13 2:36pm
Msg #490900

So you want someone else picking our pockets? No union. n/m

Reply by HSH/WA on 11/1/13 2:42pm
Msg #490906

Re: If we can not enforce a minimum fee,

limit the number of BGC, deal successfully with slow/no paying SS/TCs - what benefits do you see?

Reply by desktopfull on 11/1/13 2:47pm
Msg #490911

Did you mean this question for Laurie? n/m

Reply by Laurie Manzanares on 11/1/13 3:19pm
Msg #490921

Re: If we can not enforce a minimum fee,

"limit the number of BGC, deal successfully with slow/no paying SS/TCs - what benefits do you see?"

I have been reading for two weeks now about organizing. Does need to be a Guild, Union, just wanted to start the discussion. Can't even fault XYZ for running a great business model. Hats off to them. That is just good business for THEM.

I see most of the (our) issues could be taken to CFPB, HUD, FHA, RESPA. They truly make the rules that Title & Escrow need to follow. To start push for full disclosure on the HUD showing Notary Fees. This would NOT include SS bundled into it or any one else. The fee on the HUD is what the notary is paid. Rarely can you even find the Notary fee. It is hidden from consumers.
Get it regulated that Notaries are paid out of funds the same time as everyone else. We are service providers and should be paid on a equal footing as everyone else involved in the transaction.

Have Title companies give out guidelines of what they want in a BGC. We are free as consumers to find a BGC that fits their requirement (free enterprise). If not then the two now recommended companies will put into practice supply and demand and our rates will go up.

More uniformed packages from Title and Escrow companies.

Mandated vetting of Signing Services.

As I said earlier a lot of these issues can be handled and brought to the attention of CFPB, HUD, FHA, RESPA, & Congress representatives.

Mind you I have had some wonderful experiences and met great people working with Title, Escrow and SS alike. Would like to see some positive changes to the industry that we all could live with and still be self-employed contractors.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 11/1/13 4:41pm
Msg #490940

Re: If we can not enforce a minimum fee,

One problem with that is that we'd be asked to commit to a fee without knowing the scope of the work. For example, I had one this week that turned out to be over 230 pages. The week before, I had another one that ended up being more than 180 pages - and the venue changed last minute on both of them. (On the latter, the docs were late, so we had to move the time to the evening, at the borrowers home instead of office - twice the distance.) On both of those, I was able to work out at least a minor adjustment (although not what I used to be able to do).

These are just a couple of examples. Undisclosed fax-backs are another frequent "add-on" after the fact, and I'm sure most of you can think of a whole bunch more examples. We'd probably have to resort to providing an excruciatingly detailed price list to cover any potential extras, because the trends don't seem to be going in the direction of us being paid a solid enough fee to cover all possibilities, unless you're in an area with little competition. And I'm not sure how well that would work logistically.

Reply by HSH/WA on 11/1/13 5:11pm
Msg #490945

Re: Notary Guild? No need - we have XYZ

- joke (there are a few that don't know a joke when they see it, so maybe it is best to label them).

Reply by Laurie Manzanares on 11/1/13 6:00pm
Msg #490949

Re: Good one. Needed the smile n/m