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Posted by  BrendaTx on 5/17/06 5:24pm
For newer folks who think they've been treated rudely...
Posted by Roger_OH of OH on 5/17/06 2:20pm
Msg #120513 from logged in user
I think it's time to repost this little missive about some realities of our business, particularly in view of the post just below where a "notary" didn't know who was swearing before him. These kinds of basic knowledge posts are all too frequent, and usually meet with a virtual broiling on the boards. Rather than be miffed at the "lack of help from the know-it-alls", please read and perhaps better understand...
It started when NNA bought out the old NASA several years back, and began seducing people into their seminars with ads saying you can make "up to $125 an hour!". Ever since, they have been continuously pumping out notaries with dollar signs in their eyes into an already saturated system, and continue to be in the unique position to be able to manufacture their own members from people who couldn't tell a notary public from a tree stump, but are drawn by the lure of "full-time income, part-time effort", and "You just have to watch people sign their names??" (an actual post).
The veteran posters of NotRot do become impatient when so many new folks come to the boards exhibiting some sense of entitlement because they completed an NNA course - "I just got my stamp, where's all the work??" is a common refrain. These people often have no sense of the history (notaries go back over two thousand years!), sanctity, integrity, or SERIOUS responsibility associated with the office of Notary Public. They only know that you have to be a notary in order to to loan signings, so they jump thru that necessary hoop without any idea of what goes with it. Many trumpet the fact they are "certified" before they have ever set a pen to their first signing, then come to the boards asking basic knowledge questions as we've seen many times, most recently in the post just below.
You must be a Notary FIRST and a signing agent a distant second. STUDY the rules of your state, read the boards, and take a training course before you take on the rather large responsibility of someone's home loan into your hands. If you screw it up, you can be SUED!
Understand, we don't just sit around waiting eagerly to bash new people. We were all new once, have seen our share of weird docs and unusual situations, and do not hesitate to help with a legitimate question; we have done so numerous times. However, we've also earned the right to expect some semblance of professionalism from others that would share our title; don't just explode onto the boards asking questions that someone with the title of Notary Public after their name should be reasonably expected to know. If you don't know the difference between an ack and a jurat, or which name goes in the "sworn before me by.." blank, then you have not earned the the title of Notary Public, and you certainly should not be conducting loan signings until you do. Your ignorance can cause immense damage to the public you've sworn to serve. Not all notaries are signing agents, but all signing agents are notaries.
If you think you are being treated rudely here, it will pale in comparison to how you will be treated by companies and their borrowers after you have butchered someone's $300,00 loan docs and caused them to lose their rate lock. What you may perceive as rudeness from us is in reality something that may prevent you from making a colossal mistake in the future. Take the responsibilty of learning all you can about the laws, and exactly what it means to be an officer of your state. Don't view this as just a hobby for extra pin money, it's a serious business, and should be treated as such. You have to have the proper equipment, licenses/state registrations, etc to operate legally and professionally.
You expect the mechanic who works on your brakes to know what he/she is doing, and they are not turned loose upon customers until they do. The public, lenders, and SS expect a similar standard of professionalism from us as notaries public, and it's YOUR responsibility to meet that standard. It's not rudeness, it's an attempt at re-educating you before you do some real damage by not knowing something your title says you should. Failure to do so will only lead to the continued lowering of the notary bar, and it will be just a matter of time before incompetent notaries lead to the establishment of more attorney-only states.
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