In Msg #603829 a thread started by Cheryl Elliot, the topic of borrowers not being sure what they were signing electronically was the same as what had been sent to them for review. I don't blame the borrowers. Considering the number of accidental mistakes found in packages, and the shenanigans. that certain lender pulled in the past, the concern is justified.
For paper packages a number of title companies instruct notaries to always stay with the signers as they are signing. They don't explain why, but I've always suspected they're afraid of the signers substituting a document that's more favorable to the singers, and no one back at title noticing the change. Or maybe they're just worried about the signers taking a page out to read it and forgetting to put it back.
In the electronic world, there's no opportunity for the signers to change anything, but the signers don't have a way to prevent lender or title from making last-moment changes and not telling them. This situation shows how the powerhouses in the industry value cheap and easy (for them) over even-handed security for all parties.
The right way to do it, in my opinion.
1. The signers either already have their own digital certificates, or get them (and not from the title company, but rather some independent company). They have computers with software, like Adobe Reader, capable of using the certificates, reading the docs, and signing the docs.
2. They get the doc ahead of time. If desired, they sign the ones that don't need notarization ahead of time.
3. The NSA comes, organizes the process of getting any questions answered, and any non-notarized docs that haven't been signed yet get signed. The signed docs go up to the title company's server, and it checks that everything that should be signed is signed.
4. The docs that need notarization are signed, either on paper or with the signers' digital certificates.
5a. Paper notarized docs are passed to the notary who completes and signs the notarial certificates. The notary sends them through an express parcel service.
5b. Electronic notarized docs are transmitted from the signers' computer to the notary's computer. The notary completes the notarial certificates and signs them with the notary's digital certificate, then transmits them to title.
This would guarantee that the documents the signer read are identical to the ones that get signed. It also provides two independent levels of authentication of the signers' signatures. First, the process the signers used to get their digital certificates, and the fact that the signers used their digital certificates for other purposes authenticates them. Second, the notary authenticates the ones that were notarized.
With the current esigning processes, the signers are making crude signatures with their mouse or fingertip. These are useless for proving who signed. The title company may have additional measures such as issuing userids and passwords to the signers, or asking them questions about their financial history before the system lets them sign, but those are not independent; it would take thousands in legal fees to force them to produce records of the process and who knows if the records would be meaningful or not. |
