A notary colleague told me that the CA SOS went after the major banks due to consumer complaints that their in-house notaries only serve bank clients for bank specific paperwork. Apparently, bank customers brought non-bank specific paperwork for notarization and were sent away. Customers complained...someone knew to complain to the SOS. The SOS told banks, "NO, notaries public are officers of the state....PUBLIC, not private. You don't pick and choose who you serve." |