This is kind of like revealing a trade secret for the newer folks, but you will need help in the coming years to hang in there. The first thing that I would do as a new notary signing agent is to drop the use of "LSA."
It says "I am not one of the long-timers."
And now, the "L" part says "not working much." The L for LOAN part of that acronym is losing its foothold quickly. I doubt in my lifetime we will see anything like we saw in the years of COVID as far as the number of loans that notaries were handling.
Removing the "N" from our title was a terrible idea IMHO. It seems like to me it was done to match a company's branding and to leave those old Boomer notaries behind as I recall from some of the remarks made/..there was a lot of talk about how "old notaries" just don't understand and how worried we are about LSAs getting all of our business. Hardly.
I am a proponent of the original phrase Notary Signing Agent. We are notaries...the N defines us. We once held trusted positions in society. I sure think we need to get that back--the trust part. All the "going direct" rush to title companies did nothing but solidify signing services in between notaries and title companies in TX. I have learned by close relationships with TCs that I do RON for in TX that they do not want to deal with people who have no experience and just want that direct money.
To me, using Loan Signing Agent (over Notary Signing Agent) is like calling registered nurses "hospital pill givers." Or bank tellers "money counters." LSA barely scratches the surface of what we can do with our notary commissions.
If you use LSA, perhaps someone has told you what a "reasonable fee" is.
If you are an NSA, you've probably figured it out through experience and most likely, a lot of figuring and calculating on Excel spreadsheets. Math is important.
I accept what I can profit on. NSAs know that. In Part II, I will give one way to figure that break even point. |
