Well... in Texas I could charge by the notary certificate 6.00 x 12 - 15 = 72.00 - 90.00 .
OR
I could explain the above and cut them a deal at 75.00 .
This was a WAMU refi...VA...big stack/probably around 90 pages.
Since the borrowers are supposed to pay you, I might even go lower, but I'd be darn sure to ONLY point and sign and answer ZERO questions.
Tonight, I dodged a bullet. The daughter was just home from college today. They had a document that was unrelated to the loan and wanted me to notarize it.
They started asking me a lot of legal questions / she asked me legal questions...I knew the answers but I was careful to say: I am not a lawyer and I cannot answer your questions because that would be a simple notary public giving you a legal opinion. You really need to take this document to an attorney and ask these questions. However, I will notarize it for you if that is what you would like me to do.
So...we got that out of the way. Daughter then put a chair between them and began to explain every document to them. When it came to the DOT it was page by page. I told her to go right ahead and I would make some notes in my journal. I could tell by her usage of legal language that she was not just a college student...probably studying law and very serious and enthusiastic about it.
Finally, I was through making out my journal and said...okay...now...the way I would have explained the DOT was to say: This is the security instrument that will be filed at the courthouse and will record this property has been encumbered. That's all I would have said. (Implying that we did not need to wade through every little legal nuance in the stack.)
Daughter said, "I just finished law school and I am getting ready to take the bar; I am interning at the DA's office."
I laughed and said, "I could tell. When you pass the bar, I hope you will call me and I will train you to be a *real* lawyer. I am a former legal secretary--you would not be the first I have trained." And then I had control back over the stack...I asked her a few things about her career plans and built a good rapport with her.
I am telling you...I know if I had not been extremely careful to avoid answering questions that related to anything legal, she'd have been a tattletale and would have reported me to someone. She was not an attractive girl...she was rather large, a real know it all... and was eager to be in control of something...get some attention, be noticed.
You have to be really careful what you say while you are doing this job, folks. |
