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May 22, 2013

How many lawsuits do you anticipate with the VA non-appearance law?

Filed under: Virginia Notary — Tags: , , — admin @ 10:16 am

Virginia has a new law that allows online cameras to suffice for communication and appearance for online notarizations. Good god! Other states that allow for e-notarizations do not allow this practice, and for good reason.

There was a company in Orange County, California that was engaging in this practice, and they got nothing but complaints, and the Secretary of State was after them as well. So, what have the Virginia legislators been smoking? Are they even thinking?

The purpose of a notary is to deter or prevent fraud. Allowing online notarization without personal appearance can encourage fraud. Hopefully they will not allow this type of notarization for critical documents such as powers of attorney and deeds. I’ll assume they won’t. But even for regular business documents, it is serious, and important to have personal appearance.

My only question is, how many lawsuits will occur as a result of this new questionable and unpopular law?

I think that in reality, few notaries are e-notaries, and if they are, that few will engage in this practice. But, time will tell. We will see what Virginia notaries do, and how much trouble they get themselves into.

In the meantime, I’ll stick to notarizing cats — providing they raise their right paw and swear under oath that meao is meao, and meao meao meao!

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May 21, 2013

Is a p#20 really superior to a lower ranked notary?

Filed under: Marketing,Ninja Selected Articles — Tags: — admin @ 11:06 pm

People always tell me that p#20′s get more work simply because they have a p#20. People think they are intrinsically better. But, are they really better? I just got off the phone with about 900 notaires. I talked to the p#20′s, and talked to notaries at other levels. Honestly, the p#20′s really are better — at least on average. Sure, there might be a few lousy notaries who slip into the ranks of p20-hood. We try to find ways to eliminate notaries who are not the best in town from that position when possible. We simply don’t give them as much discount as we would give a more qualified notary which helps to weed out less qualified notaries.

So, although, the average p#20 really is superior to most other notaries on our site. Part of the allure is really myth as well. If someone doesn’t know how good you are, they will judge you by your position. The truth holds true if you are listed on google. If you are #1, people think that you are hot stuff.

So, is it worth it to pay double, triple, or quintuple for a top spot on 123notary?

In my opinion, it could be worth it, but you need the other bells and whistles on your listing first, and those include reviews, knowledge, certification, experience, and a well written notes section. It takes time to get those, so get your bells and get your whistles. They will pay off. Then, try to become a p#20.

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May 20, 2013

Not paying attention could cost you

Filed under: Carmen's Blog,Notary Mistakes — Tags: — admin @ 8:15 am

Lately, I have been reading more of the notary forums. Surprisingly, there seems to be a rise of claims against us. There were two instances within the last few months (and these are the only ones that we know about) where months after a loan seemingly closed claims were filed without the notary even being contacted about their mistake(s) or given the opportunity to fix the error(s). They are claiming that these mistakes cost the borrower, title/escrow, and/or broker money. Are they serious?? This sounds like al lot of “you know what” to me.

So, instead of contacting the notary like in the old days and have them correct the error, they are just hitting the notaries Bond and/or E & O policies. And the most logical reason for this is because the folks that are doing the suing know that in more cases than not that the companies will just pay the claim than fight it out. It is just way too expensive to fight it out in a court room.

It seems to me that since now we openly advertise that we have this insurance and since some of the signing services require it as well ask for copies of it, they see a new opportunity to make some extra money.

So, be CAREFUL. Always remember to double check your work. Even the smallest thing can be missed and consequently cause a problem for you. Because, lets face it, If you a have a claim filed against you it doesn’t look good on you as a notary and your premium will surly go up.

Until next time be safe….

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May 19, 2013

Follow up to – don’t drop your Fedex in the drop box

Filed under: Carmen's Blog — Tags: — admin @ 2:39 am

Well, as a follow up to the blog that I wrote about dropping your documents in drop boxes, I have got some good news for a change. Our notary of this featured story called in to say that the docs were finally delivered. YAY!!

It took FEDEX a whopping 7 days to get them to the title company. She told me that everybody went round and round with Fedex including herself day in and day out. After so many days it was looking like they had just disappeared off the face of the earth. She assumed that eventually the buyers would have to re-sign and she also feared regretfully that this particular client was NEVER going to use her for the resign if it came to that or any other signing in the future for that matter. She just knew in her heart that she had most likely lost a very valuable client. And naturally she felt that all of this was really her fault for putting the docs in the drop box especially with over $100,000.00 cashiers check in it. All of this was making her fell pretty bad but it was also a wake up call. It was obvious to her that she needed to be more mindful and careful in her duties as a notary signing agent.

The title company (surprisingly) was very kind with her throughout the whole ordeal. (which in my mind was short of miraculous; Ive seen them behave terribly over things that were far less worse) She had made a statement in one of their many conversations to the girl that hired her that “I supposed you will not be using me in the future’. She said that there was no answer, nothing but DEAD SILENCE. She knew instantly with that, that she had gotten her answer and her stomach sunk to the floor. She said she thought to herself ‘never again’.

But wonders never cease. It just so happens that after the documents turned up and after what I suspect was a cooling off period, they begin to call her again as if nothing happened. I told her that she was very fortunate (blessed actually) that things had turned out this way. Because as we all have heard (and unfortunately some of us have experienced) the outcome could have been far worse.

None of us can afford to lose clients. So, my humble advice is to do everything in YOUR power to assure that you are covered. Now, our notary didn’t do anything actually wrong but she could have protected herself and the client better. This whole ordeal could have been avoided if she had taken them to Fedex station/HUB and gotten a receipt or given the documents to a driver and had him scan them. When she dropped them a drop box she assumed that they would be picked up. This is after all the drivers job. But as we all know folks sometimes don’t do their jobs. In this case we still don’t really know what happened to the documents that took them 7 days to show up. FEDEX never would say. But, I can only imagine……

Until next time…be safe!

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May 18, 2013

How do you explain the APR to a non-borrowing spouse?

Filed under: Loan Signing 101,Ninja Selected Articles — Tags: , — admin @ 11:04 pm

I was talking to a notary on the East Coast. I was going to ask him a loan signing question, but then he retorted back a question in my direction before I could ask my question.

How do you explain the APR to a non-borrowing spouse?, he asked.

I gave him my routine mathematical definition of the APR and he was impressed. When he asked the question, I was thinking that this is a great question. It sounded like a trick question, but it actually is a very reasonable question. It suddenly occured to me that the non-borrowing spouse is the epitomy of a lay-person, and doesn’t understand complicated terms such as “amortized” or “finance charges”. If you have an MBA in Finance, you might not be the best person to explain an APR to someone’s wife. So, part of the genious of this question is that it tells you to use layperson language without telling you directly.

The other great aspect of this question is that it gives the opportunity to tangent goers to go off on a tangent — and they take this opportunity. I ask this question to many people, and 20% of the people go off on a very long explanation of what documents the non-borrowing spouse has to sign. But, that has nothing to do with the question. They didn’t LISTEN. This is a good listening and tangent going question. You learn very quickly who listens, and who can talk as well.

People notoriously leave out 90% of the meat of the answer when describing this confusing and diabolical term.

“It includes the fees”

Trust me, it includes a lot more than the fees.

“It reflects the cost of the loan”

Trust me, it also includes your interest as well as whatever the cost is.

“It’s usually higher than the rate”

Boy, are we being vague.

“It includes interest and fees”

Better, but very uneducated sounding.

Most answers to this question are either missing the target, or miss the main point of the APR.

The APR is a RATIO that is based on the payments relative to the total amount financed after: some of the finance charges, perhaps points, perhaps loan origination fees, PMI, and perhaps other fees have been deducted — and is reflected on a compounded annual rate.

I am not a lender and don’t know the “Real” definition. But, how the APR is calculated can vary from state to state, and from lender to lender. So, there is no absolute definition, but only definitions that are approximate. Unfortunately, the definitions I am hearing from the notaries are overly simplistic and generally just plain wrong!

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May 17, 2013

Why do I have to sign with my middle initial?

Filed under: Signing Tips — admin @ 11:03 pm

Do you get asked this question?

If your name on Title has your middle initial, is that the reason? I think so. But, what if your drivers license doesn’t have your middle initial? Then, you can not be notarized with your middle initial. When signing loan documents, if you don’t sign exactly how your name is typed in the signature section, then you probably won’t get your loan.

But, as notaries, you need to watch your signers carefully. Remember, you are there to babysit the signers. Unfortunately, most notaries are so unprofessional that they need to be babysat as well. But, you should know what you are doing.

At a signing, you should tell the borrowers exactly how they are to sign and have them practice on a piece of paper that is not part of their loan. Watch them. Make sure they don’t leave out any initials.

Good luck

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May 17, 2013

Stealing a notes section after dark

Filed under: Humor — Tags: , , — admin @ 8:12 am

Do you plagiarise? I just witnessed a terrible case of plagiarism of a notes section. A lady notary in Washington State copied the majority of a Los Angeles Notary’s notes section that had been written by a semi-professional editor. The nerve of some people.

The irony is that the content she lifted was nowhere as valuable as her unique material that she wrote that went into detail about all of the various types of loans she had signed, and notary procedures she had engaged in. She put the stolen material on top where it didn’t do much good, and left the interesting part of her notes section BURIED.

Many notaries use this strategy. They make it a policy to make it hard to find any unique or interesting material on them and cover it up with generalities and baseless claims of how “professional” they are.

This lady had signed more than ten types of loans, and other unusual documents that I have never heard of a notary notarizing before. I didn’t even know it was legal to notarize some of those documents she mentioned. We live and we learn.

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May 16, 2013

A 2am Signing

Filed under: General Stories — Tags: — admin @ 2:35 am

Here’s one for all the books”

The other night (Sunday night) I get a call from a young woman asking me if I could meet her and her husband at an undetermined place later that night when they went to go purchase a car at 1:00 am, I said yes that was no problem because this happens all the time when you offer 24 hour services. Two and a half hours later I get a call from the woman again asking me how much it would cost to come to her and how it long it would take me to get to an address that she had given me right then (which was about 27 miles away from my location) I told her it would be $65.00 and would take me about 40 mintutes, she said okay come on out.

When I arrived at the address I looked at the surroundings as I always do taking in as many mental notes as possible ( it is 2 o’clock in the morning not exactly the best time to be comfortable) so I knocked on the door and foreigner answered the door I figured this was going to be a real trip, so I ask if this was where they needed a notary public they said it was and that the man was test driving the car that was for sale so I waited about 15 minutes outside in my truck parked in the driveway, finally a car pulled up parked on the street a foreign male goes into the house, I get out of my truck walk up to the car and ask the driver (this “RED NECK” looking guy if he was the one that needed a notary, this guy floors the gas pedal and holds it there while the car is in neutual he held it there for what seemed like 5 minutes understand that this is an older model Honda early 90′s and it’s not gonna take to much of this abuse

The guy gets out of the car and says he was not going to buy the car because it was a piece of &*%% , I say to him that I still need to collect $65.00 for the trip and he says to me he’s not paying because he didn’t buy the car so didn’t need a notary, he then tells me that I wasn’t very professional because I should have it on my cards that if I come out somewhere and didn’t do anything then I still collect the money and that since I didn’t have that printed on my cards that he didn’t have to pay me, he then walked accross the street got into a Chevy van and drove off fast and loud.

I know you can fill in the gaps and the lines as to the would haves could haves and should haves and everything that was said and done during my time out there, but what would you have done ? how would you have handled it ? Did I do it right should I have done something different ? let me know

Also feel free to put this on a blog or something but if you do please let me know so I can view it too.

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May 15, 2013

Cross-out happy; Not a good idea

Filed under: Ninja Selected Articles,Notary Mistakes,Signing Tips — Tags: — admin @ 11:02 pm

Some lenders allow cross outs. Others will fire you after the first cross out. Some signing agent courses recommend that you cross things out without a second thought. Others don’t. Even our loan signing course teaches you to cross out wrong dates in the right to cancel document. But, if you work for Provident or other lenders who don’t allow cross outs — you’re fired! Gulp?

Don’t worry, just read the instructions. Many loans have an instructions sheet. If there is no letter of instructions, then ask before you cross, okay? Don’t assume that you can just cross anything out. First of all, remember the golden rule of cross outs. Don’t cross out unless: (1) you have permission and (2) it is a last resort.

What about the 1003? The 1003 loan application has endless wrong information. It is my personal belief that the clerks they hire are required to make endless mistakes — otherwise they will be fired on the spot. If they get your social security number right they will be laid off immediately, right? In any case, the 1003 is not binding in the loan, but has to be sent back signed. Borrowers whine endlessly about this carelessly prepared document. What is the solution? Cross out and initial? Hmmm. Not sure…

My take on the 1003 is that you will cost yourself 30 minutes of wasted time if you call your contact person about anything, so don’t call unless you really need to. Otherwise you will never get out of the signing. If the lender allows cross outs, you will not endanger your loan by crossing out in the 1003 or for wrong dates on the right to cancel. If the lender doesn’t allow cross outs, then don’t do it.

Trick question

Q. What is the only document the is in a completed loan package that REQUIRES cross outs?
A. Acknowledgment certificates require the notary to cross out the his/her/their, etc.

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May 14, 2013

The 1003, nothing but trouble

Filed under: Signing Tips — Tags: — admin @ 11:00 pm

We have a question on one of our over-the-phone tests that involves the 1003. Crossing things out in documents is risky and could ruin a loan and get you fired. Avoid crossing out unless you have permission and it is a last resort. But, the 1003 always has wrong information. Should you explain to the borrowers that the 1003 is not binding and that therefor it is okay that there are mistakes? Should you cross out and initial mistakes in the 1003?

Perhaps you should have a list of documents you show the borrowers first at a signing. Show them the Settlement Statement, the TIL and the 1003. These documents have all of the information that will make a borrower happy, or turn them into a maniac. Seasoned loan signers have their hit list of things to show the borrowers first.

Another strategy is to explain the snags of the signing ahead of time during your confirmation call. The borrowers will appreciate this. You can explain that “if” the 1003 has some wrong information. If it says you went to the University of China when you went to Harvard — it’s okay. If it gets your social security number wrong — it doesn’t effect the loan. If it claims your daughter’s name is Zaida instead of Sally — don’t worry about it. Tell them that the minimum wage clerks that type these things up get paid extra if they make a few mistakes and just laugh it off. It is not a loan document technically. It is only an application and that the final numbers are in the HUD-1.

Just hope for your sake that your borrower has a sense of humor as good as yours!

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