Snapdocs has grown in popularity in the last half year. Many of our clients have gotten a lot of business from them. One guy got 350 signings from them while another got 150 last year. Most Notaries are fed up with the low-balling and hand-holding. But, the ones who can tolerate the low-ball practices are getting volume. At low prices after you deduct your toner, paper, gas, and phone-time, you might not end up with much, but at least you get something.
My question is, can these guys stay in business with this business model of low-balling the Notaries? So many Notaries are so sick of it and drop out as a result of these practices. The answer lies with Uber. Uber burns out their drivers very quickly. I forget how long the average driver lasts, but it is not more than a few weeks. They just can’t stand the low pay and difficult situations they are put in. Snapdocs seems to pray on new blood too. Although most Notaries we know have dropped Snapdocs (we should call them SnapDrops) there seems to be an infinite supply of new Notaries with no knowledge, no experience, and most important, no self-respect who work for pennies.
On the other hand, perhaps the signing and title companies will get sick of bad quality Notaries and come back to 123notary where we deliver the highest quality search results in the business. I manicure my directory daily for accuracy of data and quality of Notaries. People value quality, but do they value it enough to pay for it?
I estimate that 123notary is losting 7% of our search volume due to Snapdocs. On the other hand, we are not losing revenue simply because we make our money from Notaries who get paid for high paying Title work for the most part. The Notaries who do low-ball work don’t have much money, don’t spend much money, and won’t lose us much money if they wandered into other pastures. So, we’ll keep our business model of quality search results and quality Notaries over here and hope for the best.
To sum it up. As long as SnapDocs has new blood and the Title companies will stoop to the level of accepting untrained, inexperienced and unqualified Notaries, SnapDocs will stay in business. Scary to think — but true! On a brighter note, they did an excellent job of harnessing modern technology in a way that nobody else did or wants to!
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You might also like:
Compilation of posts about SnapDocs
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=21531
Opinions about Snapdocs in the forum & blog comments
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=21299
Shark Tank – Notarizing in the shower for executives
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=20511
Global Notary
Many Notaries have done jobs for Global Notary. But, what are they saying?
http://www.123notary.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2517
lsaversl
“Just got a call from Global Notary-print 2 sets (150 each), drive 50 miles round trip, fax back 150 docks, for a whopping $30.00-I was about to tell them (are you insane), but just said I was very booked up.”
Minnesota7
“I completed some 15 closings up here in northern Minnesota for Global because they had no choice but to pay my travel fees. Only 2 or 3 travel where we go. In town I refused their starting fee $40. I would burst out laughing. My problem was they would call and ask if I was going to be on time, every closing. The last two they actually called the borrowers to see if I was there. Some snot nose brat called me from global and said don’t take it personal, they do that to all notaries. I asked for the home phone number to the Owner of Global so I could call him or her every morning at 4am and ask them if they were going to be on time for work that day. Now I have received 3 different 1099’s from them. They need professional help. I got along ok with one scheduler but I told him to see to it that they take me out of their system and don’t ever call again. Plenty of good companies still out there. MN7”
Joelbenedict
“I made an error in the date of the borrower certification. I then scanned 201 docs back without catching my error. Global Notary sent me an email giving approval to drop the docs. I called the next day to confirm that I had approval. I dropped the docs. Four days later, Global Notary contacts me to notify me that there was an error in the borrower certification and that Old Republic (the title company) had rejected it. I completed an acknowledgement, scanned it back to Global Notary, cc’d Old Republic. Two days later, Old Republic approved the acknowledgment and Global Notary told me to overnight the acknowledgment at my own expense or for a $20 reduction in my fee. I didn’t have my notary stamp or the document at home–this was six days after the signing. I printed another copy of the acknowledgment, filled it out by hand, and faxed it to Global Notary. I paid for the label online through USPS’ website. It cost $18.11 to Express mail it flat rate. 10-24 minutes later, Global Notary called me to tell me that Old Republic likely wouldn’t approve the handwritten copy. I griped to corrections about their not catching the mistake in either of the two approvals and expecting me to take the expense hit.
Their response was that they do what they can. I couldn’t get them to budge on any kind of action to prevent it from happening again, or even that they had made a mistake in not catching my mistake. The day after, Global Notary contacted me to tell me I’d have to ship the acknowledgment that was approved on day four because Old Republic had rejected it. I went over Global Notary’s heads and called Old Republic; I told Old Republic Title the same thing I’d told Global Notary, that Kentucky doesn’t require notary stamps, our signature and serial numbers are considered our seal; Old Republic said that the lender had rejected it. I had the approved acknowledgment with me this time; I paid for the shipping and put it in a box (a non-USPS flat-rate regular cardboard box). It cost $16.99. Now I’ve got to wait and see if there’s any more noise with this signing. I took it for $85, printed out 422 pages of docs, drove 26 miles total, have put at least 11 hours into this signing, and took a $35.10 hit in expenses. This is probably my sixth signing with Global Notary, but this one has been a poor experience. The other signings I got for $60-70.”
M.Quednau
“Never leave your fax machine unattended before it is finished. Just because a borrower “thinks” he knows what he is doing you ALWAYS check for errors. Always ask about fax backs before you agree on a price taking that into consideration before you agree to do the signing. Sounds like you should have been more proactive in checking for mistakes and making sure the fax went through and if the fax didn’t go through wait till you come back after the holiday (since it was only one day) and tried again to fax. Global pays on a timely basis. If I were you I would rethink working for them again if they were willing to pay your price. I think all the calls are because one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing. None the less it is very annoying. ”
NotaryMark
“I am aware that Global Notary Inc are low ballers, however their tactics and fees have finally become preposterous.
Yesterday I was called for a Mortgage signing, i verified it was a normal signing on the phone, then verified there was about a twenty page fax back, ok I said for $75. Yes thats low but it was close to where I live and a quick return.
HOWEVER…on documents arrival I find that the fax back is nearly fifty pages and this is a refinance where the total pages of documents are 187! So that would be X2 prints 374pgs and a fax back!!
Unfortunately I had to cancel this appointment because of a family crisis, sudden and unexpected”
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You might also like:
The 90 days no payment list of signing companies
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=15887
The met my fee list of signing companies
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=16979