Two notaries assigned the same job?
There I was, a California notary public in Tustin, CA. I had driven down from Los Angeles to sign a loan for a nice couple in Orange County, California. We were signing away, when lo and behold: The notary showed up. He asked, “Who are you?”. I then proclaimed, “I am the notary”. Then, he said, “That’s impossible, I’m the notary!”. “No you’re not!”. “Yes I am”. “Am NOT!”. “AM TOO!…” Okay, let’s be honest, the “am not am too” part never happened. I’m embelleshing this signing agent dialogue. The couple was just staring in confusion. The wife was displaying the exact same mannerisms as a cat watching a dangling string. He head rotated to the left and looked at me, then head rotated to the right and looked at the other notary, then back at me, and back at him…. Hmmm. What is going on?
The Signing company hired two notaries?
How could they! After all of my hard work, they would have the gaul to… Oh… wait a minute, let me call them and straighten the whole thing out.
Ring Ring…..
Me – Hello, may I speak to Mary please, this is Jeremy your California notary for the Anderson Signing in Tustin.
Mary – Hi, this is Mary!
Me – Hi, Mary, it seems that you hired two notaries for the same job.
Mary – What? We would never do that
Me – Odd, because as we speak, there is another notary here. Or, should I say, “A Notarial Triangle”
Mary – Hmmm… Let me call the Title company.
………… ten minutes later
Mary – I found out what happened
Me – Please do tell?
Mary – The title company hired two signing companies to handle this California notary job, and the OTHER signing company sent that OTHER California notary out.
Me – Mmmm. So, which signing company was SUPPOSED to be responsible for the job.
Mary – We are. The title company cancelled with the other signing company, but apparantly, they didn’t cancel with the notary.
Me – Oh, no they didn’t!!!
Mary – Oh, yes they did.
Me – This has never happened in my career to date. And I hope it never happens again. Just make sure that I’m the one who gets paid, although the other one should get a travel fee, don’t you agree?
Mary – Thats between him and the OTHER signing company.
Me – I KNEW there had to be another signing company. I could just tell from the way he was looking at me.
So, jokes aside, the other notary left, we finished the signing. Into the UPS box it went, and off I went on my merry way out of what we affectionally call, “The OC”, and back up the 5 Freeway, or is it the 405 — its been so long I can’t even remember, through Anaheim, Downey, Commerce, and back to Los Angeles where I logged in my transaction and faxed a bill to the signing company.
The End!
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THIS HAPPENED TO ME. TOUGH SPOT TO BE IN. I ARRIVED ON TIME WITH DOCUMENTS. 1/2 HOUR LATE ANOTHER NOTARY SHOWED UP. mAKING A SCENE…SIGNING COMPANY HAD NO ANSWERS. THE LATE NOTARY SPOKE WITH SIGNERS THE NIGHT BEFORE. I WAS CALLED LAST MINUTE TO DO AN EMERGENCY APPOINTMENT. I LEFT MSG FOR SIGNERS. SIGNING SERVICE PROLONGED RESOLVING EVEN THO I WAS IN THE WE HAD BEGONE AND RAN INTO A SNAG THE SIGNING COMPANY WAS TRYING TO WORK OUT REGARDING i.d. ISSUE. BECAUSE THE LATE NOTARY MADE SO MUCH NOISE AND SIGNERS WERE COFORTABLE WITH THEM, AND THERE WAS ALREADY AN IDENTIFICATION ISSUE AND APPT WAS NOT CONFIRMED WITH THE SIGNERS I CHOSE TO WALK AWAY. WAS NOT PAID AND BELIEVE THE CIOMPANY WENT UNDER AS THEY ARE NOT TO BE FOUND, OF COURSE THEY MAY HAVE CHANGED THERE NAME.
Comment by ALICE — September 11, 2011 @ 12:57 pm
Very hard spot to be in. Which this never happens to us!
Comment by MARIA — September 12, 2011 @ 1:04 pm
Unfortunately this happens more than you think. Thank goodness it has only happened to me once in 17 years and yes it puts you in a difficult spot.I think I walked too but don’t remember the circumstances.
Comment by Peggy — September 16, 2011 @ 6:53 pm
That happened to me with a notarization that was supposed to take place at a 2.5 hour away drive. Lucky, both Notaries had called to confirmed and I was made aware of the other notary and it was straightened out before I began my long journey.
Comment by Charles Tolliver II — September 17, 2011 @ 5:07 pm
Been there, done that. Thank goodness, it’s only happened twice in 13 years. It looks horrible to the borrower’s.
Comment by Kimberly — September 27, 2011 @ 5:36 pm
I have heard some signing agencies do this! Why??
Comment by Connie Kuest — November 1, 2012 @ 4:41 am
I thought that I walked into this same situation when I arrived at the signing location and found another notary already doing a signing. It turned out that the borrower was refinancing two properties the same evening. Two different lenders, title companies, signing services, and notaries!
Comment by Bob — September 1, 2013 @ 12:15 am
It happened to me not so long ago. I was already busy when the other notary arrived. We made some phonically and it was decided that I should finish since I already started.
I offered a branch to the notary and wanted to exchange business cards but he wanted none of it.
I find it very unprofessional and unfortunately since we are often the only faces they see it is linked to our face/name and not the lender/signing agency.
Comment by Monica B Voloshin — February 24, 2015 @ 11:11 pm