Marcy had been to the county fair recently. She really got to thinking as she was lost in the corn maze. But, then it all started to pop. It took her ninety minutes to get out of that maze. All of the routes seemed the same, with twists and turns, but only one would get her out of that maze. It reminded her of her career. One thing that Marcy learned, is that the maze had several signs in various locations that showed the routes. She just wasn’t reading the signs carefully enough. There was one intersection with five paths, and she kept taking the wrong one since they all looked almost identical. Where’s your GPS when you need it? She took each path one by one until she got the right one. Corn mazes are confusing like that. As she munched on some grilled corn at the fair after her ordeal, she was even more determined than ever before to be the perfect Notary. And besides, she would have to face her neighbor Patricia who didn’t tolerate failure (or bad corn)!

At Marcy’s next signing, she noticed that the name of the signer was printed incorrectly on the signature line of one of the documents. Marcy had them initial next to their signature. The next day she got a call from the Processor. The Loan Processor was upset that the initials were to the right of the signature which got in their way of doing the changes. Never had Marcy heard of someone other than her cat being so picky. After all, she did her job correctly, she had the borrower initial and sign the correct way. What more can you ask for? Furthermore, they didn’t do any forbidden cross-outs. Marcy felt her work was perfect. The Processor wanted the initials below the typed name under the last several letters of the last name. This is how 123notary teaches initialing incorrectly printed names by the way. Marcy said that she would do it that way from then on. Marcy went on to tell Patricia what had happened and Patricia said, “If it isn’t one thing, it’s another — but, keep this up. You’re really getting somewhere now! And remember, a cornfield of 10,000 acres isn’t planted in a day.”

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Point 16 — Initialing
Most Notaries don’t understand initialing. At least they don’t initially. Although there are no formal rules, here are some guidelines.

The initials should cover all parts of the person’s name being signed.

Theodore T Tidmore would initial TTT
Nancy Nissenbaum would initial NN
Thomas T Carl Edison would initial TTCE

But, what if it gets complicated?

Thomas Smith, Sr. would initial TS Sr.
Thomas Jones, III would initial TJ III
Thomas DeLuna is a little more complicated. I choose TD since the last part of the name is connected.

But,

Thomas De La Cruz De Philippe Rodriguez Ramirez Gomez would initial TDLC DPRRG — oh my God.

Where do initials go?
Where do initials go, assuming they are not on a tree representing a relationship soon to be DOA? On loan document signings, it is common for borrowers to initial all pages of the Deed of Trust, sometimes the Note, often the Universal Residential Loan Application (The 1003), and sometimes other multi-page documents. There is normally a one centimeter line in the lower corner of the page where the initials are intended. But, keep your eyes open, because the special line for initials might not be where you expect it to be.

Initialing changes
Many notaries do not understand the name changing procedure. It is really up to the processor to do name changes. However, the notary must at a minimum have the borrower initial any changes. My best client during my loan signing days was a processor which is how I know the ideal procedure for name changing. It is easier than you might think.

Have the borrower initial to the right below the last several letters of the typed name.
Have the borrower sign the correct way where they are supposed to sign.
Inform the lender in writing and by phone that the name is changed to whatever it is changed to.
There is no need to cross-out. Cross-outs cause a mess. there is also no need to write in the correct name. The processor can do that.

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You might also like:

30 Point Course Table of Contents
http://blog.123notary.com/?cat=3442

30 Point Course (17) The APR
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14483

Can you notarize initials?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=8269

Read about initialing in our industry standards blog entry
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=4370

Signing Agent Best Practices 63 Points
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=4315

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