In France, the officials love saying no just for the shear pleasure. One American was pulled over in France and asked the officer why he was pulled over. The officer replied, “Because, I can…” Notaries are in such a hurry to please their clients, they forget who they really work for which is Uncle Sam… on a state level that is. Notaries at a Notary office make their money in Notary fees and not in travel fees so there is no conflict of interest. But, Notaries who want to make a good living in the over-competitive field of mobile Notary are so motivated by keeping clients, that they forget the whole reason for their profession which is to say — no!

If a man says maybe it means no. If a woman says no, it means maybe. But, Notaries need to be a little less wishy-washy. You are protecting the integrity of very large transactions here. Allowing something to slide could enable a fraud, and you might have no idea who the fraud was as they might seem like a very nice person at first. Here are some situations where you should say No! (and loudly)

1. The ID says John Smith, but he wants to be notarized as John S Smith because that’s how his name reads on title.

2. The signer’s ID is expired and your state doesn’t allow expired ID. (some will allow up to five years from the issue date.)

3. The affiant refuses to swear under Oath.

4. You are asked to put a different date on the Notary certificate than the date of the signing.

5. The borrower will not or cannot appear in front of you at the time of the Notariztion

6. The signer is in jail and his girlfriend need you to notarize him without ID. “But, he has a wristband” she says…

7. The Lender asks you to mail in a “loose jurat” and says it’s okay because they do that all the time.

8. Notarizing individual pages of multi-page documents

9. Notarizing a thumbprint

10. Notarizing a vital record

11. Notarizing a photograph

12. Notarizing a document with blanks without crossing out or filling in the blanks.

You might also like:

See our Just Say No String
http://blog.123notary.com/?tag=just-say-no-2

Are you a yes-tary or a no-tary?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=16626

ID — a growing problem
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=15074