The Notary Signing Agent “Loan Closing” – Process, Preparation & Pitfalls
Perhaps it would be best to cover the events, from the desire for a mortgage, or re-finance, to funding; chronologically, as the timeline is the only common aspect. The borrower completes a Loan Application (more on the importance of this later), and numerous other documents. These are usually signed at the location of the Lending Institution (bank), in the presence of the Loan Officer (LO). Once approved by the bank, the processing becomes very interesting indeed.
The LO’s bank will lend money to the borrower based on the Mortgage as collateral for the loan. Banks do not like to take any risk whatsoever. What if the borrower does not have “clear title” to the property? To protect the bank, the bank requires the borrower to pay for “Title Insurance” issued by a “Title Co.”. So the next step is for the LO to contact a Title Co. to arrange for the insurance. Note that from this point forward the Title Co. “calls the shots”; as the Title Co. is the only party taking “risk”. If they do not issue the necessary insurance, there is no loan.
Eventually, after the loan has been approved, and the Title Insurance has been approved – usually about 2-3 weeks after the Loan Application; the stage is set for the actual processing of the paperwork. Various documents must be notarized, and it is the role of the Notary Public to check the ID’s of affiants on notarized documents; and there will be many! The mortgage is always notarized; and frequently two copies are processed; in case the messenger sent to record the mortgage at the local county clerk’s office loses it on the way. That actually does happen.
At this point the documents, typically from 80 to 125 pages are computer generated and ready for the Notary Signing Agent to bring to the borrower. But first a qualified NSA must be selected. As it is the Title Co. who is most interested in proper completion of the paperwork, they take on a leadership role to get the documents signed by the borrowers. But, not wanting to actually deal with, or have to select notaries, they often use a Signing Service (SS) to actually choose the notary.
At this point the Signing Agent gets a call asking if they are available to be at so and so location at such and such a time. If not, they call the next agent on their list. If it works for the agent’s schedule, they negotiate a fee. That fee is based on the requirements to process the Loan
Package. Variables include the number of pages, the distance to the borrower, time of day (extra for me to be there at 7AM on Sunday), etc. Also discussed are how and when the package is to be sent to the Signing Agent – overnight, usually via FedEx or E-mail. The latter
has usually has an additional fee. Once an agreement is reached, the Signing Service, on behalf of the Title Company sends a “work order” to the Signing Agent.
Now the ball is in the Notary Signing Agent’s court. Everyone who did anything prior to this point is depending on the NSA to get the borrower’s signatures and initials completely, and to do the requisite notarizations accurately. The NSA must also make sure any “non borrowing spouse” is present to sign docs as required by state law. There is much for the NSA to do. First the borrower must be called to confirm the “work order” as to contact information and address and to verify the scheduled time of meeting; and that all will bring proper ID to the table. Next, the NSA must receive and print two sets of the loan documents (borrower copy and bank copy). A good NSA will explain what will take place at the “signing” and remind the borrower to have their photo ID (and a copy to submit) ready for the meeting. A really good NSA will ask the borrower what name is on their ID, as the property “vesting” name sometimes differs from the name on the borrower’s ID. If so, the NSA contacts the Signing Service to get the documents corrected, or the borrower finds appropriate ID matching the documents.
Finally, usually with barely enough time to print and drive; the E-document is received and two sets printed. If there is adequate time after printing, some NSA’s like to pre-notarize the documents so they are able to devote their full attention to the signing process. Map in hand, GPS programmed, hoping the traffic is light; the NSA departs for the scheduled meeting with the borrower. A good NSA always uses a GPS to find the borrower’s location and does not get lost in the process. After dark jobs usually require a powerful flashlight to see house numbers in
residential neighborhoods.
The NSA shows their ID and requests the ID of the borrower(s). Then, the page by page completion of the documents begins. A single flaw, omission, or unreadable date (usually by the borrower) will often result in a complete re-draw of everything. The experienced NSA knows to “swap a page” from the borrower’s copy to allow a redo of a page with an error. The process usually takes about an hour, depending on the size of the Loan Package, how much the borrower wishes to read, and the amount of information to be entered. Often the borrower has questions and “attempts” to contact the LO. If, as is sometimes the case; the borrower receives the package directly, days prior to the Notaries arrival; they are expected to read it and ask their LO any questions. But, some borrowers want to ask questions of the Notary Signing Agent.
Title Co.’s and Signing Services tell the NSA to “explain the documents, but do not give legal advice”. It’s a really fine line between the two. Most NSA’s choose the side of caution and only define terms and assist the borrower to find documents with desired information (the interest
rate, the APR, the pre-payment penalty). At this time, the computer generated replacement for the original hand written Loan Application is signed. This is one of the most important documents. It is on this document that the borrower has made claims about their credit
worthiness, salary, etc. Any false statement on this document would allow the Lending Institution to demand the loan be paid in full immediately! Also, many of the numbers on this document will be wrong – because time has passed since it was originally signed – some debts
shown will be higher or lower.
Having been on several thousand signings the environmental aspects of the borrower’s premises are worthy of comment. They range from a well lit kitchen table in an air-conditioned room – to, and I am not making this up – a fruit fly infested room where the borrower pursues his
hobby of “naturally” raising Iguanas! There are many other pitfalls. In New York, the Notary is mandated to only use black ink; but Pinellas County, Florida will not record a mortgage unless all signatures are in blue ink! I have been asked several times (verbally, of course),
to “backdate” my notarization date, as the papers have expired (borrower out of town, rate lock expired, etc.). In New York that is called Forgery, a class D Felony – worthy of seven years in prison!
Finally the documents are signed and notarized, the borrower given the Notary Oath – and it’s off to FedEx to ship the documents to the Title Company. Well, not exactly. First somedocuments must be faxed, (lots of them if it will fund same day); and an airbill very carefully
prepared. Phone calls must be made to report success or failure “at the table”, and an invoice prepared. At last all is ready and the papers are handed off to FedEx.
Although the borrower thinks the “closing” has been completed – it actually has not even started. If I was a true “closing agent” – I would have a checkbook and be able to write the check on the spot. It used to be done that way many years ago. Now, the papers are received by the Title
Company and they review them for errors. If their included documents, often called “junk docs” (because they tend to be 4th generation Xerox copies), are completed and notarized correctly they approve issuance of the Title Insurance and pass the paperwork to the Lending Institution. At that time the papers are again reviewed, this time the review is for the papers that originated from the bank. The bank, with the knowledge of Title Insurance approval; will at last do the real “Closing” – which allows for issuance of the check that the borrower has been seeking.
Thus, the Notary Signing Agent is an integral part of the process. Important documents are notarized to assure the validity of the signatures. No system is perfect. A notary can be fooled with a good forgery. So can a State Trooper, with a phony Driver’s License. But, the bulk of the
impersonation potential is filtered at the source by the NSA’s diligence in pursuing valid ID and using their stamp and embosser on documents. Borrowers like to sign papers in the comfort of their own home/office – at their convenience. The licensed and professional notary, though a part of the system that caused the recent mortgage “melt down” disaster; was never a causative factor. If not for the diligence of professional notaries pursuing the NSA craft, things would have been much, much worse.
http://kenneth-a-edelstein.com
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Notary is pushed off stairs by borrower!
Well, I thought I had heard it all. I hear a lot of wonderful, interesting tales here at 123 from our members. Some are entertaining and funny while others are very sad and depressing. This, unfortunately is one of these stories and unfortunately it is the worst to date. It is nothing short of horrendous and shameful. Although I have her permission to tell her story, I promised her I would not reveal her or the area she lives in. So, here we go…
This particular notary public who is female took a signing from a signing company, she confirmed her appointment, prepared her docs and met her borrower at the the specified time. As she went through the documents, he saw that his interest rate was 1/2 percent more than he had been told. He then became enraged. He requested (using vulgarity) that she leave his home immediately. She packed up her things up and prepared to leave the premises. As she proceeded to the door the borrower followed, continuing to rant and rave using foul language incessantly. He was VERY angry with this 1/2 of a percent increase that nobody had bothered to inform him of (sadly, a story we all are familiar with and have heard many times) and, to top it to make matters even worse off, the loan officer had not been in contact with him and had been unreachable for several days.
So, as she walked out of the door onto his front porch. There were 4 steps to go down to the walkway that would lead to her car… But, before she could take that first step — with the force of both of his hands on her shoulders he pushed her down and off the porch. She went flying off the porch, and by the grace of God she somehow pivoted her body onto the grass instead of his cemented walkway that was directly in front of her but unfortunately in trying to break her fall she broke her left wrist. In disbelief and shock she just laid there. The borrower went back into the house and shut and locked his door. However, fortunately for her, the borrower’s neighbor who was mowing his lawn at the time witnessed the whole thing. He called out to his wife to call the police and the paramedics and he came to her aid and sat with her until they arrived. (A knight in shining armor). The paramedics attended to her and after the police got the story from both the notary and the neighbor one of the officers went to the door of the borrower , rang the bell and the borrower did not answer. At that point the officer yelled out to him to open the door or else. He did eventually open the door, and then was immediately handcuffed and placed under arrest and was put in the back of the police car.
Now folks get this — as the paramedics worked on our notary public to prepare her for the trip to the hospital and the police filled out their report the borrower (hand cuffed in the back seat of the police car) was still ranting and raving non stop with vulgarities that they (the police and paramedics) needed to get this you know what off his grass and property. One of the police officers obviously fed up with this behavior as well as the noise went over to the borrower and told him that he needed to shut up and slammed the car door. He then asked the neighbor if this behavior was characteristic of this man. The neighbor and the wife just looked at each other and nodded yes… I just cant believe this man and his behavior, I am still in awe of all of it.
The paramedics said that if she had fallen onto the concrete instead of the grass she would have broken both wrists and god knows what else in the process. All things considered she was lucky-it could have been way worse.
She ended up staying in the hospital of 4-5 days instead of the day and half she was originally told due to an infection she developed in her wrist.
Now it is 1 month later and she is finally back to work. She is healing well I asked her how she felt about her career now (she is a full time signing agent) and if she felt like giving it up…and she said no way. She says she loves her job and knew this was just something that happened. Kudos to her! She and DA have filed charges and he has 3 counts against him and there will be a civil suit as well. I hope he gets ALL that is coming to him….I say throw the book at him.
Now, of course the signing service that gave her the assignment wants to know why the loan wasn’t closed. Well get this; When she called in to tell them what had happened from the hospital — the person on the other end of the line laughed and said “you could have come up with a better excuse than that”. So, in order to clear her name she had to send in the police report, hospital records etc….( and yes she did manage to call the day of the signing)
So, all of this leaves me with a few thoughts. I really feel that this could have been avoided if the loan officer had done his job. This is so often the case where the loan officer knows exactly what the numbers are way ahead of time but avoids sharing this information with the borrowers and we go out at the final hour when they know these borrowers are desperate and for the most part are stuck and cant turn back now, and they regrettably just sign. And we get stuck in middle — and in this case — pushed down a flight of stairs. Now some of you will disagree and put up a fuss but this is why when I call and confirm with the borrowers I ask them has the loan officer been in touch and have they gone over the figures with them. If the answer is yes then I ask them what are the numbers supposed to be. This way if the number con-inside with what I see, we are good. If not, I can alert the hiring party that we have a problem before I waste the borrowers time or MINE. I can avoid problems at the table-situations like the one I just described to you here. (aLthough it is rare and the first time I have heard such of a thing happing it is now a reality that it is possible). This technique does not always work but it is sure worth a try. And it might save you some trouble. I have been doing it for years. Now I know some of you will chew my head off about this technique of mine but this is my business and I run it as I see fit-just as you will run yours as you see fit. But, remember this is for the most part why are economy is shot…to many lies and games being played in the refinance word, and we are usually abandoned and stuck in the middle.
Now, most of you know I preach about your worth and the fees that you charge — this story just reinforces my feeling that you need to be paid what you are worth. I know this is an extreme case but we stick out necks out every time we take an assignment. We NEVER know where our notary public assignments will take us or what we will have to deal with when we get there. We deal with bad attitudes, late documents, traffic, bad neighborhoods, filthy homes, terrible smells, pets, incompetence, etc., and sometimes bad people. So my point is you need to be paid what you are worth. If you continue accepting these low fees that they are offering nowadays not only do you hurt yourself you hurt all of us: the notary community as a whole…..Now in this case a higher fee would not have stopped his unthinkable behavior but I feel that because we deal with so much adversity in this business we need to have our pay more in line with our efforts and the things that we are subjected too. For me, without fair compensation this profession is just not worth the effort or trouble.
Until next time!! BE SAFE!!
Written by Carmen Towles
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