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March 29, 2015

Point (14) Explain or Don’t Explain? Marcy Hires a Babysitter

Filed under: Loan Signing 101,Popular on Facebook (some),Popular on Twitter 2014 & 2015 — Tags: 30 point course — admin @ 9:37 pm

Poor Marcy needed a babysitter. She called one of her regulars named Amy. Amy was a nice girl from the neighborhood. Marcy’s husband was getting on her case about spending too much money on babysitters.

HUSBAND: Why are you running all around town chasing notary jobs when you should be watching our kid?

MARCY: I’m trying to create a career so we’ll have a better future.

HUSBAND: Our future’s just fine. You just stay here, and we’ll make it. We made it so far.

MARCY: I’m tired of just sitting around the house. I’ve done a few dozen signings, and I’m getting the hang of it. There’s money in this!

HUSBAND: Okay, but I don’t like it. I have to work late and our baby will be all alone with a complete stranger!

MARCY: Oh, It’ll be okay.

HUSBAND: I hope you are making more than $20, because that’s what the babysitter is charging us.

MARCY: If I get paid I will.

HUSBAND: IF you get paid? What kind of business is this? I’m putting my foot down! I bet Patricia down the street talked you into this.

MARCY: I already have the appointment and Amy is coming over.

AMY: Hi, I’m here. But, one small thing.

MARCY: Anything.

AMY: I need to have someone come over while you’re gone. Only for a minute. Will that be okay?

MARCY: Well sure. But, who is it?

AMY: It’s for business. It’s not a friend.

MARCY: What kind of business? And at your age? Business?

AMY: Hmmm. To explain or not to explain. I would feel more comfortable not talking about it.

MARCY: Well, if you are having someone come to my house while I’m not here, I need to know who it is.

AMY: Well, it is sort of a guy who helps with paperwork. He stamps stuff…

MARCY: Is he a Notary?

AMY: Oh my God! How did you know?

MARCY: I’m also a Notary, and I’m going out to an assignment right now. I can notarize you for free when I come back.

AMY: Well, it’s kind of private. I’m not sure I want you to see the paperwork.

MARCY: Private? How private are we talking? Something you don’t want your mom to know?

AMY: If she finds out, I’m grounded for life.

MARCY: So, you’re in trouble? And you’re babysitting my kid? What kind of trouble?

AMY: Oh, it won’t affect you. It’s just for a test.

MARCY: Test? Are you on drugs? Or… Oh no.

AMY: I missed my period last month.

MARCY: Oh. I understand. You teenagers need to be more careful. Boys aren’t a game. You can ruin your entire life in an instant!

AMY: I know that now.

MARCY: Okay, you can have whomever you want notarize you, but no boys coming over here tonight or any night. Got it?

AMY: I understand. I’m glad I explained it to you.

MARCY: If you can’t explain, you have nobody to help you. But, if I can’t explain something. I just call the Lender!

Point (14) When to explain and when not to explain

The points in this section are not too much different from point 13. But, we will go into more detail here. The main point is that general questions about loan documents are for the Notary to explain if your state laws allow for that. Specific questions about the loan require you to call the Lender or Title company.

What should the Notary do under these situations?

(1) Where is my prepayment penalty explained?
Show the borrower the correct page where the information is located.

(2) Why is my prepayment penalty so unfair?
Call the Lender or refer the borrower to the Lender.

(3) What is my loan amount?
Refer the borrower to a document that has this information.

(4) I thought my loan amount was $365,000 and now it is $390,000 with fees. I had no idea it would be so high.
Show them the HUD, and then perhaps call the Lender.

(5) I am supposed to sign my name as Theo T Tango, but my ID only says T Tango, what do I do?
Unfortunately, the Lender can’t help with Notary law issues as they will most likely encourage you to break the law in order to get the loan signed. Try to find a legal way to get the loan signed. Call the Lender if you want to know about using the Signature Affidavit though.

(6) Where is my APR?
Show them the Truth in Lending Disclosure

(7) I was told my APR would be 4.6%, but it is 4.7%
Call the Lender

(8) The signer wants to introduce you to their girlfriend
Politely say hi

(9) The signer wants their girlfriend to join you at the signing — naked
Call the Lender!!!

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

30 Point Course (15) The Prepayment Penalty
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14447

Loan signing process & Pitfalls: explain the documents, not the loan
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=2780

Comments (0)

March 27, 2015

Notary Etiquette from Atheist to Zombie

Filed under: Comprehensive Guides,Etiquette,Humorous Posts — Tags: etiquette, Notarize, Notarizing, Notarizing an Athiest, Notarizing Assassins, Notary, Notary Etiquette — admin @ 6:41 am

AKA: How to be polite when you’re in Affix!

Atheist etiquette
If you are notarizing an Atheist and he/she sneezes, don’t say God bless you.

Don’t sell people’s signatures
If you are notarizing a celebrity — Don’t rip out the portion of your journal with their autograph on it and sell it on ebay. That is considered to be bad manners in certain circles and is also a violation of notary law! Don’t sell your roommate’s notary seal on ebay either.

Don’t second guess family relations.
If you notarize who you think is the guy’s mother, but the woman is the guy’s wife, keep it to yourself. I once asked a guy, if I was going to notarize his mother, then he said, “That’s my wife.” — awkward… Oh, and don’t ask people if they are lesbian lovers even if you are asked to notarized an affidavit of domicile. Let them volunteer that information if they care to do so.

Guns & Religion
If you bring a gun to a signing, don’t talk about other loaded subjects like religion. On the other hand, if you go to a signing in a church, circumvent the issue of circumcision. If the phone rings during a Church signing, if it ain’t Jesus, don’t answer it.

If you are doing a signing for a hunter, should you bring up guns?
It’s worth a shot!

Tips for Notarizing Assassins
Avoid asking an assassin any direct questions such as, “What do you do?” Rather, ask more roundabout open ended questions, such as, “Have you done anything interesting recently with your career?” After all, if their deeds were done in some African country, they can speak freely in the United States about it with no fear of an awkward moment at a party.
If you make a mistake notarizing an assassin, don’t say, “SHOOT!”
If you are doing a signing for an assassin, make sure you include their middle name in the document.
I once asked an assassin, what is the difference between a murder and an assassination — where do you draw the line?

Loud televisions
Instead of bluntly asking someone to turn the TV down, you can say, “It’s very hard to hear you — did you say you liked your rate, or that you were having trouble staying awake?”
If you are mumbling under your breath, “What an idiot” in the context of asking someone to turn their TV down: make sure you say that with a safe margin of error before they actually turn the TV down.
If an elderly relative is watching a loud television. Politely let them know that you don’t want to let them know that you don’t want to become as deaf as they evidently are.

Notary Notes Sections
Rather than write the regular stuff in your notes section, you could write, “I will never insult the borrower, and I have a policy against parking in people’s lawns.”

Going to the bathroom in an outhouse
Notaries should never make a signer feel uncomfortable about having an outhouse. You should gracefully address the issue, but only if you actually are forced by natural causes to use that infrastructure. “I just loved the quarter moon in your outhouse, how quaint.”
“I just loved the latest issue of Outhouse & Gardens that I read while I was doing my business.”

Signings with beautiful women
If they ask you to do a Deed, it will be far more disappointing than doing “The Deed.”

Tips for Notarizing Zombies
It is considered bad manners for the notary to participate in the chanting, especially after they bring out the dead chicken, unless given express permission, otherwise it might cancel out the curse. Never tell a zombie that they look deathly ill — rather, tell them that they look deathly well. If you are having a zombie swear to the authenticity of a curse, it might be wiser to have the swear to a written version of the curse verbiage rather than to have them do a completely sworn Oath (otherwise you might become cursed or start hearing voices.) If asked to notarize a zombie’s death certificate, rather than claiming that it is against notary law to do so, ask them, “Which one?”

Popular Zombie Documents
It is common to have a formal Affidavit of transfer of Custodianship of Soul. This is where the zombie officially grants Power of Attorney to the “Bokor” or sorceror to have full control over their soul and body (or what’s left of it.) Please be advised that many zombies only have half a soul.

If a zombie commits perjury, it is punishable by life in prison. But, it is not stipulated which soul will inhabit the body during the sentence.

You might also like:

Borrower etiquette from A to Z
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=2995

Notary etiquette from A to Z
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=300

Comments (2)

March 22, 2015

Point (13) Call The Lender? Finding the Prepayment Penalty

Filed under: Loan Signing 101,Popular on Facebook (shares),Popular on Facebook (some) — Tags: 30 point course, Call the Lender, Deed, Rate — admin @ 10:20 pm

Marcy had been studying up. She didn’t want to make a fool of herself anymore. She went to her next signing prepared.

MARCY: Hi, I’m Marcy, and I’ll be your Signing Agent tonight.

GLORIA: Oh wonderful. It is so nice to see a well prepared Notary.

MARCY: We can start here with the Deed of Trust and I’ll explain the documents as we go along unless you want to start with the HUD and work our way back.

GLORIA: Oh, very sophisticated. You sound like one of those really experienced Notaries who has signed 3000+ loans and advertises on 123notary.com.

MARCY: Well, I’ve signed about 20 by now, and I’m only 2980 short of 3000. I am working on the 123notary course, but haven’t finished it yet, but I’m almost there.

GLORIA: Great. The Deed is fine, the Note is fine, now, why is my APR higher than my Rate in my Note?

MARCY: I just studied this… I know the answer. The APR is the annual percentage relationship between the payments and the amount borrowed, minus the fees. This rate is often used to compare the different loans borrowers have to choose from. The APR is almost always higher than the rate. The rate, on the other hand, is a monthly percentage relationship between the payments and the total amount borrowed, including fees.

GLORIA: Wow, very professional. You are even better prepared than the notaries who signed 3000 loans. They just told me, “It is the cost of the loan expressed as a percentage rate.” Your answer was so professional.

MARCY: I spent two hours memorizing it and I practice daily so I won’t look like a fool.

GLORIA: Oh, no, you don’t. I’m going to tell your boss that you are the best Notary I’ve ever had, and we refinance every five years. Now, where is my prepayment penalty?

MARCY: Oh, just look on the Truth in Lending.

GLORIA: Okay… It says that I will, won’t or might have a prepayment penalty. I’ve gotten more decisive answers from a magic 8 ball. Can you do any better than this?

MARCY: Oh, hmm. I thought it was there. Do you want to call the Lender?

GLORIA: Sorry to lecture you after I complimented you, but aren’t YOU supposed to know this?

MARCY: We could call the magic 8 ball? Better yet, let’s call the Lender.

(ring-ring)

FRANK: Yeah, Frank here.

MARCY: You are the first Lender in human history to actually answer his phone.

FRANK: Glad to be of help.

MARCY: Your customer wants to know what the terms of her prepayment penalty would be.

FRANK: You mean my BORROWER. Never call them customers. Gloria DiStefano. She doesn’t have one.

MARCY: Where is that documented – In the Prepayment Rider?

FRANK: No, if there is no prepayment penalty, then there definitely won’t be a rider. Check the Note. Anything else?

MARCY: We’re good. That was fast. 45 seconds exactly not that I’m counting.

GLORIA: I’m on it. I thought we went over the Note. I guess I skimmed it too fast. Here it is. It says I don’t have a prepayment penalty. Great. I’ll pay the whole thing off tomorrow. That was easy.

MARCY: Sorry, I’ll study harder. But, I am doing so much better than three weeks ago when I first started. I hadn’t a clue then, but now I get most of the questions correct.

GLORIA: That’s good, but you need to get ALL of the questions correctly and handle all situations like a pro if you want my business!

MARCY: Sadly, you are right. I’ll finish my course and review it regularly. I might even take a few other courses too.

Point (13) Calling the Lender
Notaries are often confused about when to call the Lender. Some Notaries are over-confident and never want to call the Lender while other Notaries call whenever the borrower sneezes. A high quality Notary knows when to call the Lender and when not to bother the Lender. You have to understand many of the common situations that arise when you have a small problem. If you call the Lender, leave a message, and wait 20 minutes and then call again. Call other entities related to the loan too if you can, such as the Signing Company, Escrow, Title, etc. If the Lender does answer, the borrower might talk to them for 45 minutes while you are running late to an appointment. You will save a lot of time and aggravation if you ONLY call the Lender when you absolutely need to.

The 1003
The 1003 Universal Residential Loan Application is the one document that is universally wrong. There are always mistakes on everybody’s 1003. I’m not sure if there is a law requiring it to always be wrong, but it seems like there is some sort of cosmic law mandating that. Since the 1003, and the Good Faith Estimate are not final documents, don’t worry too much about it. Just make sure that the HUD Settlement Statement is correct, otherwise you’ll have to redraw your loan!

The APR
Many borrowers ask why the APR is higher than the Rate. If you study and rehearse explaining the APR, you can save yourself the time and aggravation of calling the Lender only to find out they are not able to answer their phone. The borrower will feel a lot better, and you will have one less problem at your signing.

The Prepayment Penalty
Borrowers ask about their Prepayment Penalty all the time. Look for it either in the Note, or the Prepayment Rider if there is one (and once in a while there is) The borrower can read the terms themselves instead of being frustrated that they can’t find it.

Letter of Instructions
Consult the letter of instructions before beginning any loan. That way you will know what to do if there is a problem. There might even be phone numbers in the instructions.

Specific Questions
If a borrower asks a question that is specific to their loan, call the lender. If they ask a general question about what information is in what loan document, you should know. Study up!

The RTC
What if the borrower signs in the wrong place on the Right to Cancel? Just go to the borrowers’ copies and get a fresh copy. You just saved yourself a lengthy discussion with the Lender.

Errors on Certificates
If there is an error on a Notary certificate, this is purely for the Notary to resolve. Don’t get the Lender involved in your job as you should know your job.

When is my first payment due?
Look in the TIL, HUD, Payment Coupon, but don’t call the Lender unless you have to.

Power of Attorney Signings
Call the Lender regardless. Even if you know exactly how to sign, call the Lender to confirm. Power of Attorney signings are rejected 70% of the time in my experience even if they are done correctly.

If the names printed on the documents are spelled wrong
If there are any problems with names of signers on the documents, you should call the Lender. If the ID doesn’t match the borrower’s name printed on the document, you have a problem. The Lender might not care about what Notary law says, but does want to get the loan signed. If the signer is not comfortable signing the way their name is typed on the document, the loan will probably not fund otherwise, but you can call the Lender or read our section about the Signature Affidavit.

Missing docs or docs the borrower won’t sign
If you are missing any of the loan documents that normally appear in a package, sign the ones that are there, send them back, and call the Lender immediately upon discovery that you are missing a document. Or, if a borrower won’t sign a particular document, call the Lender. You can send it back unsigned at the top of the stack. Or, if the borrower wants to keep it and send it back after talking to the Lender, that is another common option.

You might also like:

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

30 Point Course (14) Explain or Don’t Explain
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14440

Industry standards in the Notary business
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=4370

Comments (3)

March 2, 2015

2014 excerpts from great notes sections

Filed under: Popular on Linked In,Your Notes Section — Tags: Notary Notes — admin @ 3:21 am

Here are some of the most interesting excerpts from notes sections on 123notary.com that I found in 2014. If you want to nominate other excerpts, I can add them after the fact!

(1) Look at all the services this notary advertises. He/She/They must be smart!
I have served XYZ County notarizing: commercial and residential loans, reverse mortgages, first and second mortgages, refinances, helocs, medical records, foreign adoptions, power of attorney, and so on. Apostille, authentication and certification services are also available.

(2) Check out the client list this notary has!
My clients range from attorneys, hospice, social workers, inmates, bail bonds, doctors and hospital patients.

(3) Here is a thorough notary
I stay in constant contact with whomever hires me, keeping them updated immediately upon receiving documents, contacting the signers, completing the assignment and supplying tracking numbers when documents are dropped off.

(4) Look at the long list of docs this guy does!
* Durable Power of Attorney/Healthcare Advance Directives
* Business/Personal contracts and agreements
* Credit Checks
* Landlord/Tenant issues and resolutions
* Collections
* Identity Restoration of Your Good Name
Legal Plans for:
* Estate Planning
* Consumer Finance
* Bankruptcy (Chapter 7,11, 13)
* Corporations (S corp. or C corp., LLC, or Non Profit)
* Unlawful Detainer
* Small Claims
* Divorces
* Child Custody/Child Support
* Name Changes
* Real Estate (contracts, deeds, quitclaims, foreclosure)
* Wage Garnishments (Disputes)
* Summons & Complaints
* Civil Suits (Being sued or sue someone)
& plus those not listed

(5) Give a call and your signing will go off without a hitch! LAX FedEx location late night drop 8pm.

(6) Don’t Move I’ll Be Right There! Fidelity National Title and First American Title approved Notary

(7) My motto is “Never say NO to a signing”.

(8) I give a one line explanation of every single document in the package.

(9) I specialize in last minute signings & off-hour signings

(10) Getting married or need a passport?
Services performed: PTT’s, PAP’s, POA’s, Acknowledgements, Jurats, Subscribing Witness, Copy Certifications, Affidavits, Trusts, Quit Claim Deeds, Refinance, Purchase, HELOC, Reverse Mortgage, Witness Only, Debt Settlement Agent, Notary & CPR Certifications, Pass Port Photos, LiveScan Fingerprinting, Field Inspection, Process Servier, and Weddings.

(11) This is my second career, after retiring in 2005, to fight a long and draining battle (18 surgeries) with Pancreatic Cancer, I am one of 4%, that survive this deadly cancer. Given a second chance at life, I decided doing nothing was not an option

(12) A former stripper decided to go into eSignings and offer “Laptop signings” (sorry for the bad joke)

(13) I am the only Mobile Notary in (name of city) with an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau

(14) In addition to notarization’s I have conducted over 1,000 field service inspections: door knocks, merchant/site/business verifications, asset/collateral/lease inspections, and commercial loss control inspections.

(15) My references include Bank of America, Discover, Well Fargo, Quicken, Citi and many others. With all my career life spent in customer service, I know people! I will treat you and your clients with respect and honor, because that’s how I would want to be treated.

(16) I’m a transplanted New Yorker with Southern Charm. When your closing is crucial, you can count on me to be there on time and conduct the signing just as you would, if you could.

(17) 1500 loans signed; We cover 19 counties in the Western NC mountains with two notaries two 4wd drive vehicles, both with GPS. We go places you don’t even know are places and get your loan closed!

(18) Have something that’s a little “outside the box”? Strange hour? Specific or unusual instructions? Signer w/ special needs or requests? Not a problem, I can, and do handle it with no muss, no fuss, and no drama from the outset. I do it right the first time.

You might also like:

2011 excerpts from great notes sections
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=1043

Unique Phrases from the Ninja Course
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14690

Comments (0)

February 15, 2015

Point (1) Deed of Trust; Story: Marcy Becomes a Notary!

Filed under: (2) Technical and Legal — Tags: 30 point course, Deed of Trust, Housewife becomes a Notary — admin @ 5:38 am

Marcy the housewife becomes a Notary!

Marcy was a normal Midwestern housewife. She enjoyed all of the normal aspects of life. She had a small child, her first. She enjoyed the local festivals, corn mazes, county fairs, and married life as well. But, her family seemed to always be behind the eight-ball financially. What was Marcy to do? She tried temping for a while, but that didn’t pan out. Then, she tried being a substitute teacher since she liked kids, but the assignments weren’t regular enough. She had tried all her options and couldn’t think of anything else to do. So, she went next door to Patricia’s house to see if Patricia had any helpful words. Patricia was known in the neighborhood as the go to person if you had a problem. She could help anyone out of any slump and knew the right thing to say in any situation. Marcy picked the wrong day to go to Patricia for help. Of all the days in the year, this was the worst possible day.

Marcy went over and knocked on the door. Patricia answered, but said she was waiting for someone. Then, a nicely dressed guy showed up with a briefcase. What could he be here for thought Marcy? “Oh, this is the mobile notary for my loan documents,” announced Patricia. Marcy said, “Okay, I’ll bother you another time.” Patricia asked her to come back the next day.

Marcy returned the next day. Patricia had only one thing to say: “You could totally do this!” “Do what?” “Be a mobile notary — you’d love it!” “I would?” “Yup!” It is odd how people become mobile notaries. It often happens when they or a friend have a loan that needs to get signed. Then the career opportunity light bulb flashes in their head, and the rest is history.

Marcy marched down to the county recorder’s office, filled out the paperwork, waited a few weeks to get her commission, seal, journal and forms, and she was in business! She was officially a state commissioned Notary Public and a mobile notary because she drove to her appointments. Just one small thing… She didn’t have any appointments. So Marcy went back to Patricia again to ask for help. Patricia suggested calling the notary who had helped them. Maybe he would know how to get work. Except they would be competition for him. Oooh. A touchy subject. Should they call? I guess it couldn’t hurt. In the worst case scenario, he would just decline to help them. After talking to Tom, he recommended calling 123notary and Notary Rotary. Those were the two most reputable sources of notary work at the time. That sounded easy enough. So, Marcy got herself listed on 123notary.com and the calls started coming in. (Obviously Marcy didn’t show up in 2014 because not so many calls came in that year!)

Marcy purchased the 123notary loan signing course. She didn’t study it that hard in the beginning, because she didn’t realize how important the information in it was. She decided to learn the hard way. You’ll see when you read the stories of all the trouble she got herself into.

Point (1) The Deed of Trust — Quick Facts!

(1) The Deed of Trust is the security instrument. BTW: The term Instrument means document.

(2) The Deed of Trust must be notarized. Make sure you have thumbprints in your journal for any deed.

(3) The Deed of Trust is recorded with the county recorder of the county where the property is located. The people at the County Recorders Office can often be picky and will not tolerate: cross-outs, smudgy or light seal impressions, or incomplete notarizations. Some recorders are pickier than others, so assume that they will all be very picky. If your notarization is rejected by the County Clerk, someone will have to notarize it all over again, and the borrower could experience a costly delay in their loan.

(4) As a general rule, the borrower must sign the Deed of Trust as their name appears on Title. If you use a Signature Affidavit, you might be able to have them sign in a different way, although the loan might be rejected by the Lender, in which case you might have to start all over again after a redraw.

(5) It is often required for the borrower to initial each page of the Deed of Trust

(6) The Deed of Trust is referred to as The Mortgage in many states, which is similar in essence, although there are some legal differences between the two documents which we will not discuss here.

The Deed of Trust states:

(a) The loan amount

(b) Who the lender is (and their contact information)

(d) The location and description of the property.

(e) When the loan matures (or when the loan expires: e.g., 05-31-2031)

(f) Who the trustors and trustees are

(g) The loan is secured by the property.

(h) A Description of the Property

The Deed of Trust also mentions that the borrower has to pay taxes, principle, interest, late charges, etc. It doesn’t list figures other than the loan amount, but those will be in the note and/or other documents. Deeds of trust usually range from being 2 to 30 pages. Various other terms and explanations are in this instrument, however, those terms are not of much importance to the Signing Agent.

Riders. The Deed of Trust could come with various riders. We will not discuss the riders in this section since they are numerous and self explanitory. There are little check boxes in the Deed of Trust that will indicate which riders would be included.

You might also like:
30 Point Course Table of Contents
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14233

Point (2) The Note
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14270

Deed of Trust (glossary entry)
http://www.123notary.com/deed-of-trust.asp

Comments (2)

30 Point Test Course Book: Synopsis

Filed under: 30 Point Course,Popular on Facebook (shares),Popular on Facebook (very),Popular on Linked In — Tags: 30 point course — admin @ 5:21 am

30 Points in Your Favor!
The 30 point course book is yet another certification course offered by 123notary.com. But, this one is different. Our original certification course was a very dryly written quick course designed to teach notaries basic competency in loan signing. Our Elite course was written in late 2012 and was designed to teach very sophisticated aspects of doing business as a mobile notary such as communication, marketing, hiring others, and the finer aspects of notary and signing agent work. This new 30 point course will have some elements from both of these previously written courses, but will focus only on the technical aspects of notary and signing agent work of all levels ranging from basic to very advanced. Also, be sure to read about the new loan document which goes over facts and figures about the loan called, “The Loan Estimate” which is similar in information to the TIL & HUD-1.

Required additional reading

Best blog articles for advanced Notaries – http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14736
Mobile Offices from A to Z – http://blog.123notary.com/?p=535
Signing Agent Best Practices – http://blog.123notary.com/?p=4315
The Prepayment Penalty – http://blog.123notary.com/?p=4429
The Loan Estimate (New) – http://blog.123notary.com/?p=15437

Table of Contents

Page Titles

Each post about the 30 point course will have a story and several points which could make the titles appear a bit long.
Titles might look like this:
Point (13) The Automatic Payment Disclosure; Story: Marcy’s Babysitter

Use this link to see all published posts in a string in reverse order:
http://blog.123notary.com/?tag=30-point-course

How is it different from the Elite course?
The Elite certification course was designed to get its students an upper arm in the notary business. It was designed to help them be a pro at negotiation, growing their business, and handling difficult strategic situations. The overall aim of the course was to help them make more money, grow their business, and gain attention from having the Yellow Elite Certification Icon next to their name on the search results. Notaries who passed are far more intelligent, sophisticated, and get a lot more work than their competitors in high spots on 123notary who lack the Elite designation. Based on my personal experience, I would vouch for the fact that a 123notary Elite signer has quadruple the signing agent knowledge as an uncertified signer. Although they don’t know everything, the depth and breadth of their knowledge is quite noticeable if you talk shop with them for more than a few minutes.

This 30 point course is only designed to teach notaries how to deal with technical situations like a pro, but not designed to help them get rich (although more knowledge never hurts). If you do well on the 30 point test, you can consider taking our Elite course. It will be easy for you if you got a high score on the 30 point test.

Summary of the 30 point course
The 30 point course will cover a wide range of notary and signing agent technical topics including following directions, best practices, understanding what information is where in the documents and more. Additionally, we added some entertaining stories to help make the text more enjoyable for the reader. There will be many stories which are designed to drive certain technical facts home in a pleasant and absorbing way.

Please Note
Not all of the questions covered in the 30 point test are taught in this course. Please rely on your personal experience as a notary to answer test questions not addressed in this course.

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January 19, 2015

What’s the difference between a listing getting 16 clicks/month & 100+

Filed under: Marketing Articles,Ninja Theme Articles,Popular on Facebook (A little),Popular on Facebook (shares) — Tags: How to succeed as a Notary, Inexperienced Notaries, notaries, Notary — admin @ 11:24 am

Most notaries just think that a listing is a listing. They think that if they are listed on 123notary, that something wonderful will happen, but if it doesn’t, that’s our fault. Nothing is further from the truth. Some listings get a monopoly on clicks even if they are far down the list simply because they stand out and have quality information. Let’s get more specific.

Go and get some Reviews
We’ve been telling notaries for years now that they need to get reviews. If you were searching for a notary, a restaurant, or a bus tour of San Francisco, wouldn’t you read the reviews? If you were smart you sure would, otherwise you would waste your time and money on a service that was far from being the best. Put yourself in the position of the customer looking for a notary. You know you are good, and therefore you don’t think you need reviews, right? Or perhaps you are too shy to ask for fear of offending your clients who might think it is inappropriate. If you are appropriate, you will be sitting home all alone every Saturday night without a date so to speak, because you didn’t ask anyone out of fear of rejection or being inappropriate. You will lose at least half your potential calls if you don’t have reviews, so go and ask for some. Email them a link to your review page after you call them and ask too, so they will be able to find the review page.

Notes – be unique
Most notaries write very boring notes sections. If you have read 30,000 notes sections like I have, they all begin to look like they were written by the same person. They all mention E&O insurance, how responsible and error-free your work is, and how people-oriented you are. People are tired of hearing this. Yes, it is pertinent information, but start your notes out with something specific and unique. Read what the top notaries are writing in the various metros across our great nation to get ideas. We have written, and will continue to write articles on how to write a great notes section, so please read those, and think about what specific types of skills you have that are worth mentioning, and what is different about how you do your work.

Certification – stop complaining and just do it!
But, I don’t NEED another certification. I’m already “certified,” she said. I’ve heard this thousands of times. It is true that NNA’s new certification is somewhat necessary for inexperienced notaries to get work these days. However, those on 123notary who don’t have our certification icon next to their name lose more than half of the jobs they would have gotten if they had our certification. If you are so smart that you don’t need to take our test, then the test should be a breeze, so why complain about taking a wimpy test? Just do it! Pass it and get it over with. We only require notaries to pass our test once in their career.

Company names make you look professional
Having a company name won’t revolutionize your business, but it will make you look more professional and does attract about 17% more calls. Do it legally please and register with your county clerk.

Being higher on the list at a price you can afford
123notary makes its money by selling high placements. Being high on the list really does help get not only more work, but the cream of the crop of the jobs. The high paying companies start at the top and assume that those higher on 123notary are higher class notaries who know their stuff which is generally true (but, not always.) The companies that go down the list as a matter of habit are generally low-ballers. Sure, they might hire you, but do you really want $75 to print out two sets of documents at 150 pages per set, do fax-backs, and then find out that your job got cancelled after you printed everything out? We understand that not everyone can afford to be #1 on the list. But, upgrading to a preferential or a p#13 can make a big difference in the performance of your listing, and you can email us for a quote. P#10’s and p#13’s will not break your bank, but are a great intermediary step in moving up our list!

Answer your phone
Last, but not least — answer your phone. Many notaries have a policy of not answering their phones during a signing. If we call you to remind you about your renewal, or to offer you the #1 spot, and you don’t answer your phone, guess what happens? We don’t call a second time! You snooze you lose. Signing companies have a list of twenty notaries to call for each job opening. If you don’t answer your phone out of consideration for those who hired you, you will lose out on your next job of the day, or tomorrow’s job. Each phone call you don’t answer could cost you $20 as one in five is likely to be a serious offer. Do the math, think about it, but if the phone rings while you’re thinking about it — then answer your phone.

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December 23, 2014

Do you notarize loose certificates as a notary?

Filed under: Technical & Legal — Tags: Illegal Notary Requests, loose certificates, Notarizing Certificates — admin @ 3:03 am

… Are we both on the same page here?

Staple it please…
I was reading a discussion on one of the notary forums. They were talking about whether or not you can notarize loose certificates as a notary. The answer is that a notary certificate needs to be either embedded in a document (meaning that the wording is typed in a document below the body of the document,) or attached to the document with a staple.

What is a certificate?
Just to clarify, a notary certificate is a piece of paper with notarial wording on it. It might be an Acknowledgment Certificate or a Jurat. There are other types too such as Copy Certification by Document Custodian in California and other particular states. These certificates are commonly referred to as Jurats, although they are technically not necessarily Jurats as most of them are Acknowledgments.

What can happen if you don’t?
A loose certificate can easily be attached to a different document by accident or on purpose. Imagine that you notarize a Power of Attorney for someone who had several powers of attorney notaries. The wrong certificate could be added to a different Power of Attorney. In a more serious case, they might be attached to a document signed by a completely different person. Such a mistake can be easily caught, but imagine the trouble that might ensue if nobody saw the mistake!

Additional notes & thumbprints are prudent
Just to be on the safe side, it is prudent to put additional information in the certificate such as how many pages the document has, the document name and document date (if any; and which might differ from the signature date,) the capacity of the signer (not allowed to be verified by the notary in particular states,) and more! Some certificate forms even allow a designated spot for a thumbprint which I always used for international documents just to keep people out of trouble — and the foreign government workers told my clients that they appreciated the extra effort!

“…. see attached”

Illegal requests
Many companies in the loan signing business will be in a hurry to get a new “Jurat” for a notarized document if the seal was smudgy, or if they needed to have a new version of the document drafted and signed. They will commonly ask you to mail it to them which is completely illegal. You will be pressured to do so or the loan might not fund. Don’t cave into the pressure. It is your job to uphold the law no matter what horrible consequences come to your clients. Ask for the original document back, and then staple the new certificate form to the document and send it back after destroying the original certificate form. There is nothing illegal about doing a second certificate for a legitimately notarized document providing that the initial one isn’t left hanging around! Additionally, you might inform these Title company workers that their request was illegal and if they make any other illegal requests, you will report them to their state’s secretary of state! Maybe better wait until the second offense so you don’t lose the client. But, if you tolerate illegal requests, you will be encouraging the perpetrators to do it to other unsuspecting notaries who might cave in and get themselves in hot water with the state! (gulp)

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Comments (1)

November 24, 2014

Is $75 enough to print 2 sets of docs, notarize & do faxbacks?

Filed under: NSA Pricing, Fees & Income,Popular on Facebook (A little),Popular on Facebook (comments),Popular on Linked In — Tags: fax backs, Loan Signings — admin @ 3:02 am

In this tough economy, many notaries have simply dropped out. The remaining notaries, as tough or as proud as they portrayed themselves to be have simply had to compromise their standards for what they charge. Many signing agents with ten or more years of experience told Carmen (in confidence) that they were forced to accept $60 signings just to stay afloat. So, we won’t mention any names, but you know who you are. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Americans complain about what Indians would regard as a luxury!
Notaries complain endlessly about how unfair it is that they only get $75 for so much work with such high expenses. My take on the situation is quite different because I travel. A policeman in India makes $50 per month (not including bribes.) Can you imagine living on $50 per month? How would you rent a place to live? You would be living on top of each other twenty to a room and eating dahl and rice in small quantities once or twice per day if you were lucky. Can you imagine this type of poverty that hard working Indians endure as a matter of standard procedure? And what about the folks in the countryside who work for 20 rupees per day which is about 40 cents. That is about $12 per month. When you get these $75 assignments, just say to yourself, “I made four months of a Bihari farmworker’s salary in two hours! Yippee!”

If you are doing worse than last year, do you get upset?
It is a human tendency to be sad when you are not getting what you want, or what you used to easily get. But, this human tendency needs to be changed. We live in a changing world where what was impossible yesterday might be easy tomorrow, and vice versa. You need to just do the best you can do and not base your life today on whether it is better or worse than last year. Notaries base their fees on 123notary on what they paid last year. If I charge $150 this year, but only $120 last year, they are upset that they are paying more this year than last year. What really matters is not what happened last year, but if your investment is getting you a sufficient return.

Let’s do the math
If you get $75 for a loan signing, how much work and expense is really involved. You might spend 20 minutes on the phone on average including follow up calls, scheduling and making sure the documents arrive through whatever medium is used. You might need to drive thirty to forty-five minutes both ways to the signing. You might go through 350 pages of paper, and some toner or ink printing the documents which is not for free unless you have a gift certificate to office-max.

Your real expenses might be $4 of car expenses including gas, oil changes, and other wear and tear.
If you can purchase paper for a bulk price you might use up $3 in paper, and $2 in ink or toner (just guessing)
You might use up two hours of your time including everything: 1 hour driving; 30 minutes signing; 20 minutes on the phone; 10 minutes doing fax backs. (best case scenario)
After expenses, you get $66 profit and you can deduct your miles at the Federal mileage rate as well!
If you spent two hours total, you got $33 per hour.

On the other hand, if you spent an hour each direction, had to wait four hours for documents, and the signers read every letter of every page and asked a million questions, plus spent an hour on the phone with Fred the lender, then you might have invested seven hours which would leave you with $9 per hour which is still above minimum wage in most states.

$20/hour is not bad for someone who can just walk in off the street.
I would say in all honesty, that the average signing agent probably makes about $20 per hour for their assignments. More seasoned signing agents who command higher rates like $125 or more per signing might make $45 per hour on average. Being a relatively inexperienced signing agent is not a high skilled job like being a nuclear physicist. You do not merit $50 or more per hour unless you are the best 1% of notaries in the business or are an Attorney. All you need to be a notary signing agent is to be a resident of a state (not even a citizen in many states,) fill out an application (most states don’t even have a notary exam,) get bonded, and take a quick class in loan signing; $20 per hour is not bad for someone who can just walk in off the street and start doing loan signings. For a notary with three years of experience, they should be making more like $25-$30 per hour. That is what I made when I was doing signings with that level of experience!

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September 19, 2014

How to become a successful mobile notary from scratch

Filed under: Marketing Articles,Popular on Facebook (comments),Popular on Facebook (shares),Popular on Facebook (very),Popular Overall — Tags: Become a mobile notary — admin @ 8:57 am

Anyone can become a successful mobile notary. The field is wide open. On the other hand, since it is so easy to become a mobile notary, many people do it which causes a lot of low priced competition. However, those who are very good at this profession seem to do well with it even in bad times. As of 2014, business is slow, but you can still have a nice part time income doing mobile notary work. Additionally, eventually the industry will pick up, and you might find yourself earning more money than you expected!

Step 1. Become a Notary
If you are not a notary, you can easily become one. It is a bit harder in CA, NY, LA, and FL where there are examinations, but talk to your state notary division about how you can become a notary for your state.

Step 2. Learn the ropes: Jail, Hospital & Mortgage Signings
Being a mobile notary is more than just hauling your stamp around with you in your car. You need to know how to handle typical situations that mobile notaries have to deal with. Mobile notaries who do well typically are experts at jail signings, hospital signings, and loan signings. Notaries who work in an office don’t need to know much about jail signings, because inmates can’t come to you, and neither can those with an IV tube stuck up their arm. But, if you are on the road, these are situations you have to know about. There are many identification and communication issues associated with jail and hospital signings that can get you in trouble if you don’t know. On the other hand, you can make a huge travel fee doing these types of specialized mobile notary tasks that the other notaries don’t know how to do (or want to.)

Mortgage signings
Signing loans can earn you big bucks. Signers make anywhere from $50 to $150 per signing. Fees fluctuate with the market and depend on who you are doing business with and how good you are. If you have a lot of experience and have many loyal contacts, you can set your minimum fee at $100 or $125 per loan signing if you are any good. You will need to know some basic Mortgage terms, and know the basics about 10-20 basic documents. You need to know where to look for the Rate, APR, prepayment penalty, when the first payment is due, where the fees are, and other basic information. You need to know how to handle name variations, initialing and borrower objections to problems in the loan. You need to know who to call when a loan signing is on the rocks. Signing loans is not rocket science, but there are concepts you need to Master.

Take our course!
http://www.123notary.com/loan_signing_courses.html
How can you learn about all of these complicated and scary types of signings? 123notary offers a comprehensive loan signing course that covers all of these issues in detail. Additionally, you can get free detailed information in our blog about all of these topics. Just browse around the categories on the right and read to your heart’s content!

Step 3: Active Marketing
Getting work as a mobile notary is a bit hard at first, but you can do it. Contact a dozen or more signing & title companies each week and get on their list. They will want copies of various types of information and a signed contract, so ask them what they want, and give it to them. You can also give your business card out to local nursing homes, hospitals, Real Estate offices, law offices and anyone else you can think of who might need a mobile notary.

Step 4: Passive Marketing
Advertising on the major directories is a good practice. Notaries often ask on Linked In which directory they should join. My standard answer is to join all of them, but not necessarily to pay for all of them. The strongest players in 2014 are 123notary.com, NotaryRotary, NotaryCafe, and SigningAgent.com lost a lot of steam recently, but is still in the game. If you join other directories, I don’t recommend paying for them as they don’t have a good track record. You can go on Linked In to research what the notaries say are the better notary directories too for an unbiased point of view. Hard copy yellow pages for your local area may or may not get you work — it is worth a try if you are serious though.

Being listed on the big directories is not enough. You need to maintain your listing like a pro. Fortunately for you, I am here to offer you free mentoring by email, so don’t panic! You need a well written notes section, a company name helps, reviews from your satisfied clients, and try to pass as many certifications as you can.

Step 5: Who to get certified by?
My rule is that you get certified by every loan signing directory that you pay to advertise with — even if that means that you get certified five times. I am currently recommending:

(1) NNA’s certification as it is an industry standard
(2) 123notary’s certification if you get paid advertising with us as notaries who get this get 2.5x the work from our directory
(3) notary2pro’s certification (although not an industry standard) is very high quality, they offer hand holding, and the learning you will get from it justifies the cost.

Step 6: Screen companies you work for
Many signing agents drop out because they worked for the wrong companies, didn’t get paid, and suffered financially. Don’t let this happen to you! Use our list of signing companies (which includes reviews) and avoid working for signing companies with a high ratio of negative reviews. Additionally, don’t do too many jobs for a particular company until they have paid you for previous jobs. Decide ahead of time how much credit you are going to give them and don’t let them run up a bill beyond your limit.

Step 7: Become an expert at scheduling and negotiating
You need to be constantly refining your skills to do well in this business. Although there is a lot of competition, few of them have refinement. Scheduling is a hard task, and you need to juggle when the e-Documents are supposed to come, when your signing is, and when the next signing is. e-Documents don’t always come on time, so learn to juggle well. Negotiating good fees is also an art form, so pay attention to our blog articles as from time to time we have articles about how to negotiate.

Step 8: Get a high spot on 123notary
We make our money selling high spots on our directory. We generally discourage people from getting a high spot until they have passed our certification test and have at least a review or two. But, if you are serious and want to get ahead, call us and ask how you can get a high placement in your area. We are often very flexible and offer six month trials to those just starting out. The Title & Escrow companies who use our site know that those who purchase high spots on our directory are serious, and those notaries generally get a lot more quality jobs from our site than those with low spots.

Professional backgrounds that help
If you have a background in Mortgage, Escrow, Loan Origination, or Lending, this can really help you do better in the mobile notary business as you will be working a lot with Mortgage documents. However, don’t fool yourself into thinking you know more than you know. Many Mortgage Brokers assure me that they know their stuff and don’t need my test. When I ask them simple loan signing questions over the phone, they can only answer half of the easy ones. Go back and study and master the art of the signing. Your background does help you, but your over-confident attitude can really ruin your career. Additionally, it is very different being on the Notary side of the table than it is being on the Lender or Broker side of the table. Try to learn this profession from out point of view.

Real Estate backgrounds do not help as much as Real Estate Brokers claim. You are not anywhere near as familiar with the documents as you claim. As a matter of fact, those with Real Estate experience cannot answer simple loan signing questions any better than those with no Mortgage or Real Estate experience. Approach this profession as a beginner and learn the ropes one by one. The people skills you learn from being a Realtor on the other hand, can really help you. General business skills and being businesslike help more than any technical knowledge you may have acquired in your former professional life.

Don’t be afraid to ask if you need help
And as always, 123notary is there to help! If you have questions, don’t be afraid to ask!

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Comments (11)

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