By now, Marcy had decided to really study her text book well. In this last signing, she narrowly avoided two disasters.

MARCY: Hi, I’m Marcy and I’ll be your signing agent this evening.

RUTH: Thanks for coming Marcy. I’m all ready.

MARCY: The Lender asked me to make sure we include a cashier’s check for $2500 in the package. Do you have the check?

RUTH: Oh, he didn’t remind me. But, I have it somewhere.

MARCY: Let’s take care of the check first, otherwise we’ll forget all about it and you’ll lose your lock.

RUTH: That bad?

MARCY: It’s happened before. I read about it in my course and I’m not making any careless mistakes.

RUTH: Here it is.

MARCY: Okay, the course says to staple it to an eight and a half by eleven paper and put it on the top of the stack of documents in the FedEx so the first person to open the package will immediately see it and hand it over to the correct person… Done! I’m putting it in the package, but at a 90 degree angle so I’ll see it. That way I won’t forget to make sure it’s first in line after we add all of the other documents we’re signing tonight.

RUTH: Boy, aren’t you careful?

MARCY: Well, you’d understand if you knew how many mistakes notaries often make in this industry.

(10 minutes later)

RUTH: Okay, I’ve initialed all of the pages of this Deed of Trust. Now, you need to notarize it, right?

MARCY: Correct… (stamps the document) Oooh! That came out smudgy. I better do it again.

RUTH: It looks fine. I wouldn’t worry about it.

MARCY: The Deed of Trust is a recorded document, and that means that it goes to the county clerk’s office. Some of the clerks are picky, and they have the right to reject a smudgy seal which might cause the loan to not go through on time. So, I need to attach a loose certificate and make sure my stamp comes out clearly… Perfect.

RUTH: You certainly dot your i’s and cross your t’s!

MARCY: If I didn’t, you would lose your loan.

(a day later)

LENDER: Marcy, I noticed you crossed out your Notary seal on the Deed of Trust. Why did you do that? That looks very sloppy.

MARCY: Quite to the contrary, the seal was smudged, and the county recorder would be unlikely to record such a document which is why I attached a lose certificate.

LENDER: But, did you have to staple it on? It is very difficult to disconnect — and messy.

MARCY: Legally I am required to attach the certificate. Completing loose certificates that are stamped is illegal because they can easily be used for fraud by being attached to a different document; So by un-stapling my work, you are leaving yourself open to looking very questionable.

LENDER: But, we always do that.

MARCY: Well, you are at liberty to do what you like, but I am not at liberty to break my state Notary laws! If the Lender had the certificate wording on a separate piece of paper without a page number, it would be removable so that nobody would have to see the cross out should there be an error, and once in a while there are stamping errors. Notary seals are not always clear the first time.

LENDER: Isn’t there a better way to do this?

MARCY: If you want your loan to go through, and for it to go through legally, then no — there is no other way to do this.

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Point (15) A handful of technical points
These technical points fall into the category of signing agent knowledge and are generally above and beyond purely Notary knowledge. Being an expert at these points will make you a much more impressive signer.

Checks in Packages
If you are sending a cashier’s check in a package, please note that these get lost much more frequently than you might think and the borrower’s loan will be delayed if this happens. These checks are for high dollar values, so make sure they don’t get lost between all of the many hands that will touch this loan package.

Staple the check to a 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, and put this paper at the front of the loan package so that whomever opens it (generally a secretary) will see it immediately and notify the person in charge of the loan. If you put the check in the middle of the documents, the check will not get seen right away, and there could be a delay. If you don’t staple the check, it will likely get lost in the shuffle.

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County Recorder Rejections
If you make a mistake on a recorded document, the county recorder can reject the document which could slow down the loan processing time. The borrower might even lose their lock which would be very costly. Take extra care when notarizing recorded documents. Which documents are recorded?

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Dates
What is the difference between a Document Date, Signature Date, Transaction Date, Rescission Date and a Notarization Date?
The document date is a random arbitrarily picked date that is often subscribed in the document. It is often the same date the document is signed, or perhaps drafted. The signature date is the date a document is signed. Of course, if there is more than one signer, there would be more than one signature dates. A Notarization date is the date a document was notarized. Legally, a document can be Acknolwedged more than once though! A transaction date is the date that a document is signed. A Rescission date is the last day to rescind. There, you have five dates to remember!

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eDocuments, eSignings, and eNotarizations
eDocuments are documents sent by email to the Notary to be printed out. eSignings are signings done on a laptop with the borrower doing digital signatures on a signature pad — but, with hardcopy regular notarizations using a paper journal. eNotarization are Notarizations where the notarization uses a digital seal and digital journal.

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The Prepayment Penalty
The Prepayment Penalty could be mentioned in any of these four documents, or perhaps even more. The Truth in Lending says you will, won’t or may have a prepayment penalty. The HUD may reference the prepayment penalty as well. But, the two documents that offer the most thorough information on the prepayment penalty are The Note (which every loan has) and the Prepayment Rider which is only included in a handful of loans that have complicated prepenalty agreements.

Most Notaries we talk to do not know the best place to look for thorough information on the prepayment penalty. They usually want to source the TIL, but this is wrong. Try to be a little more familiar with these very basic loan concepts as your borrowers will be more impressed with you if you do.

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Recorded Documents
Here are various types of recorded documents sorted into categories.

Deeds: Deed of Trust, Riders to Deed, Quit Claim Deed, Grant Deed, Inter-spousal Grant Deed, Warrantee Deed

Title Docs: Subordination Agreement, Mortgage

Legal Docs: Affidavit of Trustee, Power of Attorney (sometimes recorded), some states record the Note although most don’t.

Lien Docs:Judgment Liens, Unsecured Tax Liens, Revenue & Recovery Liens

Other:Addendum, Condo Homeowners Approval, Tax Certificate, Affidavit of Continuous Marriage (state specific)

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Commonly Notarized Documents in Loan Packages
Most packages will have certain documents to be notarized such as a Deed of Trust or Mortgage in all loans. It is also common to notarize other documents such as a Signature Affidavit, Occupancy Affidavit, Correction Agreement Limited Power of Attorney, Subordination Agreements, Grant, Warranty or Quitclaim Deeds, certain Riders, Identity Affidavit, and more.

Spousal Signatures
If a spouse is not on the loan, the documents they sign might vary from state to state and lender to lender, but these documents are typical documents that they need to sign:.
(a) The Deed of Trust and accompanying Riders if any.
(b) Grant Deeds and/or Quit Claim Deeds if someone’s name is being removed from Title.
(c) The Right to Cancel if the spouse is residing in the property.

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Trusts
Notarizing Trusts is not brain surgery. However, when people sign with a capacity, it is common to sign their name, a comma, and then their capacity. Al Smith, as Attorney in Fact for Joe the Plumber. You are only notarizing Al Smith, but the additional information is sometimes helpful or critical. As a general rule, unless the document custodian wishes otherwise, You should have trustees sign as trustees: John Doe, as Trustee.

Then, there are Living Trusts which are instructions for what to do if a signer is incapacitated. These are usually long documents drafted by an Attorney that can be more than forty pages long in many cases. Living Trusts are quite different than regular Trust Documents and Wills.

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You might also like:

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

30 Point Course (16) Initialing
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14463

Don’t put the FedEx in the drop box if there is a check in the package
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=2831

Spousal Signature Requirements
http://www.123notary.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=244

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Marcy’s Failure in Following Directions

Alternate Title: Why Marcy Wouldn’t Make a Good GPS; She Can’t Follow Directions!

Marcy yet again had another signing before she had finished her course. She knew it all now though. She found out what she had done wrong with the signature affidavit after calling Carmen. She knew not to have drinks on the table. She knew that the 1003 was always wrong. And she knew that Lenders always answer the phone, except during the critical moment when a borrower has a problem at the signing. So, what else could possibly go wrong?

MARCY: I keep making mistakes.

CLAUDIA: Well, I’m your friend, and I’m telling you — you’re going to just go out there, and keep working. You’ll get there.

MARCY: Thanks for the support. Without you I’d just sit home and mope. But, I probably wouldn’t get thrown in jail either.

CLAUDIA: You won’t get thrown in jail. Sued maybe, but not thrown in jail.

MARCY: Thanks… I’m going now… and I’ve learned my lesson the hard way for the third time now.

(at the signing)

MARCY: Hi, I’m Marcy, and I’ll be your notary for the evening.

CYNTHIA: Thanks for coming. Have you done this before? The last notary they sent had no experience.

MARCY: Well, I’ve done a few now, and I owe it all to my friend Claudia.

CYNTHIA: Oh good. So, you know what to watch out for.

MARCY: Yup. Take that glass of water OFF the table. That’s the worst thing to watch out for.

CYNTHIA: Okay, let me sign right here.

MARCY: You just cancelled your loan.

CYNTHIA: I did?

MARCY: Yes.. but, since I did my homework, I know what to do. I am going to go into your borrowers’ copies and get you a fresh Right to Cancel. Please sign right here. I’ll put my hand over where you are not supposed to sign so we don’t ruin this loan like the last.

CYNTHIA: The last?

MARCY: Well, the names didn’t match up and the Lender wasn’t answering his phone.

CYNTHIA: Oh, how confidence-inspiring. But, so far you have saved me from two huge blunders. Thanks!

(later on)

CYNTHIA: We are all done with the package except for this last document. The automatic payment disclosure. But, I won’t sign it without talking to my Lender. What now?

MARCY: Okay, let’s call. (ring-ring) As usual he isn’t there. Oh well. We can send in the rest of the paperwork and then send this one in once you’ve talked to the Lender.

CYNTHIA: I’m not sending anything in.

Marcy overlooked to read the loan instructions. To make this story interesting, Marcy was instructed to call Title, The Signing Company, Escrow, and the Lender if anything went wrong during the signing. She was to call all four numbers. If she had, the Escrow agent always worked late and had alternate numbers for the Lender. Additionally, she could answer even the most difficult questions about the automatic payment disclosure since she was an expert at the topic. But, once again Marcy screwed up. She didn’t follow directions. She didn’t even read it. What if the directions had told her to sign in green ink? How would she know if she didn’t read. Fortunately, this blunder didn’t cost the borrower her loan, and it was the borrower’s fault for being stubborn about sending in the documents. Marcy was only lightly reprimanded for this error.

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Point (11) Following Directions

Notaries are expected to follow directions. (But male Notaries will never ask for directions.) However, each signing company and each Lender wants something different. It can be hard to keep track of each person’s unique instructions. But, you can get fired if you don’t. So pay attention!

Example (a)
Chad was assigned to sign a loan. He was instructed to call the Lender if anything went wrong. The signer didn’t want to sign with their middle initial Z. So, Chad called the signing company and they said the borrower didn’t have to use the Z. So, they signed the loan and sent it back. Chad got fired the next day. Why? Because he was instructed to call the Lender if there was trouble, and nobody else. Chad didn’t follow directions. He insisted, “But, I always call the signing company if something goes wrong.” Don’t do what you always do, do what you are asked to do!

Example (b)
On another loan, Chad was instructed to use blue ink. Since the signing company expected Chad to not follow directions unless they put it in his face, they taped several blue pens to the first page of the loan package. It was blatantly obvious that they wanted the loan signed in blue, because it was for a Florida property. This time Chad followed directions.

Example (c)
In our next example, Chad was instructed to leave a message for the Lender if anything went wrong during the signing.
Chad did a signing for Alex. The signing went well except that Alex didn’t like the HUD. Chad tried to call the Lender that night, but the Lender didn’t answer. So, Chad had Alex sign it anyway, and Chad held on to the documents so that he could reach the Lender the next day. The documents never arrived on time and Alex lost his loan. What did Chad do wrong?

Chad was supposed to leave a message. However, Chad only called the Lender, and gave up when the Lender didn’t answer. Chad never actually left a message. The next thing Chad did wrong was to hold the HUD. If Alex didn’t like the HUD, Alex should hold on to it, not the Notary. Next, Chad should have sent the documents that were signed back to the Lender or Title without delay. Chad forgot to call the Lender the next day because he had eight signings, and the documents never got back on time. The moral of the story is to follow directions to a T and to get the documents back on time.

Example (d)
Korey hires a notary to do a signing for Joe Shmoe. Korey tells the Chad notary that if there is a problem, the notary should call him, and only him, at this one number — otherwise the notary is fired. The notary goes to the signing and finds out that the borrower is named as a seller in the XYZ document. The notary calls Korey and gets, “Hi, this is Korey, I am not here right now…”.

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Q. What should the notary do now?
(a) Convince the borrower to sign and explain the right to cancel
(b) Tell the borrower that if he doesn’t sign, he won’t get his loan
(c) Cancel the signing
(d) Continue the signing
(e) Leave a message
(f) Call the Title Company
(g) Call the signing company

Only 10% get this question correct. The correct answer is to leave a message. You were not instructed to do anything other than that. After you leave a message, you might consider the other options, but leave a message first as that is what you were instructed to do.

Example (e)
The signing company tells Chad to go to the signing and call them when he is parked outside the house. So, Chad goes to the house, parks, goes inside, sits down at the dining room table, and then calls the signing company. Chad didn’t listen!

Example (f)
A Notary’s seal didn’t come out clearly. Title calls him and asks him to send a loose certificate in the mail. The Notary refuses. Did the Notary fail to follow instructions? The answer is that the Notary is obeying a higher authority which is the Secretary of State, which in most states if not all states, forbids Notaries from sending loose certificates that are not stapled to the original document as they might be used for fraud. However, the Notary could request that the original document & certificate be returned to him. The Notary could then destroy the original certificate (by shredding perhaps) and then create another certificate, staple it and send it back without seeing the signer. This would be legal as the certificate section is not required by law to be completed at the time of the notarization, and because the original was destroyed leaving only one certificate per notarization.

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You might also like:

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

30 Point Course (12) Cross-Outs
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14406

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