Marcy was on her way to another Notary assignment. She had been studying a little harder now, and knew her materials a little better. But, she got stuck on the signing with the Jennings. The loan signing went well, but there was a snag.

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

Mr. JENNINGS: Is that like being a Private Notary, like the Tina Turner song?

MARCY: I’m your private Notary, Notary for money, do what you want me to do (within reason)
I’m your private Notary, Notary for money, any old loan docs will do…

Mrs. JENNINGS: How did we get on this topic? Aren’t you supposed to be a Public Notary?

MARCY: Well, yes, but for the purposes of the song, and the appointment, I’m temporarily private — at least during the signing.

Mr. JENNINGS: And this is the most fun you’ll have with your stamps on. (laughs) Oh, love that one.

Mrs. JENNINGS: What’s love got to do, got to do with it?

MARCY: It’s okay. There is nothing wrong with a little humor, so long as the wife is around. Just make sure he doesn’t make these jokes when you disappear to the kitchen to get coffee.

Mr. JENNINGS: Yeah, otherwise you’ll have to wear that T-shirt that says, “I’m not your husband’s mistress, I’m the Notary!”

MARCY: There he goes again! I actually saw 80 year old Mrs. Appleby wearing that T-shirt with her walker. I almost died laughing.

(20 minutes later)

Mr. JENNINGS: In any case, we seem to have gotten through most of the loan. But, let’s take a look at this 1003 Universal Residential Loan Application. Didn’t we already apply? Oh my God. It has my college wrong, and my age too. I want to talk to my Lender right away!

MARCY: Oh no. I just called him, but he won’t answer. I’ll leave him a message. Any chance we’ll get this loan signed in the meantime?

Mr. Jennings: Not on your life! I’m not signing anything until I hear from my Lender.

Poor Marcy ruined yet another loan through lack of training. Little did she know that the 1003 is notoriously riddled with errors, and that the information in that document is not binding for the loan. It is just backup misinformation as the case may be. It is so common and inconsequential for the 1003 to have endless information that is just wrong that you don’t even need to talk to the Lender about it most of the time. SPOILER ALERT: The question of whether or not you should cross out wrong information in this particular document will be addressed in a later chapter.

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Point (8) The 1003 Uniform Residential Loan Application

This form can be irritating because it often contains incorrect information about how old people are, where they work, how much they are borrowing, etc. Some borrowers insist on making changes to the 1003 because they are offended that the lender, for example, believes that they were born on 1-01-95 and have 3 months experience at their job when they are sixty years old and have 20 years experience. However: the information on the 1003 is not final.

Please note that often times this document must be initialed, but the location of the required initials can vary depending on the format. Additionally, there is often a blank page in this document which some people like to cross out.

For final numbers, see the Note, Deed of Trust, Truth in Lending (TIL) and Settlement Statement. Loan amounts are often misquoted by several thousand dollars in the 1003. Refer them to one of the “Final” documents like the note if they are concerned. . If the borrower remains upset, just have them write down each mistake on a piece of paper and have them talk to the lender on the following day.

Backdating. Sometimes the 1003 is backdated or the lender will leave instructions not to date it at all. Why? Because the borrower, most likely, has submitted a more user-friendly form to the borrower, which contains the same information that the 1003 does. At a closing you are often pretending that you are signing the 1003 when the borrower filled out the user-friendly application several weeks prior to the signing. As a Notary, just don’t backdate Notary documents. But don’t worry, this one is not a Notary document, and you aren’t backdating, the borrower is.

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Point (9) Compliance Agreement Errors and Omissions

There are various names for variations on this document which include:

Compliance Agreements, Errors & Omissions, and the Correction Agreement Limited Power of Attorney.
These documents all deal with the same issue. Some loan packages will have a Compliance Agreement and a Correction Agreement. There are many variations to these documents, but they have universal purpose: Mistakes happen on documents all the time, and the lender needs to make sure that they get fixed faster than a celebrity’s nose. These documents allow them to make clerical corrections, basic changes, to the loan package. Please note that the difference between the various types of Compliance Agreement and the Correction Agreement Limited Power of Attorney is that the Compliance Agreement requires the borrower to “cooperate” when clerical changes need to be made while the Correction Agreement Power of Attorney allows the lender to make the changes on their own.

The Compliance Agreement
The Compliance Agreement states that the borrower will cooperate in the correcting of information if the situation arises. “The errors and omissions” is sometimes a phrase that comes in the beginning of the document like Errors and Omissions / Compliance Agreement. An omission is a piece of information that someone has left out of the document.

The Correction Agreement Limited Power of Attorney
This document makes some borrowers worry. This document transfers power to the lender to make changes to their loan documents. It is only to correct clerical and typographical errors, like misspellings and other simple errors. It doesn’t affect the numbers or terms in the loan at all. Make sure to comfort the borrowers with a similar explanation if they are alarmed. They are not really signing their life away.

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You might also like:

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

30 Point Course (10) The Signature Affidavit
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14356

Notarizing a compliance agreement (discussion)
http://www.123notary.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3913

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