Interview with Joe Montag_manager, Timios title: an excellent title agency– growing!
BACKGROUND AND BASICS ABOUT TIMIOS:
“Our CEO and management team worked at another title company. The CEO had left in 2008, and the company closed down; 600 people were without a job.
The CEO started Timios with 6 people; we now have 170 employees. We make sure everyone gets paid in a timely manner. We pay biweekly– everything. California, Texas, and the Midwest and East coast are our biggest areas, but we are expanding everywhere. And we are nationwide.
HOW WE HIRE A NOTARY:
When we interview a notary on the phone–and we interview every notary–one of the things we try to do is use acronyms– like the TIL–to be sure they are experienced. For example, we might ask you to “pull the signing HUD, and they might need an approved TIL.” If the notary does not respond in a way that shows familiarity, we dig deeper and ask point blank, “How many signings have you done?” We are not necessarily looking for a great deal of experience, but we are looking for an intelligent response. We would hire a new notary–particularly people from the mortgage industry. Also, for example, we know that notaries in California have passed a good exam and know something. In Texas, it costs less to be a notary, so the people may not be so good. A new notary may know nothing at all, so in Texas we may look for more experience, or quiz notaries a bit more.
OUR STANDARDS FOR NOTARIES:
We talk to every notary who signs up. We also have a special system for preferred vendors– experienced notaries we have worked with. If you come late, have problems with documents–we will rank you lower in the system, and then eventually suspend you. But this does not happen a lot. If notaries show up in flip-flops or poorly dressed– not good.
We have 50 closing specialists who are escrow officers and call the notary when everything is ready to go. They give them their phone number and any specific instructions right before the job. If the closer feels there is a problem with the notary–the way they answer the phone–they will question the notary and say “Is everything ok?” If the notary does not answer well or seems rude or not clear-headed– we may cancel the closing. I tell my closers, “Use your gut.” We are very careful.
The processors are escrow assistants, and they also schedule appointments. The processor will pull up notaries on our list by zip code, ranking, and price. We do not exclude a notary who is the most expensive–but they better be a 99 in ranking. For that, they have to have been on time, have great recommendations from borrowers, and have no errors. If they miss a signature and go back and correct it–no problem. You don’t show up late without calling ahead. It’s about communication, and the willingness to work with us to get it fixed. Sometimes a notary will miss an acknowledgement and then charge us to go back and fix it! We pay; we are not going to argue–but then, we will not use that notary again.
WHY NOTARIES LOVE WORKING WITH TIMIOS:
We provide contact information for the notary, and are always available. We also send out an instruction sheet. When we recruit a notary, we use 123notary all the time– and we ask the notary if they have conducted loan closings, what counties they cover, can they print docs from our website. Everything is done by logging into our website; that way we can see when they downloaded and printed, and when the signing is complete. There is no fee for notaries to sign up with us. We do tell a notary what we pay on average in the area. We do not ask that they lower their fee, but we do say what we generally pay.
All our processors and closers get training. They have worked their way up; we do a lot of on-the-job training. Many processors start out in support, and many closers were once processors. We tend to have long term employees; our turnover is low. We are growing, and we grow organically.
We do not want to be so big (like some of the big name underwriters) that we cannot communicate with people. All the big underwriters set up their own agencies, and they keep their business so there is almost a monopoly, and you get to the point where service isn’t important. We want to address the industry from a customer service view; the client might be the borrower, the seller, the real estate agent, the mortgage broker– and the notary. We want to serve ALL of these. We try to make everyone happy.
We give very clear expectations. And it has paid off. We are trying to build our database. We do not want any negative comments about Timios. Our name, Timios, means “honest” in Greek. It means we have integrity. We are trying to bring that back into the industry.”
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Interview with Title Source
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Interview with a Title Company
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You could get sued if you don’t have a business license
Legally, you might need to get a business license
Did you just get your Notary Commission? Good for you! Do you want to start a business doing notarizations? unlikely unless you have gotten huge without a business license. However, there is a small chance that someone else might register that business name somewhere in your state or county and sue you for damages. After all, you were Legally, you might need to get a business license. But, most notaries don’t get one until they want to use a particular business name. Some even advertise in the yellow pages without having a registered business name. What is the risk in not doing so? Will the state government come crashing down on you? That is using THEIR business name and they could claim to have lost money!
Changing or removing your business name
The problem is that once you put your business name in print on the internet or in printed advertising, you might find it very difficult to get change it or remove it. Google keeps a cache of old pages for months as well, so that information you posted on the internet could haunt you long after you remove it!
Notary Business names that change every month?
We have notaries on 123notary who change their business name every month. Each time it is a different variation. In October it is MG Notary Service, and then it changes to MG Properties, and then in December it is Mary’s Notary & Apostille. Which one is it? Notaries cannot change their personal or business name on our site without my intervention. But, when I see that they are changing their business name every month, I begin to think that “perhaps” their business name is not really registered, and that they don’t have business licenses. Hmmm. Once I asked someone to send me proof of their business license and they sent me a copy of a newspaper ad they had used to publish their business name. The text was different sizes and on different lines, and I couldn’t tell which part of the name was commentary and which part was the name on their business license. Good God!
Be safe and get registered
It is better to think long and hard about what your business name should be. Then, register your business name, and get a company bank account. Then you can advertise, and do business as a DBA without “as much” risk of being sued due to your business name. There can always be some clown who still wants to make trouble with you who has that same business name registered in another county, but if you are playing by the rules, it will be harder for someone to question the legitimacy of your business name and probably less likely that they can sue you for “business name infringement”. Your name on your notary commission is registered, why shouldn’t your business name as well?
Tweets:
(1) Did you just get your notary commission? Good! You need to get a business license now.
(2) Once your business name is registered & in print, it is not easy to change it. Think it over first.
(3) We have notaries on 123notary who change their business name every month. Doesn’t sound very legal.
(4) You might be held liable for “business name infringement” if you don’t register your biz name.
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Stealing a business name
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=2660