Anyone using an electronic journal? Got any feedback to offer, positive or negative? I’m considering NotaryAct. A bit nervous about the possibility of identity theft, couldn’t use the id photo function because my state prohibits notaries from retaining any copies of identification. But my handwriting has gotten pretty bad due to a few issues, and typing is easier than writing… Anyone using an electronic journal?
I used Notary Act but switched back to writing in my journal. It was too cumbersome to use. You have to be a precise angle to take pics of a driver’s license and the entry did not always save. All the notorial documents were not list as options to choose and you could not create your own.
When posting in this or any other notary forum, you will find that to get a good answer, you must post your state. Your state may not allow electronic notary journals. Or, your state may require that you submit your journal to some state or county office when you are finished being a notary (either by retiring, moving to a different county, or moving to a different state).
Even if it is legal, keep in mind that issues surrounding notarizations may not come up until years later. If that happens, you may have to submit your journal to a court. How will you do that with NotaryAct? Will NotaryAct still be in business? If you decide you don’t like NotaryAct, will you have to maintain a subscription for the rest of your life so you will still have access to your old journals?
Another issue is the signer’s signature in the journal. Signing on an electronic pad (if you even have one) doesn’t give the same result as signing on a piece of paper, so handwriting experts will have a harder time deciding if the signature of the person who showed up for the notarization is the same as other documents that are known to have been signed by the real principal.
I’ve ruled out the possibility of using an ejournal run by somebody else in the cloud. If I keep a journal myself, say in Excel or Microsoft Word, it would be easy to tamper with it, so it’s value as evidence would be much weaker. So I’ll stick with paper.
Thank you for the input - I appreciate it!
Thanks for the input, Ashton. My state does not require that notaries keep a journal, so the format is irrelevant. However, I do keep one and always have. Your points are cogent and well considered. The idea if relying on someone else to keep my journal entries secure is the barrier for me, as well. Thank you again!
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