The Playing Field

I am a seasoned expert in parsing complex legal documents and translating them into laymen’s terms. I’ve done this through most of my career history as a Chartered Financial Consultant, ChFC. I am not a Lawyer and I say so. I am basically a translator. That being said, doing Loan Signings as an NSA is something I am just now venturing into. I am now listed on a number of databases, this being one of them.

I am confused about the dynamics in this particular field of endeavor, if you will. The middlemen are making more than the people that are making it happen. That is human nature on the one hand. If they can get away with it, then as numbers games go, they will of course. BUT, the Borrowers are the ones paying the cost associated with our role and that charge isn’t going down even though what is actually offered to us appears to be doing so, constantly.

What puzzles me is that we Notaries are in the shoes of ‘deal breakers’, so to speak. We are up against tight time frames for rate locks and so our expertise, attitudes, and reliability are all very critical to not only those middlemen, the Loan Signing Services, but the Lenders and Borrowers as well. ALL of the players are depending upon us. If we decline a job because it would require us to be carving out 48 hours or more of our availability not knowing when the documents are to arrive and so needing to be at the ready for that entire window of time just to be prepared, we could be working a regular job at minimum wage over that same 48 hours.

Aside from the fact that it is not an attractive option to toss aside all of the costs for training and office equipment to merely take a job at minimum wage, it seems to me that it still works out to be mathematically equivalent, more or less. Approximately. So, why are Lenders and Loan Signing Services going so far out on a limb when offering their most important people, the deal breakers, a crumb? As I say, the Borrower is paying the same for the service. It all depends upon the loan being funded, so why are the most important people to that final moment, the NSAs at the signing table, finding themselves in the position of taking crumbs and being pushed around in some all or nothing proposition when it all hinges upon them in the first place, at the end of the day?

I just don’t see it is all. Could somebody please explain to me how this happened and how it makes any sense? Please?

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I’ll try. I’ve been doing this for 25 years, so have seen a lot of changes. Most of which came about due to the promotion of this field by a nat’l assoc.as a way to ‘get rich doing not much’. That promotion continues to this day and has resulted in far too many people with an employee mindset and literally no relevant experience entering the field and thinking all I have to do is say ‘yes’ and I’ll make a 6 figure income.

From all the posts here, it’s fairly obvious that a newb does not bother to figure out what their actual expenses are nor how much profit they need to make a living…and many just look at this as a ‘part-time, extra money in my spare time’ thing. They ask ‘what should I charge’ rather than figure out ‘cost + profit = fee required’. (Over-simplified explanation)

The ‘middle men’ simply took advantage of the abundance of employee-mindset, ignorant (don’t know better) people willing to accept whatever was offered. When the 6 figure income failed to materialize and they had to move on or starve, they were replaced by a new batch willing to accept even less because they’re fed the idea that ‘getting experience’ or paying for more training would garner more and higher fee offers. It doesn’t–you’re paid by what you’ll agree to. Thus, hiring parties are keeping so much of the fee that they can easily afford to pay a good fee to an experienced person to fix what the newb messed up–and still be ahead. Often, they don’t even have to do that. They simply tell the NSA, you messed up–now go back and fix it exactly like this. That’s more or less how it happened…and, no, it makes no sense.

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This is very helpful because it tells me that the tight deadlines are not really as critical as these middlemen make them out to be. They are assuming that mistakes may happen and so they are building that into the equation from the start. In other words, a package can arrive to the Lender 14 days from an assignment and still fund at the agreed rate lock. The Signing Company wants to farm it out such that they earn the lion’s share of the fee that the borrower paid. They bid on that basis and take the lowest offer from the most ‘qualified’ - in relative terms - of those willing to ‘learn the ropes’ and ‘make a name for themselves’.

They know that they have ample time to demand that the Notary who messed up while ‘cutting their teeth’ return to correct their mistake(s). They know that the Notary will do so because they are going to refuse to hire them again (sure they will) and will refuse to pay them (sure! they will!) if they don’t. I am over-prepared in that case. I won’t commonly make mistakes but I will be paid no more than what the ‘bottom feeders’ are willing to accept. This is very enlightening. I’m going to mull this all over as I move forward. Thanks for your response.

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I also find that this site and other sites such as 123notary offer a premium service to be highly listed/featured in search results. I am beginning to think that it is futile to pay for this sort of advertising though. If the hiring company wants the cheapest Notary then they will certainly scroll down to the bottom of the barrel and slowly work their way up, no?

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Just one thing. TIME is still very critical to hiring parties. VERY CRITICAL to them, whether or not it is in reality. When things need fixin’, they expect you to drop everything and run back at your expense, scan back correction & ship ASAP. And sometimes it’s even their error, but it still your fault somehow. A few will say you missed a signature on a doc that was never in the pkg.–trying to avoid paying you a second ‘trip fee’.

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I get the picture. Thanks a bunch. I almost got in over my head but oh no. The buck stops here now. Thanks.

So I have been mulling this over as I said that I would and it occurs to me that these Signing Companies all put front and center the fact that the NSA is often the only person who the borrower actually meets in person. They emphasize attire and grooming but then they deliberately trip up the NSA by neglecting to triple check packages before sending them to make absolutely certain that all docs are present? All in an effort to gyp the NSA out of their full fee? Do they not realize that they are also thereby making a fool of the Lender since they are putting front and center the importance of the NSA making a positive impression on behalf of the Lender. As a borrower this sort of an oopps things would give me cold feet if I were associating it with the Lender. Very short-sighted of the Signing Companies to be so careless with people’s reputations if you ask me.

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When I first started, we were respected and actually courted…little gifts (letter openers, mouse pads–like that) via snailmail asking us to please sign up with both TCs & SS. That is long dead. Now we seem to be considered interchangeable warm bodies w/transportation and a stamp–with a big push on dragging laptops, scanners to signers location, too. For the same or less money…you don’t have to print docs, so it’s cheaper for you. When you nicely reply that your fee for this job would be $175, they act like you’ve asked for the moon… I have 20 notaries who will do this for $90! (Ummm, so then why are you calling me?)

You make a good point…they want us to dress & look professional, but pay so little that we’d need to shop at thrift stores. The messed up packages aren’t deliberate…just careless and rushed. The other little mind games are deliberate.

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Careless and rushed is where I place the emphasis. They are earning at least half of the fee that the borrower pays for OUR work. If our job is to be perfect in order to make a good impression on behalf of the Lender then it definitely is their job too. I am not above telling the borrower who to name in the even tthat we need to make a second appointment. If the Signing Company failed to make me look my best due to their failure to make sure that every document was in the package and all instructions were articulated then if I have to meet with the borrower a second time I will give the borrower the history along with the name and contact of the person with the Signing Company that failed to fully review and include all documents so that the borrower can bring that person to the attention of the Lender. It is important to defend the reputation of the Lender. Signing Companies make that abundantly clear.

[quote=“Arichter, post:8, topic:7637”]
When you nicely reply that your fee for this job would be $175, they act like you’ve asked for the moon… I have 20 notaries who will do this for $90! (Ummm, so then why are you calling me?)
[/quote] This is oh so true. I’ve had SC’s call me and laugh at my renegotiation fee, claiming that there are thousands of notaries in my area who will take the job for what they are offering. GREAT, call them then, why waste BOTH of our times here? These callers sound like absolute tools when they make claims like this, you’d think that they would learn by now that making claims of unlimited notaries in the area would be trashed out of their pitches.

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Please reference my latest new topic post. Mystery Shoppers make $3 per minute, no skills required.