Here we go again. I took a signing from Coat to Coast hat she said would only be a few pages so I took it for $50 to fill in a space that day. It is a small pkg of 45 pages times 2 but with a 30 mile round trip I would normally charge at least $85. I told them I would help them out only to see on the docs that they are being paid $150 after telling me there was not any room with this to negotiate. Come on people! We can see the fees on the closing docs and this is pure greed on their part. We do the work, travel, and take on the liability, so 50% would at least not make me crazy but this is crazy. Once this is done and I am paid, they will hear about this in spades or they will hear when they call again. Who does this kind of stuff? It is wrong! They do not show any kind of respect for us as their partners. As fast as I can find a few good companies that keep me busy enough, I am going to tell this type of company to take me off their list!!! We need to stand in agreement and stop this stuff.
Yes, I have to agree. We print, travel, fax and ship for only a smaller percent of the total fee that Title pay. MAYBE we should form a union
WE, don’t have to take any of these ridiculous fees. You as a business owner set your own fees to cover ALL of your expenses. Makes no difference what they make, it’s what you charge for YOUR services that matters. You need to make a profit.
This kind of stuff can be stopped when Notaries stop taking the low ball fees! You stated yourself that you normally would charge $85.00 but you took it for $50.00! That’s the problem!
I have taken several signings with them, with no problems I don’t except any signings with them for under 85.00, and if over 200 pages 100.00
As I said in my post, they said there were only a few pages, but there were many more than a few. I have sent them a note about this and will see what happens.
Hello Fellow notaries, so I have worked with Coast to Coast as well, and I have negotiated with them my price once I would see that the document size is big which is over 70 pages and they would say it is less then 70 pages. They have adjusted the fee $10 to $15 depending the representative I have spoken to. If they didn’t I have asked them to reassign the case and that happened twice. I have completed about 12 signings for $80 and $90. This is a low price but, signings were less then five mile drive, so it was okay. They are not sending me text messages anymore due to me negotiating the price all the time. And when they said why I took the signing if I saw that it was low price, I responded why are you not telling the truth of the size of the package and how many pages it will be, or how many signers are involved. Because, if there is one signer vs. four signers on one loan assignment, that means I will be logging almost the same information for each notarized page for four different people and they have to sign my book get thumb printed as well. That takes more than an hour, and even the $90 is not enough. So, they have adjusted the price. But they don’t text me anymore because they have learned that they have a notary who is not letting them get away with their grid. One positive I had with them was they paid electronic check and very quickly.
My question is this, come January 2017 notary fee is going to be increased by CA Law to $15. What are we planing to do with the signing companies?
I agree with you I don’t even respond to $50, or $65 offers. I noticed that if no one is responding they increase the price to $80 and $100
And that is another point I am trying to make. Why do we have to fight so hard to get a proper rate? It is exhausting and I am tired of it. They should think of us as a partner and treat us better.
You are wearing yourself out, say no to lowball fees and don’t look back. We can’t make signing companies do anything, we can’t make them think of us as partners. But we can simply refuse their business and work with companies that treat us the way we want to be treated. I don’t have any problems because I only work with companies that treat me well, I don’t give a second thought to lowball companies.
Maybe we should form a union I’m gain, let me know, I try not take any less than $100.00, with all the fees we pay for Ins, paper, toner, gas and our time should start at $100.00, I find title company directly pay more with any problems, and they pay within a week, also market mortgage Companies.
We are business owners and cannot form a union. Unions are for employees, not the CEO of the company. And with that in mind, set your fees based on your position with your company so that you will make a profit. If, after receiving the doc package, it’s more than what was negotiated, then by all means, call the hiring party back and re-negotiate. If the hiring party is not cooperative, then turn the assignment back. Trying to negotiate the fee after the assignment has been completed is too late.
Your services are valuable. Never sell yourself short. I don’t care if it is only 5 pages. If you walk out your door for 50.00, even if it is just across the street, you are losing money. Sit down and truly take into consideration what your operating costs are. ALL of them! Do NOT let these signing services take advantage of you. Do you think they are working for free?? NO. I guarantee they are making a nice little profit. (sometimes you can even see this on the closing disclosure) If people would stop taking these low ball offers, these folks would disappear. There are hundreds of title companies out there. Skip the middle man and go directly to them if they won’t pay your fee. Just say no.
You should probably do your research on Coast to Coast. So many of us have had problems with them that span much greater than simply low balling. They are awful, rude, and different employees tell you different things. They sent me on a job, before I did my research so my own fault, where there were two completely separate jobs (2 homes, 2 borrowers… mom and dad refinancing mom and dad’s house and daughter and son-in-law were refinancing their house) at the same signing location (mom and dad’s house) and tried to tell me it was all one job - never mind different loan numbers, different deeds, etc… THEN when I only signed the one loan for the people who lived in the home (parents) because I didn’t even print or take the paperwork that didn’t belong to this job - they tried to come up with any excuse to only pay me half. I said some things that apparently intimidated her or something because I not only got paid, but I had an e-check within 15 minutes and was only shorted $25. I cut my losses (although still pissed off) and they are blacklisted with me. I then read all the problems others have had with them and kicked myself in the rear for not vetting them before taking work from them. Lesson learned! I now will give a job back in a heartbeat. We only get treated how we accept being treated. Wanna love what you do? Don’t sell yourself short. It seems like the 100 page re-fi’s that pay $200 are the easiest and the crappy companies who want you to work for $50 try to give you bull crap signings and sneak in an extra signing, not pay you, and low-ball you. DON’T GET PIMPED.
I just don’t get it. When they have a job in your city, why wouldn’t they treat the people who are capable of a clean job with appreciation? They can’t do it without us and we make their job easier and they will also get more business out of it. Amazes me. How do you get to the $200 people? I reach out to title companies but seems hard to get them on board.
I’ve just gotten lucky with the higher paying jobs! Stay on the boards & submit your credentials to all the ones who others speak highly of. I literally started a 3 ring notebook alphabetic dividers and put companies in there, good & bad, with notes to keep reaching out to them (not stalker status) or do not work for them!
Great ideas. Thanks for this. Which boards do you suggest?
Please, please, PLEASE, fellow hard-working mobile notaries: let’s get together! The very idea that 13 years into this I still have to fight/negotiate with signing services for a reasonable fee (one which will allow me to make a living, one that will recognize that I am an expert at what I do and one that will also recognize that it is I who puts her stamina, her time, her organization skills, her people skills, her dedication to a perfect signing and her reputation on the line each and every working day (which, by the way, is MOST days of the year) is ludicrous! And now (as of Jan 1st) California notaries are able to charge $15 per notarized signature. How does that help us when we are still treated with disdain and as “cash cows” by soooo many signing services (and even by some title/escrow companies). Maybe it IS time to form a union to protect mobile notaries who give something akin to blood every day of their working lives. What say you, fellow hard-working mobile notaries?
Wow, I have never been paid within a weeks time,
If you read above, we can’t form a union because we are not employees. If more of us refuse the low ball fees, this would stop.