Accepted a "no scanbacks required" signing. Now SS asking for scans after I already FedEx'ed docs

RON isn’t allowed in my state, but “As soon as the closing is completed, I send the client the PDF of the documents. No need for them to wonder if it gets delayed or lost by the shipper and they are ready to complete things on their end” confuses me. Who do you mean by client? The title company? The signer? A signing agency like we’re used to dealing with for paper documents? Why doesn’t “the client” have access to the documents directly on the platform?

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“Original documents” is a tricky phrase when writing about electronically signed documents. It would probably take me hours of research to form my own opinion about whether a certain document was “original”. Even then, I’d hesitate to tell someone else it was original.

The way the RON platform works is that the PDF document created by the platform is the original document. There are security features built into the pdf which makes the document tamper proof and there is an audit trail adding proof to the authenticity of the document. On paper documents, there is always the potential for someone to switch out pages. This doesn’t happen with an electronic document. Sorry to hear that you don’t have RON in your state.

If you want good reviews sign up with Google and Yelp and have confidence in yourself. A wild animal will smell that you are nervous and so will people. We are humans and at times make mistakes so own those mistakes BUT don’t let people walk over you for what is NOT your error. Discuss in a calm manner and supply evidence and let it go. Now if you were one of my children my comments would not be so kind (they are in their 50’s now and stand proud). I would tell them to put on their big boy/girl panties and fight for what you know is right. LOL :grinning:

The risk is minimal when using appropriate security measures, storage methods, and encrypt every document using.

What if the confirmation didn’t say one way or another regarding scanbacks? If it doesn’t specifically say “Scanbacks required” I’ll assume that no scanbacks are needed. If I end up in a situation like you describe (them asking for scanbacks after the package has shipped), I’ll say “You didn’t request scanbacks on the confirmation”. While I understand that doing scanbacks whether you need to or not “can” come in handy sometimes, in a lot of cases you’re just wasting your time (and resources).

Agree, it is not your mistake.

However it is appropriate to express apathy and to ask if there is anyway you can help facilitate the closing. I would ask whom ever assigned you the job if they have ever experienced this situation before and have any suggestions on how to a void it happening again. They will probably say no but the offer to help and learn will go along way in establishing and maintaining a successful working relationship.
I consider it my job to help my clients be successful. Think long term, it’s the relationship not the 1 job.

@ashton I’m not sure what you meant by “Why doesn’t “the client” have access to the documents directly on the platform?” The client for me is the SS or Title company who contracted me. If you meant the signer(s), they receive a link from the platform within 5 minutes after the signing inviting them back onto the platform to download the completed copy for their own files. Sorry that you don’t have RON capability in your state yet. Good mention about sending a PDF of the documents. I was a mobile notary from 2008 until I transition to RON when COVID hit. Like you, I always emailed a PDF of the package.

When I was a notary signing agent, I often did not send scans of the documents. If I did, I usually uploaded a scan of key pages (or occasionally the whole package) to the title company’s or signing service’s secure website. Sometimes they would have me email a scan of key pages as a password-protected PDF.

Something in one of rparker’s posts gave me the idea that, as a RON notary, he was sending a PDF of the package to someone after the signing. But I would think the title company could just get it off the RON platform, since they would have put the package on the RON platform to begin with. And as rparker just explained, the signer can download it from the platform. Some of the videos I’ve seen from RON platforms gave me the idea that after the signing is complete, the notary wouldn’t even have access to the package, only the video of the signing and the electronic journal.

I’ve had the same happened to me before. Some orders require scanbacks some don’t even with the same SS or even the same client itself. You could have gotten the request in error. Just reach out with original instructions. Chances are someone will reach out and say “oh sorry, please disregard” On the other hand, If they really had needed or wanted them but erroneously told you no ahead of time it’s no skin off your nose and they hopefully will be more careful in the future.

Unless the title company has the platform for me to use, I do the closing using the platform I am registered to work with and when the closing is completed, the signer will receive an invitation to download a copy of the completed documents for their files and I send the original files directly to the title company via PDF. That happens right after the closing so the title company doesn’t need to worry about the documents coming up missing when using FedEx or UPS. It also saves the title company shipping fees. Those are some of the. benefits of using RON.

New to NSA work, only done one job in 2 years, this advise I will use as I am choosing to do more of this kind of work. Definitely I would take the time to do scanbacks whether it is requested or not.