Accepting Low fees makes it Bad for other Notaries

PSAs and News
41

The fee system out there is annoying. This week I received a signing request thru signing order for a $75 refi… When I sent back a counter offer based on the going rate in town I was sent the following auto message, this was really pointed… Never heard anything again so I’m assuming someone took a lower amount.

Hello XXXXXX``,

Thank you for replying with the following conditions:

I am available however due to distance and going rate my fee would be $135

for the order taking place on 10/13/2020 in xxxx OR, .

Please stop and read:

Your conditions have been received and we’d like to let you know the following:

This is an automated email to let you know that we have not yet reviewed your conditions and we must exhaust all options prior to considering conditions for additional fees, time changes, or other arrangements.

In most major cities our fee offers are firm and are contracted with our clients.

Please note that if another qualified notary responds yes your conditions may not be reviewed at all. If you wish to work with us in a major city you will most likely need to be able to accept our fee offer.

Our company does have contracted rates with all of our clients which require approval for fee increases. In any event you are always offered 80% of our contracted fees. In highly populated cities these prices are competitive and most likely the file will be assigned.

If you are in a rural area with fewer notaries we may review your conditions soon and reach out to you to see if we can meet your fee request.

If you are in a highly-populated area and receive offers further away than you normally travel, this is because you are on our preferred list. We do not expect you to travel great distances but never know if you may be in a particular area servicing another client on the date and time we are offering. It never hurts to try with our preferred notaries!

Often we see notaries with terrible reviews requesting higher rates. Please note that if you have negative reviews within the past 90 days (or greater depending on the severity of the review) we will not select you or negotiate with you at all.

Our assigning preference is as follows:

Notaries on SigningOrder.com who have a professional profile photo, a good bio including their work experience, a Notary2Pro Certification, and all of their credentials up-to-date are given first option.

We actually try not to hire any notaries with certifications that focus on “making six-figures” as we have found these notaries to be ill-trained most of the time.

We will work with notaries who have listed background in real estate, lending, or title/escrow work without certifications but to work as a regular team-member we must have a Notary2Pro certification on file.

If we are in need to negotiate any time or fee changes we will reach out to you with the following information:

XXXXX

Please be mindful of your responses as our system is shared with clients around the country. Rude responses or excessive markups are reported directly to your profile to a variety of clients.

Thank you,

XXXXXXX

42

@lee very shameful and degrading on their part

43

I’m not sure what her experience was/is but I also am a LSS graduate and there is a list of 300 contacts, plus biweekly mentorship videos, one on one mentorship and fb group support. I started getting assignments 4 days after being commissioned, I have only been commissioned since 8/24 and I have made about $2700 thus far. I have at lest 3 direct title clients and other signing services that call me directly. The system works if you work it.just my personal experience.

3 Likes
44

Where are you located?? I was told that might be the reason I do not get any request. I am in Mansfield, TX but open to the Dallas/Fort Worth and surrounding areas. I have signed up with the majority of the companies on the list provided by the LSS. Definitely doing everything in my power to get this business going…just don’t know what else I can do.

45

Hi Stephany,

I totally agree with your comments 100%. $125 should be the starting price for all the hard work that goes into one signing. Notary Go does pay low, but is a good starting point for new notaries and it offers the bread and butter solution. However, once a new notary begins to feel confident which shouldn’t take too long, then that’s the time to start increasing their fees.

Notary Go is a tool in the toolkit, not to be discounted but definitely not the end all.

3 Likes
46

I can’t say it enough, "Do you want Quality or do you want to save a buck?? You get what you pay for!!

2 Likes
47

I see this is an old post but I just countered my first signing order .com text and I received the same thing. Did you ever work with them? Literally seems like a threat lol.

48

No I’ve never worked for them. The message is a defense mechanism to attempt to make you reconsider your fee structure. I am not willing to come down to the level that they are willing to offer and keep with what I’ve established.

It goes back to what everyone else says on the boards here, know what you are worth, value your time and resources and keep with it.

I’m not as busy as I was in 2020 but I still earn a reasonable second income while valuing my time approperatly.

1 Like
49

How did you line up the Direct signings?

50

I have to disagree simply based on how economics works. If particular skills become too common, but demand for those skills remains the same or even decreases, then the value those skills provide becomes less. In short, if signings remain constant while an influx of notaries flood the market then your individual value as a notary decreases. Title companies don’t have to pay $100+ for a refinance because there’s a handful of notaries willing to do it for $80. Why do some notaries do this? 1. Desperation to get those first few signings under their belt. 2. They want quantity over quality and don’t mind doing five $70 jobs in a day. Minus gas and printing supplies they still make more than doing two $120 refinance signings they had to negotiate for.

For example, I made a decision to stop doing debt settlements because I don’t like reading off a script, being micromanaged, and sounding like a salesman. It’s also not the friendliest environment as the signer is angry, depressed, suspicious, and/or reluctant. But I tell you what, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a $50 debt settlement offer become a $175 offer within 2 hours. Why? Nobody was taking the bait because most notaries who do them understand the BS associated with it. So again we see the opposite forces at play: high demand + low supply = higher pay.

None of this is to say you shouldn’t be frustrated. Find comfort knowing that a lot of these lowball notaries will give up or start demanding higher pay. Those few lowball notaries who remain are either making more money from quantity of low paying signings or personally have lower standards of living. We all talk about $125+ being the gold standard for a signing, but that only reflects market conditions. Conditions can and often do change. As sad as it is, with the current state of the economy, don’t be surprised if you aren’t making as much per signing.

1 Like
51

Well I’m a new nsa but not a new notary. It is disheartening as it’s confusing the different platforms etc. I have been trying to get one a day for the last 2 weeks. It seems that when they come thru it’s far and few between and I try to negotiate up a little based on what I read here. All loan mods come thru as $40. All Heloc’s are coming as $50. I had a few others the highest was $80 for a buyer purchase. These seem very low i at least asked for a little more since it had scan backs but these last few days every one goes to a different notary. Also I get a bunch for NJ since I live so close, but I can’t take them. Ugh

52

You are spot on, stephanyredd. I suggest that Notaries don’t accept any fee below $100. It doesn’t pay do a job for less than this. We can’t get the message across to the companies that their fees for $45-$85 is too low. Please, let us notary/signing agents stand together in getting paid what we are worth. I hope this helps all who are working hard out there.

53

I’ve never seen a loan mod more than 30 pages. I started out doing $40-$50 loan mod signings. Usually there’s 3 or 4 pages that need to be notarized. That’s not much work. So why would notaries demand the same pay for less work compared to a full refinance package?

Loan mods are what got my foot in the door. Although I no longer do them unless they’re within 20 miles away, they are a good supplement for a lot of notaries. 2 or 3 of them in a day, provided the locations make fiscal sense, is not a bad deal for a 30 page document.

1 Like