Hey Notaries! I pray everyone is enjoying this new year! May your notary business grow by leaps and bounds in 2025!!
Okay, so here we go!
I want to know, what’s with all this aggression with some of these signing services? This one particular SS (who will remain nameless, for I pray they’ll calm down) expounded today, and I quote: “Our payment terms are clear. Therefore payment was mailed as indicated in the last email I send you. Please allow 7-10 buisness days for receipt. We are not in the business of having to advise every notary when payment is issued. We indicated our pay terms at the beginning of the closing process.”ENQUOTE.
So, I ask - was all that necessary? LOL!! A simple “The check is in the mail” would have sufficed.
Backstory - I had been inquiring about payment that was past due (I did a closing for them on 11-7-24) and apparently, they were quite annoyed at me for wanting to get payment status on 12-7-24. Granted, on the acceptance email, they stated that payment will be made at the end of the following month. I’d made the unfortunate innocent mistake of inquiring at net 30 days - LOL! And for that embryonic inquiry, I’d received the following response, “Our pay terms are not net 30. Please review the pay policy that was sent in the orginal confirmation email. Pay terms are the end of the following month following the closing date. Please submit an invoice for payment.”ENDQUOTE.
See? See what I’m dealing with? Why the hostility? Why the annoyance? Is it that you are not running a business that is financially sound, and the pressure is on when payment day is around the corner and the well is dry? I don’t know?!
…all I do know is that when you ream me out and put me in my place, at least have your spell-checker on! LOL!!
Unfortunately sometimes advice in this forum says just harass the hell out of them. Which has clearly struck a nerve with the SS who hired you. We can send net 30 invoice but still not get payment in 30 days if their terms are to pay at the end of the following month. I do signings via signingorder.com that has some companies whose terms say we pay at the end of the following month for everything done the previous month. So asking for it at 30 days won’t rush their own terms.
After you review how some notaries handle communication with some companies - maybe you were at the end of a service who had interacted with someone who hit their last nerve.
Personally - if I get something like that I just move on from it. it’s not personal. Hope it’s a great year for all of us.
Oh yes, I never take it personal. It’s just funny! You’re right, they probably had had enough and here I come along asking a simple question. To be fair, they did state that payment was the end of the following month, but with so many SSs on my follow-up radar, I inquired prematurely and totally missed their terms. But that shouldn’t give the right to be so rude. Just simply refer me to the payment policy and state payment will be forthcoming. If you do not have a customer service disposition, do not expect to stay in business long. I’m quite sure they don’t respond to lenders and TCs that way! LOL!
You’re absolutely correct! I’ve seen where some notaries were downright rude and disrespectful. Both sides need to calm down and talk/communicate civilly towards one another. Just like SSs, we get frustrated too. We as signing agents operate on a faith-based system for payment, we perform services in advance with the expectation of timely payment. It only stands to reason we want to be paid on time, just like they were. It’s not much to ask for. But indeed, tempers need to be simmered.
True that, but they also have to understand that we’re running a business as well and just the same way they get tired of payment inquiries, we get tired of chasing money due to us.
They come in like a lamb when they need the signing done but becomes a lion when asked about payment.
Spot on!! Well said! It makes no sense to be rude, just simply state the payment status and get on with your day! Trust me, it’s no walk through the tulips having to nudge, poke, and prod them for payment either. Simply pay when due and we all can have a blessed day!
LOL! I had a company stop using me because I started asking if the chrck was mailed when they were supposed to mail it, which was the week following each signing. Sometimes they would miss a payment and once gave me a bad check, with no apologies. Just said, “My bad”!
Yes! They will drop you like a bad habit! They must think we’re coming to them for a handout! No! We coming for our payout! That’s why when this particular SS got so aggressive and downright rude, it tickled me! It’s like they think we’re coming to them begging for money, when in fact, we’re coming for compensation! That’s a huge difference!
Could be that person who responded mistook the tone of the inquiry and it triggered her/him. Maybe it was the 20th similar inquiry and they just lost their patience that moment. Some schedulers are trying to do so many things at once and their efficient/blunt email replies can be misconstued as curt/rudemess. It has happened to me both as email sender and receiver. Tone is easy to misinterpret on this forum as well.
Regardless, if I have waited longer than expected to be paid, I still do not hesitate to inquire. They are humans like me and it could have been an oversight or a simple data entry error. Kindness and patience is needed on both sides, like you say.
This one signing company I think you may be referring to pays at the end of the following month the signing was completed in… I always have to email them after that time frame and I get a generic and what I think snarky response “check your spam, we have to see if it was sent, etc” the payment is sent via electronic check. I’m sure they’re annoyed but if I feel that’s already an excessive time to wait so my email is going to go out the next business day after their quoted time frame.
It is really a shame! This one SS that I’m dealing with is claiming that payment has be mailed and I should receive it within 7 to 10 business days. Tomorrow will be the 7th business day and no check yet. Not only am I’m stalking the SS, but I gotta stalk the mailman too?!
This SS appears not to send payments electronically. I don’t know if that’s a red flag or not. If you have a successful signing service, why aren’t you doing electronic payments? I know some still do paper checks, but the majority use e-checks.
Because you see, what very well may be the problem is that these owners of these upstart signing services were loan signing agents. They most likely got sucked into the whole six-figure marketing indoctrination: you can use your skills and knowledge as a loan signing agent and create your own signing service!
I’m quite sure the rhetoric is that you can make way more money owning a signing service than you can being a signing agent. And many have taken the bait. And this is where we find signing services popping up all over the place, getting paid from title companies for funded closings, and then want to make us feel like we coming to them for a handout when it’s time for payment! Either you have the money to pay the notaries or get out of business. Not only are you wasting your own time, but ours as well. I strive to keep everything professional, so sad many SS are not!
@csmallsnotaryAbsolutely accurate. Underfunded business entities are one of the greatest pitfalls that professional signing agents [PSAs] must be consistently alert to avoid.
You’re wise to endeavor avoiding the consequences of it.
I would like to say that before you consider accepting a signing of any kind, make sure that you do your homework on that specific company and follow all the rules , put everything in writing, that way you don’t waste your time or resources trying to collect , i also learned the hard way but after i saw some of the reviews and comments about this company,I’m confident that companies like that who refuse to pay the NOTARY for services completed will not be in service,follow the law and report behavior like to your state, let them do all the work for you.Thank you and best of luck
Oh Linda, you gave me such a good laugh! They MAY just need it more! I will never understand why these types of signing services do not pay the notaries. What part of we did the closing, you got paid by the title company, now it’s time to pay the notary are we not understanding!? What is so hard about honoring one’s payment policy, unless … (See Linda’s comment above)!
We strive to do a job well done. And I know notaries are not in the business of working for free. So on a professional level, please pay the notary.
Unfortunately, I can no longer work for companies they do not honor their written payment policy.
Let’s not forget the funds for closing costs are disbursed from escrow on the day the transaction closes, not the day after, and certainly not 30 days or the end of the month or any other time the signing service randomly decides to pay the notary. Meanwhile, they have use of our share while we wait for our fee and have the nerve to inquire when it’s late.
I never understood anything past net 30 days since funding is made shortly after the closing. I mean, I get the whole vendor/client scenario in terms of remittance and payment, but when we literally have to hound and chase for payment, it makes me wonder the business acumen of most signing services who are slow pays and no pays!
They don’t want, in some cases, to be notified about late payments… well, pay on time according to your written payment policy and we both can move on our merry ways! IJS
Funds disbursed on day transaction closes - depends on if you’re in a table-funded or escrow state.
Disbursement on day of transaction - IF it’s table-funded and you’re specifically listed on the HUD - if not, you may be being paid out of title’s business account, which is paid out when they pay their bills.
Not 30-days or end of month, etc - if title pays SS out of their business account, will depend on agreement they have together - title may make one payment per month to SS for all signings…
As to #3 - SS should not have to wait for title payment to pay notaries…that’s an underfunded company, IMO
Ya and I just opted out of a SS that keeps offering me thirty dollars, then forty dollars, then fifty dollars…all after I send a polite request for the refi being in the eighty-five dollar range. This is such a waste of time constantly checking my phone only to discover this SS is really only intending to insult the very ones who bring in the revenue so they can stay in business. I finally found a link to opt out of them without opting out of signingorder.com.
They must think we’re coming to them for a handout! No! We coming for our payout! That’s why when this particular SS got so aggressive and downright rude, it tickled me! It’s like they think we’re coming to them begging for money, when in fact, we’re coming for compensation! That’s a huge difference! 
Underfunded business entities are one of the greatest pitfalls that professional signing agents [PSAs] must be consistently alert to avoid.