I did a refinance over an hour away. The title company sends a follow-up request asking that I get an original death certificate from the signer. I say sure, I’ve had plenty of requests and it doesn’t hurt me to comply. Well, borrower was an old man who doesn’t like to answer his phone so the signing almost didn’t go through at all. He calls me 20 minutes before signing, finally, so I scramble to print the docs and go. I forgot to get the certificate, title wants to put that on me as an error and go back and get it for free? Is it not the borrowers’ responsibility to submit all the necessary items for their loans? Is it not title/lender’s responsability to make sure they get what they needs before hand? If I’m wrong please tell me, I want to know. Title/lenders love putting blame on us for everything, so I would like to know from my peers, please. Mind you, I could understand if I collected it and lost it. I simply forgot to ask in my scramble and the signer didn’t offer it. Is it on me to make another 2hr+ round trip?
Collecting docs if in the instructions is part of the job. But when they fail to mention it - that’s not acceptable either. When a death certificate is required a signer usually knows. And the original is sent back to them.
Was an aftermath request, would you go back if you forgot it or tell them to work that out with their borrower?
If it was never mentioned I would tell them I require a fee to do that since they neglected to include it in instructions. That’s not a notary error. That is a scheduler’s error.
Think I’d call the signer and get him to send it. He may not even have an original laying around.
No it was mentioned before the signing at some point via email. I see those as requests that I’m happy to do as a bonus but I’ve never said i’d take the responsability for. If they didn’t have it, it wouldn’t be on me, because ultimately that’s still a need from the borrower.
In that case I would have collected. It’s not an unusual or extra request.
When you do a reverse application you have to collect copies of several things. That’s why they send a notary. You can’t just say it’s the signer’s responsibility when you were instructed to get it.
If the signer said I can’t find it Don’t know where it is that’s different.
it was not an application… it was not a reverse mortgage… It was a refinance. There was not automatic understanding that this signing comes with collecting anything. I understand that is part of the process on those contracts, this was a “hey, btw can you grab that from the signer”(we still have not acquired it ourselves) And I did not refuse to grab it or accept it, I simply forgot and the signer never offered it to me. I’ve never refused to take anything asked to be sent, nor have I ever lost anything. This was an aftermath, a secondary request sent via email. If you say you think I’m responsible, fine, but please don’t change the scope.
Sorry about that. Was just saying it’s not unusual.
I’ve done my share of reverse mortgages starting with the first one I did right after they came out. Even the loan officer didn’t know there were two notes. So a request like picking up the death certificate is vital on par with forgetting to stamp the deed or not getting signatures on the note. These loans are big money for the loan officers and forgetting that document could jeopardize all that work that’s been done to get you in there. Hopefully you were paid the $250+, that would compensate you to drive back there and pick up that necessary document.
Yes, if I am asked to collect a death certificate, I consider that my responsibility, and part of the job. I make a note of anything required, like a death certificate or a check for funds due on my confirmation sheet, then circle it. Then before I leave, I check the confirmation and make sure I have what I need. It has saved me from forgetting something more than once. I’m sorry that happened to you.
You don’t collect nobody original documents.
Take a photo and scan
Unless of course, the instruction says “must receive the original it will be returned after closing”.
Death certificates have to be the original. A scan is not the original.
I just realized I gave you a workaround, but didn’t answer your question. Yes, it is your responsibility. They told you/you forgot. That doesn’t mean you can’t try for a workaround just like you picking it up was their workaround for something they should have already received from an old man who obviously wants the money, but not the bother.
Story time: Probably 20 years ago, I had one where Title told Signer to give me some document that they needed. Didn’t tell me. He forgot/I didn’t know about it. Was a long trip & I was more than halfway home, when Signer called my cell and said ‘I forgot to give you a document they want…come back & get it.’ Said I’d get back to him. 1/4 mile down the road was a DQ.
Pulled into lot, got a milkshake & figured out what this was costing me in time, expense, called Title, explained the screwup–told 'em how much MORE it was going to cost them for me to return (or they could handle it some other way). They tried ‘do us a favor’–which annoyed me–so, “No, this is on you. Pay me for added time/expense.” Then they wanted me to ‘wait where I was & they’d get back to me’. Fine, but that’s going to cost you added $10/15 minutes WAIT TIME, too, so be quick. Took 'em 1/2 hr. to tell me yes, they’d pay for me to go back and yes, they’d pay an added $20 for the time it took them to decide this. And they did and I still work with them 20 years later.
Thank you, I can respect that answer.
They asked you to get the death certificate, how is it their fault. It’s your, own it.
That’s wrong. Title needs a certified copy, not a photo or scan.
My stand point has always been, our jobs are not gophers. Our designation is to uphold privacy, identify our signers as who they say they are, print, secure, and safely return the paperwork. It is titles job to ask the signer for the needed paperwork and get it to them, them asking us to go a step beyond shouldn’t put us under any liability. If they do not have it are we liable for that? No. That’s something they choose to put on us, not our actual job.I have no problem taking it and being responsible for it once it’s in my hands but I didn’t feel I should be liable for a free 2 hour trip to go back and get it when it should have been between the company and the barrower and not me in the first place. EVERY SINGLE LOAN HAS SUBMISSIONS, EVERY SINGLE ONE! HOW MANY ARE YOU TOLD TO GET STUFF FOR?? JUST THE ONES THAT DIDN’T DO THERE JOB AND PUT IT ON YOU RIGHT? We are NOT their employees so I feel there should be a limit to what they can hold us accountable for. They can ask for anything, that shouldn’t mean that we should have to or beheld accountable if it doesn’t transpire to their liking. I should have worded my post better honestly but I was heated at the time.
I think there’s a disconnect when we think instructions make us gophers. Contract workers are as required to do as they are asked as full time employees are required to do as they are asked.
Companies contract the notaries who follow instructions. If you don’t like the instructions, you can remove yourself from an assignment.
There are those that are willing to do whatever they’re asked regardless of however beyond their actual job is. I’m willing to facilitate to a point that it doesn’t cost me. I didn’t refuse to get it, he didn’t provide it. And I don’t feel that because the loan officer passed the buck on to me that because it didn’t transpire the way they wanted that I should be held accountable for the extra drive. The borrower can be held accountable for knowing what they need to submit to get their loan. I respect your standpoint and I’ll just leave it at that.