E&O insurance expiring

Beginner's Questions
1

My insurance thru Merchant Bonding is expiring, I payed $165 for one year, any suggestions? Any thoughts on inexpensive professional liability insurance for NSAs? 100K insurance.

2

Where the heck are you Dan? $165 for one year? Jeez And how much insurance? You don’t say - and the more coverage the higher the premium

3

And the bigger a target you become. Bet you’ve got 100K. Look at premium for ‘most recommended’ 25K.

4

On Notary Rotary - $100k for one year for CA notaries (which I believe is the highest premium nationwide) is $156
if this helps you Dan
AND you’ll get instant service.

1 Like
5

I got 100K because it was required by some ss/title companies.

6

I was carrying 100K for many years. Then it was suggested I lower it to 35K to minimize being a “target”. Do you think that is suficient? I do primarily Trust packages and some out of state property closings. I’m in California


7

Totally your call. Most companies handling R. E. Closings only require $25K.

8

Consider this, you foul up a real estate/estate document and you get sued for $250k, your insurance will only pay 35k or 100k and YOU are responsible for the rest. Sooo you now owe 150k-215k and that comes out of your pocket. A judgement against you may last 5-20 years +, depending on your state. WORSE, all notary liability insurance policies (I forget the correct term) so they are only valid while you have insurance or keep your insurance in force.(i.e. renew). So if you screw up, retire, policy lapses and then you get sued after, you are liable for the entire amount plus legal fees. Found it: “claims-made policy,” you need an “occurrence-based policy" which probably cost more if you can find one and will cover you after the policy lapses! Let us know if you do find one.

9

I purchased a 4 year policy from Surety 1 for $200. $100,000 coverage.

10

What do you have? And regarding Dan’s scenario: we can’t even have a peaceful retirement without worrying about being sued??? I am part time and don’t do very many transactions


11

I have $1,000,000 because I don’t want to risk losing my home because of an error and property prices are very high. When I started out, I didn’t realize that my E&O insurance (vai NSA) didn’t cover signing agent errors, only notary errors. Then a couple of years later I found out about policies not covering after they lapsed, which does bother me.

12

I carry the ‘required by most’ amount. Below are some things that may help you in your decision:
Link: 4 lawsuits, 4 lessons in Notary liability | NNA
From personal experience & friends of friends:

  1. Was asked to testify in a contested Will I’d notarized. Being a m/l rule-follower, I gave a ‘heads up’ to my E&O carrier, who contacted Lawyer & then called me & said ‘go or get subpoena’. End result: I testified. Approx. $750 of my ‘declining coverage’ used for Ins. co. making 2 phone calls, even tho’ I wasn’t being sued. Most policies are ‘declining coverage’.
  2. Lawyer w/PITA client, his Secretary/Notary suggested Lawyer go after (not Sec/N) another Notary’s E&O/guess notary did something wrong. He did, got some $ and got rid of PITA client. TARGET TIME! Most lawyers cast very wide nets in a lawsuit, tho’ this time it was a very small net that worked to make a client with a petty complaint happy.
13

Interesting
 the things you don’t know about E & O (& won’t unless you dig deep):
Tail coverage, also known as an Extended Reporting Period (ERP), is not a separate policy but rather an add-on or endorsement to your existing Errors and Omissions (E&O) insurance policy. It is typically purchased at the time the policy is canceled, non-renewed, or expired. This allows you to extend the time frame for reporting claims that arise from incidents that occurred during the original policy period.

If you’re considering tail coverage, it’s a good idea to discuss it with your insurer before your policy ends to ensure you have the protection you need.

In other words, we were never as ‘protected’ as we thought–or what they don’t tell you.