Received a phone call from a potential customer that found me on notary database. Asked if I was available for a purchase package. Find out it was from a law firm. The caller asked what was my fee? After asking a few questions, the caller state documents would be provided and a shipper label would be included. I asked how many notarial acts would be involved, she stated not to sure, may be around 10. Next she started talking about Hybrid and asked if there happened to be more notarial acts would the fee changed. Since she didnāt have firm details of what the order required. I gave her my fee of $200. She stated that sound good, but she would call me back upon making a decision. Thatās when I knew that she was fee shopping. I didnāt hold my breath expecting a callback. She didnāt understand, even though there may not be any printing of documents on my end. Because printing isnāt the biggest costs, she had mentioned the potential usage of other equipment and internet. Itās our labor costs, driving, prep time, signing time at the table, and other miscellaneous expenses that we have to price into our services. Why do these law firms want to devalue our services? Law firms billable hours are greater than a loan signing fee of $200. She found me on Notary Rotary, doesnāt she realize that an a cost I have to account for as well. No worries, I pickup a mortgage modification paying $120 that takes 15 minutes and under 50 pages printing. Happy New Years to all of my Notary Publics/Loan Signing Agents colleague!
I had a an experience that was close to what you described. It was 'ASAPāTravel time 1hr an 20 minutes one way. The company low balled the fee. I stated I would do this but asked for $135. No response. 70 dollars just would not do.
Iām sorry, but
Even THAT is bargain basement pricing and way too low for what is involved in travel aloneā¦
With that distance that would have been a $400 job.
In my region you wonāt be getting $400 for anything so you can sit at a desk and ask for whatever you want or you can counter offer and work.
Its amazing what some people ask for, and wounder why they are setting on the recliner.
I know what I can ask for and get. There is no golden rule for me set by anyone else.
The beautiful thing about entrepreneurship, we all get to decide our own value. By working RON, mobile services, and other lines of services. It allows me to maintain a profitable margin and not undercut my fees. Not every prospect or signing order is a good fit for your business.
Plunging fees and saturated markets is why I no longer engage in mortgage closings.
Iām not sitting in my recliner. Iām very busy with other projects. I could be busy and earning a pittance or doing something more profitable.
Agree with LindaH & Riverpoint that $135 is still too lowā¦and wonder how people are calculating what is profitable for them. Iāve done this job in 2 states so KNOW that my fee for identical job would be very different in each of the states due totally to the biggest variable we all have: mileage and drive-time.
The given of 1 hr. 20 min. would get me anywhere between 40 to 60 miles 1-way (big ācar costā difference) in my current state (AR); whereas (bigger ācar costā difference) in my former state (WI), the same drive time would get me 120 miles 1-way. And when I lived in a suburb of Chicago, that same 1 hr. 20 min. would get me maybe 15 to 20 miles. Point being: drive time and mileage are HUGE variables depending upon your area.
The IRS mileage factor ONLY covers āaverage fixed & variable costs of operating a vehicleā and is most likely NOT your actual cost. It allows nothing for your TIME spent driving.
Alsoātake note-- 2025 IRS mileage rate is $0.70āa 3 cent increase. Meaning everyoneās fee needs an increase, effective immediately!
Well stated Riverpointe Tax! To support the obvious proof about your position. The other day, a signing service offer me an assignment for $65, printing 300 pages, and traveling 70 miles. I had another business option, assisting a new client with obtaining a health plan on the Federal Marketplace exchange. That option allowed me to earned approximately up to hundreds of dollars using a phone and computer from my home office.
@Arichter & ALL Notary Cafe Members
FYI: This is the direct Notary Cafe url link to a Guideline for creating a Schedule of Fees. It fully delineates the items (at a minimum) that should be taken into consideration for these calculations:
FYI: āThe standard mileage rate for transportation or travel expenses for 2025 is 70 cents per mile for all miles of business use (business standard mileage rate).ā
Where are those signing agencies brains when they are throwing out such low ball unacceptable offers to us!!! Would they ever accept such a low ball offer to find a professional notary if they were being paid that, I donāt think so! These ss owners must know we talk or they just donāt care! But when push comes to shove and the interest rates go lower and we get more signing opportunities we will remember (what I refer to as the slum lords of notary kingdom) how they treated us and hopefully nobody will be accepting their offers and they will be forced to shut down, I like weeding in my garden, only the best comes out after a good weed job! Happy New Year everyone xoxoxo
Happy New Year and may you have a prosperous and abundantly great year!
I am very selective with the companies that I will accept work from. My volume of orders have declined, while my average fee earnings increased. This drop in volume has freed up more time to allocate towards other profitable lines of services.
Unfortunately many of the NSA trainers are telling their students to take the low ball offers to gain experience. With experience your income will grow. Ours isnāt like a traditional occupation (traditional W2 job), experience isnāt what those who hire NSAs are looking for. The NSA business is a commodity service, jobs go to the lowest bidder. With a market thatās saturated with notaries, thereās always new collection of NSAs willing to take low pricing motivated by bad advice from the trainers or desperation at making this endeavor work.
Yupā¦and most of the ātrainersā are also SS.
Fee shopping happens on both sides of our business, such as general and loan signing work. You bring up a valid point! A true mentor/trainer will speak upon actual business principles on how to build and operate a profitable notary/loan signing business. With that being stated, thereās this economic principle called the āinvisible handā, that in time the over saturation of notaries/loan signing agents will eventually have a market corrections that will drive fees upward. We have to position ourselves to be in position to take advantage of such market occurrence. Letās be honest, title companies and signing services are only doing what the market allows, they are wisely taking advantage of the current business economic conditions. We do the same thing, when thereās not enough notaries/loan signing agents during a rise in demands by the real estate mortgage lenders. Of course this is just my opinion.
Companies are low balling because Notaries are accepting low ball offers. We should not be accepting low ball offers at all. Whatās going on with LSA these days???