I received a text message from(Carmela) Finest Notary services #307-200-4119, today about getting a Codicil to a last will testament w/ picture id, done for a woman client, but the cell # that was on the directions from the notary company was a young male’s cell number that was different from the clients name. I called it, so I could push back the time to meet 1 hour later than they scheduled for. The cell number wanted me to leave a message & I did not because I felt weird hearing a young male voice & not a womans voice. It gave me a red flag, knowing it was for a Codicil to a last will testament.
So I proceeded to call the finest notary services (no answer) so I emailed them. All of a sudden I get a text message from Carmela again. Telling me they won’t do 5pm & proceeded to ask me if I got ahold of the client. I had went back/forth with her reiterating that I just gave you that information of not leaving a message or speaking w/ the client. I also noticed her english is a bit choppy during texting, not like unilingual English speakers. I did ask her if she spoke english very well or if she is just playing around, thinking she may be a scam. I did tell her I do not feel comfortable helping her any longer w/ this client & to go to notary dash if she absolutely needs it today.
I do not know how she had my number but not my name or my business name, considering I’m everywhere to be searched for. After doing some research on the phone # from this notary svc show it is associated w/ a scam & it could have used an automated system for phone number look up.
Any advice for the future with this notary company is much appreciated. .
Then I received a call & a text again after 2 hours of telling them, NO Thank you, asking if I would confirm to work with them & the client. IN which I haven’t answered yet.
FMN uses contract schedulers from all over. The last contract I did for them paid me in 3 days. They want a picture of the completed document to process payment. Never had a problem with them.
They contacted me recently for GNW but I only work direct with clients for that.
I took an assignment with them today. $50 for several signatures, several miles north of my house. Same fee I would have charged if the signer contacted me directly. My role was to Swear in an Attorney. She was already a licensed attorney in Washington, so it wasn’t the first time for her. I ran that request from Finest for a photocopy of her DL and my stamp by her, and she got very serious and declined, citing obvious reasons, saying she had agreed to pay them $180 for my notary services, not to disclose her personal information by email to someone in Wyoming. Looks like I don’t get paid, oh well.
Finest notary gets their signings from ordinary people looking for a notary. They charge the client a large amount of money like $120 to have a notary come to them and notarize their document, then they locate a local notary and pay them $50 to go notarize the document. They are literally a middleman company. Not much different than a platform like signing order, notary dash, or snapdocs. They find their notaries on notary cafe.
Finest notary pays you for the assignment you do for them, not the client.
I said #1. My client requested an illegal act from me to get paid. Their client (a lawyer) already paid them, but for me to get paid, I was asked for a scanned copy of the signer ID as “proof” of service.
I’m curious how they think a scanned copy of the signer’s ID is proof of service??
I’m with @LKTHORNTON1 - I don’t accommodate GNW assignments from a middleman - I only do them as a request direct from signer .
I received these instructions 15 min. before my meeting.
**Just a quick reminder to please disregard the COC PDF. Instead, we kindly ask that you take a clear picture of the client’s front ID and the page showing your stamp. These will be used for proof purposes.
Once you have the images, please send them over to this email thread at your earliest convenience.
Thank you so much for your cooperation!**
So as of today,they stiffed me on my fee.
