SO we’ll said. This market is becoming saturated and our pay is now about half when I started. I fell into being a SA. After 4 offers of signings from direct clients I was asked my fee and I said IDk what do u pay…I was told 300…more if needed due to distance. I accepted and then chickened out. About a month later I said OK. Completed one. Took me 2 hours for a 260 page crazy package. The plus I didn’t miss anything and I realized I KNEW nothing. I took 2 classes 2 tests and passed and my business started. I receive the clean up the mess calls. I find mistakes in docs that a newbie would sign. For example, confirmed that all 4 signers on QCD would be present. I was told NO. Was told NOT a split signing. I refused to proceed (correct answer) I spent 2 days contacting LO Ss Title…finally someone said oh that was signed already and she sent to me. I.E SPLIT signing. I closed another split. Sent it to 2nd half notary. SS calls a week later docs are lost aren’t tracking. New immediately what happened. I contacted notary I shipped docs to. …she was new and she forgot to drop the docs. I contacted SS with tracking and explained. Newbies need to understand split signings. It’s something not taught.
The five guiding principles of GNW answers most of the questions. A sig that was already signed and acknowledged by a NP.is a done deal. We don’t add to. We add our own LL attachment. We must WRITE on the doc see LL.Ack or Jurat etc
If we as a Notary acknowledged or do a jurat (always with an oath and clue subscribed and sworn or ack) we need to protect our STAMP and commission. I.e don’t attach a LL (which has your stamp and signature without describing doc type pages and the person who sig u acknowledged)
Another thing with GNW (the notary at the bank ) I took in about 75 court orders that I served process on. All signed. She insisted I resign in front of her. They were acknowledgements NOT Jurat. I grabbed my notary primer for my state and pointed it out after apologizing and telling her it was a teaching moment. When I signed her log she had been writing the year as 20 thru out journal. When she said she was going to copy my documents I had to educate her that it is inappropriate in our state to keep identifying docs on hand (that’s why the journal and thumb print).
We all need to keep up on notorial laws. The laws in my state had huge changes. My split signing docs…The signer did not sign as sig line…the notary NOT a signing agent didn’t know how to fill out the ack. She put signers name where hers should have been. BASIC
We are all new at times and thank goodness some folks know what they don’t know…because as humans we don’t myself included. I made a costly mistake on a tax sale property I purchased with the collectors deed that I can’t get due to a mistake on my part. I learned the hard way. I asked the right question to someone the COLLECTOR that should have known BUT she isn’t a JD and steered me wrong and my error could have been fixed if the perso who assisted me would have cared and been knowledgeable. I am an empath. I am happy to help someone wanting to learn.