How do you come up with fees for GNW?

Beginner's Questions
1

Until now I’ve only looked at LSA assignments and now I’m leaning more toward mobile GNW. I’m in Tennessee where no specific fee is set for notary services. How do I know what to charge? I’ve tried looking at websites for other area notaries but most do no list fees. I don’t want to set my fees and them be outrageous and on the other hand, I don’t want to undersell myself. Thanks in advance!

2

What does your state allow you to charge per signature? Can you charge mileage?

Here in California, I can charge $15/sig and whatever I want for milage. I charge $50 for 1 sig when I meet the client. If there were say 10 sigs, then I could charge $150 + mileage.

3

Here in FL we can charge $10/notarial act; I see in TN you can charge “a reasonable fee” for your services.

I charge the $10/notarial act plus travel fee of $25 within my county for quick notarizations; for more extensive ones (like powers of attorney, anything taking place in a nursing home, hospital or ALF) I charge minimum $50-$75 for that as they are VERY time consuming.

You have to consider this:

  1. How much do you want to make per hour? Remember you have time involved in traveling to and from and time AT the appointment.
  2. What would you consider a reasonable fee to put your commission on a document (with all the related liability that it comes with)
  3. IRS allows a 58.5 cents/mile deduction on your tax return for business mileage - how much do you want to charge for the mileage, taking into account wear and tear on your vehicle.

Think of those things and that MAY help you come up with a fee structure for GNW. At least I hope I’ve helped. Good luck

NOTE: This is what I charge here in Florida…this is in no way my telling you what YOU should charge.

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4

I want to also add… here in AZ we are allowed to charge $10/per act and $0.445 per mile.

When you decide on what your fees are make sure you communicate with the person and break down your fees separately.

Have them confirm and make a deposit ( I have payment terms a min deposit of $25 with refund and cancelation terms within the email i send them) . I do this especially if it is a last min request with the exception of nursing home, hospital or rehab appointments.

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5

I would calculate the travel fee and the notarization fee separately. The travel fee is due even if the client can’t go through with the notarization. For example, the certificate on the document might be for a notarial act that isn’t allowed in TN, maybe signature witnessing, and the client can’t decide what other notarial act to have done.

Don’t fall into the trap of charging the IRS rate of 58.5 ¢/mi. That is just intended to cover your costs, like fuel, oil, depreciation, auto insurance etc. It doesn’t pay you for the time you are driving. To compensate for your driving time as well as your costs you would want to charge at least $1/mi. each way. So if the trip was 10 miles there and 10 miles back, and the notarization couldn’t be done for some reason, that would be a minimum of $20.

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