I have been increasingly disturbed over these agencies paying low fees. I have been seriously starting up a private group forum that is only open to Signing Agent to address these low fees. My strategies are to develop ways to Secretly formulate undetermined days (once a week) for all of us to not be available for a any signing. Yes some of us will choose to undermine us and accept signings any way. However we must start some place. We would Choose a private group site such as WhatsApps for members to on and communicate our intentions on that site. I have many other ideas and I am soliciting additional info and advise to make the site worth while. Some of these signing agencies are nickel and dime-ing us all the way to the bank. I know of an instance where I was paid $75.00 and know for a fact that the Signing agencies 250.00 and gave the borrower a $50.00 credit out of the Notary fee. I should have received that fee. We have to develop ways to make these signing agencies work with us. If one of us is accepting $75.00 and one is charging $125.00, they will keep going to the $75.00. we are cheating each other out signing fees.
Occupational suicide for both you and all who follow in your footsteps. You go right ahead and do that - as soon as the companies find out what youâre doing (and trust me, they will) you wonât get ANY calls.
IMO This idea is ridiculous - but you go ahead. Iâm sure your competition will appreciate the uptick in business as a result of you using this strategy. And once you lose that business and those clients, youâll never get them back. Theyâll never trust you again.
Best way to fight low fees? Donât work for companies that pay low fees and donât accept low fees. You admitted in your post you were paid $75 for a signing - why did you take it? If you want to fight it, start there - donât take those fees. Price yourself accordingly based on job size and your own value that you bring to the table.
JMO
Some notaries can accept lower fees than others because they are desperate for the work, perhaps they are just starting out and eager to gain experience. I was with one company for over thirty jobs and they had a huge lag time in paying for the work. I would tell them that if certain jobs were over 150 pages I would need more money, or over a certain distance, the same. They agreed to these terms but guess what? If a signer refused I was left without a travel or even printing fee, something I thought unthinkable. But there it was in their terms and conditions. I no longer work for them because every 10th job was a refusal so that means all my earnings averaged less.I am still awaiting payment for jobs I did as far back as July. Being a notary signing agent isnât a cake walk. There are many ills, low fees, ridiculous accommodations, huge distances, and companies that will let you print out documents twice and travel twice but only pay you once.
I would say for the first year, expect to make mistakes, not earn top dollar, and work on perfecting your craft. If you are good at what you do, you will be noticed and better-paying jobs come along. While it may be tempting to âforceâ companies to pay more we are hurting the borrowers, the people we are trying to serve when we say we arenât available.
Oh and on SnapDocs if a job is too low-paying I let them know. Sometimes they will call you back to see if they can work out something fair to both parties. You donât always get it back but I like to treat others as I would want to be treated.
Nope, disagree.
If notaries simply stopped accepting low fees, then the companies offering them would start increasing fees or they would go belly-up.
I see this as matter of education. There is no organization available to a new signing agent where they can learn the âvalueâ of their role in the process. Because of this, we are divided as a group and can be âconqueredâ by the signing services or large vendor manger companies that control the assignments of work by them defining the narrative on our value. There are different variables as to why someone would work for a particular fee. Iâm sure many of us were not sure of our value when we first started out. I wasnât. I would work for almost any fee when I first started. How many seasoned signing agents had a mentor (probably few)? How many learned as you went along (probably most)? New signing agents do not really know if the job is a low fee or not. They have no education on their value, but they are the ones most likely to take a job regardless of the fee. Call it the price you pay for your âreal worldâ education. How many of us paid for a âreal worldâ education in this business. I did, as I believe most of us did who have been doing this for years. Most of us learned it âthe hard wayâ. When I started doing this in the mid 1990âs there were only a âhandfulâ of us in the DFW area doing this. The concept of a mobile signing agent was foreign to most TX title companies (I know because I have worked in the title business since 1990 and still do). When mobile signing agents became more mainstream, more and more signing agents got into the business. The market is much larger now than 15 years ago (at least in my market). This created competition that the signing companies/services use to their advantage. As an example, I watched a large vendor management company modify their fees a few years ago to define what they were willing to pay, so the trip and edocs fee combined became $67.00 (regardless of the lender, requirements, pages, distance or faxbacks). That is what they decided our service was worth. And they would no waiver from that fee unless they had exhausted contacting all SAâs on their list. At that time they controlled ALOT of business being part of the Fidelity family (Iâm talking thousands of signings a month nationally). They felt they were in position to control the narrative on what our service was worth to them. (Our profession had no voice, as still doesnât). Some may say that NNA is the closest organization we have since they purchased signingagent.com many years ago, but unless we have a way to drive the NEW SAâs to a place where education about our value can be obtained and where we have an advocate to this profession (i.e. organization that clearly tells stands up for our value in the process), then nothing will change regarding the fee argument. A bigger matter facing us is the coming wave of remote notary allowing states (soon it will be all). In my opinion, this will be a paradigm shift in how this business will be done in the future and if you are not educated on this and embrace it, you will left behind. The way this business works now will NOT be the way it is done in the VERY NEAR future. I do not necessarily agree with what is coming. I do, however, want those on this forum to start educating themselves on the coming changes so they do not have to learn âthe hard way.â Iâm not sure how to define my own value as a SA in this new remote notary marketplace. Based on what I am learning, state borders will no longer matter. So if I stay in this business, my market will no longer be DFW but the whole US. Did my value just become smaller? I feel like it did. I must now compete for business nationwide and not just against other SAâs in my local market. Did all of our values just get smaller? Maybe. If we do not or cannot communicate our story (and value) someone else will. Sorry for the rant.
Iâm thinking youâre right - if this does take root and become S.O.P. (which Iâm not seeing happening in my neck of the woods as I live in the country - these old southern folk here donât trust anything like that). Iâm thinking mobile signing agent fees are going to be based solely on two things - per notarization and an hourly rate. Well, make that 3 - notaries might be able to get away with a base service fee plus notarizations plus time (30 minutes or hour minimum). Going to be a whole new ballgame.
I, for one, most likely wonât be taking part - Iâm down to doing only general notary work now. But I do want to stay aware and educated about this and do wish all my fellow notaries the best of luck if they jump in the pool. 
They are always enticing people to become notaries and Signing Agents and there will always be a lot of them out there. Most donât stick with it. There are hundreds of Signing Coâs and others who are always trying to figure out how to get part of the notaries fees which is strange because we are the lowest paid in the transaction. The industry and signing agencies rely on a constant stream of newbies- burn em out and get new ones. Most come into this with little to no business experience obviously, by the pages of Doâs and Donâts and all the other insulting instructions given out with each assignment (how to dress, what to say and not so say). I have found that most title and escrow companies would rather not use signing coâs and would prefer someone local to them who has experience in the industry (banking, real estate, lending etc) AND who has experience signing hundreds, or better yet thousands of loans. When they need someone out of the area, they will call an affiliate office in that area and find out who they use locally/personally. I have given away enough clues here. Sticking local is always best, but again, they will only entertain using you if you have lots of experience and if you are absolutely a seasoned professional.
In regard to low notary fees, the blame game can go on forever and we
can rationalize the situation ad nauseum. Stop! What we are experiencing
is the oldest natural force there is: Supply and Demand. There are too
few jobs for too many notaries. Economics 101. Period end-of-story.
There are a finite number of signings and there is a conveyor belt
adding numerous new notaries every day. U.S. manufacturers went to China
and immigrants drive down the price of labor here. Clearly, there are
only two things that can raise fees; 1). The notary population shrinks
to a point where for every 10 signings available only 2 notaries exist,
2). Organize in such a way that all notaries must receive their
assignments from a governing body (call it a union if you like) to
ensure compliance with a fee schedule. Easier said then done for sure.
But this type of organization exists all around us. Here is a riddle:
What industry charges the same fee regardless of the size of the
transaction, complexity, rural to urban alike, in every town, county and
state without exception and in any economy? Hint: This industry charges
a 6% fee. OBTWâŠthey need notaries to consummate their deals.
good idea but Itâs called âprice fixingâ. Thatâs one of the reasons the NNA took their suggested rate off of their site⊠You will never accomplish your idea. WhyâŠbecause there are always someone who will accept the low fees, if nothing else than to get started.
Iâd like to be apart of your group anyways as I am sure we all have ideas that might help with the fees. Keep me informed⊠mydocs@centurylink.net
good idea but Itâs called âprice fixingâ. Thatâs one of the reasons the NNA took their suggested rate off of their site⊠You will never accomplish your idea. WhyâŠbecause there are always someone who will accept the low fees, if nothing else than to get started.
Iâd like to be apart of your group anyways as I am sure we all have ideas that might help with the fees. Keep me informed⊠mydocs@centurylink.net
The lower the fee, the bigger the headache with last minute docs, fax backs, etc. No matter how many forums I read, I still end up learning from trial and error. I accept lower than desired fees only if the job is convenient. At the end of the day, we have to find a balance between paying our bills and securing our future in this industry.
This is true. I am a newer notary and signing agent, and I am more inclined to accept a lower fee for a package that is in my neighborhood, or even the small town where I live, than for signings I have to travel some distance to. However, I refuse to accept those lowball fees. I think the lowest Iâve seen come across my texts was a refi for something $45 or $50. I turned that one down quickly and said why.
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