Low Ball Fees & FAQs

In FedEx yesterday and have a good relationship with Owner/Manager. He and two of his other staff told me that a mobile notary was just in the store and told them he is driving all over the place for $30 and he can’t keep doing this job. I said he should stop complaining because he created the situation by accepting low ball fees. Anyone in business operating at a loss is not wise. Until Notaries stop accepting low ball fees will continue to feed the problem. By the way, I was in the store laminating sheets to provide to senior full care facilities for FAQ regarding notarizations for POAs, Wills, etc. GNW is keeping me busy and I also email this sheet when I receive calls for these type of signings. Thinking outside of the box.

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There are desperate notaries taking $30-$40 fees for loan signings. Unbelievable.

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Low ball offers is all I get so haven’t worked much in the past year. Countering doesn’t help. You are fortunate to have a steady source of business. I think there are a lot of new younger notaries who are just happy to work because when I counter a text or email comes back that it is already taken. But agree- these low fees are absurd.

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At 73 years old I understand desperation ~ have seen a lot of that in my time on the planet. Good business sense is not to operate at a loss. The only reason I have a good supply of GNW is due to hard work and advertising. I relocated Sept 2022 after being in business since 2015 and had to establish myself in a new city and county in WA State. Networking on internet and Facebook Groups and basic word of mouth by others. Majority of my GNW comes from Google Search. Company name starts with “A” and locations is close to City Hall so puts me towards top of search. When work was slow also took exam to certify for Reverse Mtgs another hot item in the senior market. Good old fashioned hard work in progress. :grinning:

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That’s awesome. Keep up the good work!

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I met a kid that was doing that too. Traveling all over for $30.00. He was driving an older subaru and living at home with his parents. :pensive::pensive:Totally ridiculous!!! I made more than that back in 2005 when I was doing mobile signings. I will not do a signing for any less than $100.00 and I stay in a 10 mile radius of my home… I still get signings for $125.00 and I don’t even have to negotiate. Definitely is slow, but I’m doing other work now.

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You are absolutely correct on accepting low ball ratea, the scheduling companies are get the same notary rate from the signing agencies. Low ball offer will stop when we stop accepting them.

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I stopped accepting low fees. Nothing happened.

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Good for you for hitting the ground running! What a brilliant Idea about the FAQ Flyers. Low ball signings have gotten ridiculous. Back in the day a low ball offer was $65 for me those don’t come through at all anymore. Im still staying afloat with companies that pay decently but still same pay as 10 tears ago. With inflation the way it is, its going to get to the point where no one not even kids staying at home with the parents will be able to afford it because of the cost involved in the signings. After all of the costs of doing the job most end up making less than minimum wage. I’ve been doing a good bit of General Notary Work mostly Estate Planning some HELOCS and on a rare occasion a refi. I had to get a Part-Time Job in order to be able to continue making my mortgage payment. Its getting rough out there

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It is difficult and I’m fortunate Notary work is not my primary income and only my part time job. I used to watch business news on my TV but cut back on my Xfinity bill and got rid of premium stations. Now I watch business news on my laptop and other devices for free. Real estate news on several sources state refinancing and reverse mortgages will be increasing in 2023. Many Notaries will not be able to survive depression of RE business but when work returns (TBD), those of us that remain for the long haul will see an improvement. Wish those accepting lowball offers were enrolled in Notary Cafe Forum so they can read how they hurting Notaries all over the US.

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I am off for a few weeks for a partial knee replacement but still answering the phone. Yesterday (MLK), a woman called to have a notarization for a car title because she couldn’t get a free notarization at a bank which was closed for the holiday.
She called one notary and couldn’t believe his fee. I asked what it was and she said $20. I told her to grab it because if I were able to do it, my rate would have been triple that amount.
So if the other guy was willing to do it for $20, he can and I’ll continue to market heavily to repeat customers who pay my going rates.

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Can i ask what type of information you included in the FAQ sheet? Im in Virginia and may try that.
Thanks.

Sounds like he is doing loan modifications for Coast2Coast/Notary Dash. You have 10 days to complete so I accept a few to do while I’m on the road to a “real” closing. They’re take less than 5 minutes and 12-15 pages. I call them bubble gum money. I hope that’s not all he’s doing.

You’re absolutely correct, when you attempt to negotiate the signing fee most oftentimes the signing is reassigned to someone else. Another thing is, how can you really know what to charge when you don’t have all of the signing details. Many times after the documents are sent to you. It’s wY more work than you initially expected. They will also tell you that it’s one type of signing and then you get the documents and you see that have tricked you into a different signing type. Real shady.

Had offer for 12.00 auto sign. 20 miles away

Simple one page sheet. Top of page has my personal logo and contact information. 1st section service days & hours. 2nd section brief description of locations services provided. 3rd section Per WA State law ID requirements. 4th Section General Notary Services ~ list types of services, Witness info., fees, mileage fees if applicable (I discount for seniors & military within 15 miles). Fees for title or lender property pkgs, reverse mortgages, etc. Include brief experience history in this section. Last Section: list license information and certifications. Seniors especially find this information helpful. Hope this helps :slightly_smiling_face:

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I understand your perspective on low ball offers, but every Notary Public is different, and so are their circumstances. I accepted the low rate of $30 recently. Here’s why. It was a 26 page document, I did not print the docs on my office printer (so I didn’t pay for paper and toner and use of my printer), the signing location was less than 5 miles from my home office, I scheduled the signing at a time when I could pick up my grocery order down the street from the signing on my way home, and I was already out and about prior to the signing. This was a win-win situation for me.

I don’t like low ball offers either, but I understand why some accept them, including me. The young man who was at FedEx complaining about running around for $30 should not complain because he accepted the fee.

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Congratulations son being so productive in your work. I could definitely learn something from you!

Business won’t improve until interest rates go down and people start refinancing again. When that will happen is anyone’s guess but I wouldn’t expect it anytime soon. Yes, this is the only industry that I can think of where pay hasn’t increased in the last several years. Rates are essentially the same as when I started doing this in 2014. Expenses, as we well know, have skyrocketed. There’s no way you can depend on making a living as a loan signing agent. Fortunately for me, it’s not my main source of income so I can deal with it, but I would suggest that we all should be looking for alternative ways to make money, because this just isn’t cutting it.

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There aren’t enough of NSAs refusing to accept low ball fees. I suspect the market is still saturated.

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