Should signing companies,at least cover 10.00 for each acknowledgment in a signing packet?
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Probably should , but it has never been calculated like that for LSA work. Time, mileage, printing costs, labor, and a whole lot of miscâbut very real expenses must be worked into your fee, while pay/notarization is not. Probably because every state has different allowable fee structures.
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Itâs the entirety of the job that is quoted, all inclusive, with any added services required ⊠Scanning, waiting for docs, farther travel than disclosed, larger package than disclosed, etc etc
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@jmorales1203 Well, maybe . . . but that currently isnât the method utilized for Fee Calculation of Signing Agent orders.
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As a business owner, youâll need to create two documents that will serve as your List of Fees for:
- Signing Agent Orders (see detailed information below)
- General Notary Work [GNW] - based on the pricing for your region that is a result of your own local research
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In general, the industry standard for subcontracted Signing Agent orders is that each Professional Signing Agent [PSA] creates a List of Fees based on their own calculation.
If you need some assistance in that regard, please reference this thread which provides a Guideline for Creating Your List of Fees:
In what capacity we are considered when we are working real estate signings?
Notary Public or Loan signing agent?
please enlighten me!
Both, but the laws and practices of a Notary come 1st. when it comes to dating and certificates.
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Of course, but there is always a cheaper wâ out there!
Dan, as a Notary Public, in my State, we are supposed to charge $10:00 per notarizing a signature so in a typical refinance signing with 9 Acknowledgements and 5 Jurats we can charge $140.00 plus $30:00 per printing 240 pages, (120 for the signing and 120 for the borrower) $10:00 in Gas, and $120.00 for travel to, and time spent with the signers, making a grand total of $300:00. that is my standard fees for such a signing.
As a NSA, we are offered for the same signing if we are lucky $150.00 for some Title Companies.
And for the same signing we are offered $60:00 - $90:00 for most of those SS entities preying on newbies and desperate Notaries.
So I am going back to my previous question:
In what capacity we are considered when we are working Real Estate signings?
Notary Public or Loan Signing Agent? in my point of view we cannot be both,
as a Notary Public my minimum fee is $300:00
as a NSA, LSA my minimum fee is $150:00, if I can get it!
Comments please!
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Depends on who hired you and what you are willing to accept. All Loan Signings are real estate related.
History Lesson: Both LSA and NSA are interchangeable terms created by âjust folksâ. Believe the former was first used by Loan Signing System and (those of you who were around thenâhelp me out here with names) the latter was created by a woman who invented the Signing Registry(?)âŠa DirectoryâŠin very late 1990âs or early 2000âs. Artificial Intelligence tells me that was Victoria Ring (?), but I donât think thatâs right.
This was the beginning of the ever-lower-interest-rate due to the de-regulation of lenders (who prior to this, could not cross state & even âsometimesâ county lines) refinancing âboom yearsâ and also close in time to the creation of 123Notary and even Notary Cafe, Notary Rotary and the long oob GoMobileNotaryâŠall of which are Directories (Lists) of Notariesâand love 'em for THE FORUMS!â who wanted to do Loan Signings for TITLE companiesâwho, prior to this, spent ENORMOUS amounts of time trying to find a Notary Public who would get a Loan package signed for an out-of-area/state Lender. (Side Note: In the early 1990âs, loan docs were overnighted to the Notary; mid-90s saw the start of SS who tried to send docs to ânot many Notaries with laser printer capabilityâ via the âdial-upâ internet using various (AWFUL) viewersâRakis & Swiftview are 2 programs I rememberâŠthink a few even tried faxing themâŠas the pkgs. were MUCH smaller. Back then the NNA wasnât involvedâbut saw the boom happening & purchased the Signing Registry & weaseled (possibly lobbied for laws) their way into this field.
This is my recollection of events as a small town/rural/low population-demand r.e. agent, who also had a notary commission and was the TC-preferred solution. Am pretty sure larger city notaries have a much better story as to how they got into this field. CHIME IN!
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@mannie1950 going to address a couple things you stated:
Not quite - I bet if you look at your handbook youâll see, not that you are âsupposedâ to charge $10 per notarizing a signature, but that you are allowed to charge âno more thanâ $10 per notarizing a signature. In all honesty, you can charge nothing at all for notarizing if you wish.
Second -
Yes, you CAN be both - look at it this simple way - when you are getting documents signed that require notarization, you are wearing your notary public hat. When getting the remainder of the loan docs signed and done correctly, youâre wearing your loan signing agent hat. Yes, you are both when accommodating loan signings.
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Like I said, when you notarize you are considered a notary, and are subject to the laws of your state, as for the rest in a real estate signing, you are considered an NSA. Put in another fashion, lenders/title/closing companies donât make law, you are always subject to notary law when you notarize! It doesnât matter what type of documents you are dealing with. By the way, it you screw up your notarized documents you can be sued as a Notary.
Itâs Kathy Poston who started the Signing Registry that was bought out by NNA.
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Signing companies and we notaries, as business owners, should honor whatever our individual mutual agreements are with our clients.
Yes, things were simpler 20 years ago, when all it took was a phone call.
No apps, no (or not many) signing companies, no nameless, faceless interactions, no made up âcertificationsâ and âsix-figure notaryâ claims, fewer invasive, redundant background checks, etc. This was a time before the proliferation of the on-line charlatans charging the vulnerable for endless âtrainingsâ and lists of companies which supposedly were hiring notaries. It was a time of relationships; true business relationships where trust and communication and competency were held in high regard.
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People love âtitlesâ, definition âa name that describes someoneâs position or jobâ. Isnât it amazing on how many titles are available for people that does the same functions and adhere to the same satutures? The only difference between Notary Public, Notary Signing Agent, or Loan Signing Agent is the specialized training courses to handle loan mortgage documents. Itâs all a marketing ploy that been sold to Notary Publics by individuals who market training courses to make money and companies that get to structure their fees and increase their profits. As for being in a certain capacity, there really isnât one. Allow me to finish, if a individual brought a Notary Public their loan documents for notarization, that work would be considered general notary work. But if a company hire the same Notary Public that happened to completed the specialized training courses to notarize that same individualâs loan documents. That same Notary Public now becomes known aa a NSA or LSA, but you know what else happens? The NSAs or LSAs loses money, because they are hired by a company that doesnât pay by per notarial act. Whereas the Notary Public can make more money, because by law they can charge the allowable fees by most states. Just my opinion on this topic.
You seem to be contradicting yourself here. The notary may charge âallowable feesâ in any case. As for the perception of losing money, thatâs entirely the choice of the notary as a possible result of negotiation with the hiring party.
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I respect your opinion of you thinking that I am contradicting myself. Wouldnât it be great if we were paid for the actual number of the notarizations in these loan packages, plus the additional services we performed? I always negotiate my fees for service. Most times, some hiring company and I will find a win win position for us both and agreed to a fee. In todayâs climate, there are certain companies where the fee gap is just too wide for us to negoiate mutually. These companies know they have the leverage, they can find LSAs, who are willing to accept their low fees. Thatâs okay too, itâs the history and nature of being in a capitalistic marketplace.
I, too, negotiate. And, no, negotiation is definitely not an option with some companies. I believe that it all comes down to relationships, which arenât necessarily easy to form with some agencies, but possible nevertheless. Have you noticed that the low-ballers often need to send out a second notary just for a deed (or a trust cert., or a _____) which, I assume, wasnât executed properly the first time? Why donât they agree to pay a fair fee the first time to prevent such an occurrence? Iâll never know.
You are a Notary and as such subject to the fee limitations as specified by the state for notarizing documents, further working as a NSA does not mean you are not a notary. As a mobile notary/NSA you can add extra fees for travel, document printing etc, in the case of working as a independent contractor NSA you are hired to do specified work & notarizations. You cannot open an office and charge extra for walk-in notarizations unless permitted by law. In Mobile, AL, UPS stores were charging 4 times the charge specified by law, then I noticed it changed and now they are sticking to the $10 maximum fee. I suspect the announcement by the probate court that they had set up new methods for people to complain about Notary misconduct may have been instrumental in they changing their fees.
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