Sometimes being a loan signing agent can make you question your mental sanity. Monday a signing service paid $165 to complete a hybrid loan assignment that consisted of printing 34 pages and mileage 8 miles. Field Choice called me today, offering a hybrid signing assignment paying $80 with an unknown page count, and 18 miles one way trip. Of course I countered with an offer to do the assignment for $170. I heard the lady almost choked, responding the client couldn’t meet my fee. We mutually agreed to end the call. I probably could have gotten the assignment for around $100, if I was willing to discount my value by 58%. Oh well, no worries because I am currently busy completing my Ahip certification for the Medicare open enrollment season. My time is valuable and my experienced as a signing agent has a value. I know, if one company will pay me $165 to complete an similar assignment. Field Choice can afford to pay equally. I know other companies can afford to do the same. Lets be honest, mortgage loans are a very lucrative business. Let’s make some real money…
Another POV: Our fee is recouped by Lender with just a portion of the very first payment’s interest.
So true! If a person in our field really consider the follower concepts. Please allow me the benefit of keeping things very simply. Consider this analogy, the financial industry, such as the banks, insurance, and investment companies have two buckets. One bucket shows the declared rate interests.they will pay to their depositors/investors. The other bucket shows the interest rates financial institutions will charge borrowers’ for credit. Bucket number one interest rates are very low, while bucket number two has a high lending rate. The difference between those two buckets are the financial institutions gross profits. Understand the financial institutions have figured the loan signing fees into the costs of their loans. Here’s my hypothesis, I define the problem is the lack of knowledge and the unwillingness of the majority of loan signing agents standing their ground on signing fees. If more loan signing agents knew their true value brought to the signing table. We all collectively will earn higher signing fees.
Yep…" the problem is the lack of knowledge and the unwillingness of the majority of loan signing agents standing their ground on signing fees".
We should read & heed: a rising tide raises all boats.
Wow…here’s a first - I disagree with Arichter on this “lender recouping fee with first interest payment” - that payment to lender (unless hired direct by lender) has nothing to do with notary’s fee - that’s a title expense that is not recouped other than collection of fees at closing as part of title’s closing fee
P.S. Edited to fix last part - “their closing fee” to “title’s closing fee” - for clarity.
These people are hillarious
I am totally aware of the idiocy of the statement. It’s just a weird POV. Sorta like we are paid the same fee whether we’re signing a $75K loan or a $750K one, unlike the TCs or the LO.
Yes, you bring up a valid point. But if our fees were based on a sliding scale compensation model like the TCs or the LOs. Would such a compensation model cause a conflict with the Notary Public/Loan Signing Agent’s ability to stay impartial in the signing process?
We’re also paid the same fee for 200 pages as for 50 pages, for driving 200 miles as opposed to 5 miles, for 1 signer as opposed to 4, etc, etc, etc. It’s a “one price fits all” scenario and up to us whether we want to accept their terms or not. I can’t remember even one situation where I was asked “How much do you want to do this signing”? Well…maybe a few over the years, but it’s rare.
Agree with everyone on this post. I will not accept lowball fees when I’m getting paid $200 to $300 for GNW and don’t have to print any docs. Some of my clients still offer $125 to $150 for pkgs under 50pg within 10 miles ~ works for me. Frequency of GNW is 3 to 5 times a month which is ok for side hustle since I’m retired. Was going to stop signings end of 2024 but will see what happens “if” 2025 changes come into play. Think interest rates, politics, insurance and climate change will also be deciding factors. Will travel a bit work is slow ~ heading to NC end of October.
Hi, I have a standard package for a loan, it includes distance, page count and number of signers. If any of the conditions exceeds this I negotiate the fee. If I am bidding on an offer I get them half of the time. If I am being called directly, I can usually negotiate equitable compensation.
What burns me up is at closing the borrower’s are paying up to $450 in “mobile notary” fees presented to them on the Alta and then look at us saying “wow I paid you well” when in reality we don’t see a fraction of that. I feel signing companies should not be allowed to pay us anything less than each mandated state charge for a general notary assignment.
In NC, if I have a package with 100 pages and 15 of those need notarizing, with 2 signatures per page, that is 300 min for general notary because in NC we charge $10 per notarized signature.
I totally understand how you feel. In Florida, we can only charge $10 per notarial act performed not how many notarized signatures. When I first started being a loan signing agent, I asked a company how they determined their fee, they conveyed our fees were discounted due to the volume of assignments we will get from them. Of course, everything is negotiable, unfortunately in today’s climate we have very little leverage due to the fact we are in a very competitive market.
Yes, we’ve all heard this “tall tale” from schedulers over the years.
Only the inexperienced will fall for this line/lie . . .
In general, any business entity that advances this “Sales Pitch” is simply prevaricating.
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Each Signing Order [SO] has definitive out-of-pocket expenses & those expenses are certainly NOT discounted by volume.
Once the novice Professional Signing Agent [PSA] has compiled & completed their List of Fees for the professional services they will be providing, => the stark evidence is profoundly apparent. VOLUME DOESN’T REDUCE THE OUT-OF-POCKET EXPENSES.
So, their statement has no basis in fact & is completely inaccurate.
CAVEAT VENDITOR
Total agree with you. If we were performing the work direct as general notary work, our fees would be much higher.
I can’t even tell you how true this…
Common Sense prevails once again!
Had to check the dictionary for “prevaricating”.
This forum always grows one’s knowledge, “a mind is a terrible thing to waste”. That’s why I joined Notary Cafe and always read various posts. There’s always something to learn and hidden golden nuggets for business growth and development.
You are absolutely correct. I used to work for two mortgage brokers and I learned that a lot of fees that are listed in the Good Faith Estimate go back to the brokers. It’s essentially double dipping. That why it infuriates me when title/signing companies want to low ball us.
I counter almost every offer presented because what they present is crazy. To offer $50 to travel 1.5 hours for a buyer’s packet that you have to print and scan back and you need a witness doesn’t make sense.