hey there everyone I’m a new notary who recently got certified for loan signings I’m 25 and reside in San Antonio, tx. I’m trying to find some really good companies to sign on with so i can start making money to support my family since id like to do this full time. does anyone have any suggestions for me? any positive feedback is greatly appreciated.
Good morning and Merry Christmas - here are a few tips I put together for new folks:
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If you’re going to set yourself up as a business, go to irs.gov and get an EIN - takes 5 minutes - NEVER NEVER NEVER give your personal social security number to anyone - use your EIN for all your notary work, including using it to report your notary income on our tax return;
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Set up a separate checking/banking account for your notary income - keep your personal finances and your business finances separate;
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Get some business cards and start passing them out - generate general notary work (GNW) so you can get used to notarizing; make yourself a GREAT notary before working on becoming a good signing agent.
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Learn your notary laws - and know them cold - and never stray from them; (for example, we do not notarize jurats - the jurat is our certificate, the document is the document that people either acknowledge or swear to). And NEVER let anyone (hiring parties, personal citizens, etc) tell you it’s okay for you to do something that you are not authorized to do.
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Should you decide to move toward loan signings, get a good, solid education on mortgages (unless you already have a background in it) - do NOT jump into the deep end of the notary pool with what may be someone’s most important financial transaction of their life.
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Read here - there are numerous threads from beginners asking questions - and they will be very helpful to you.
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Make sure you have good, reliable equipment to carry out the work you want to do - good laser printer, reliable cell, laptop if needed, E&O insurance, etc
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There is a FB page specifically for Texas notaries - it’s run by Brenda Stone and a colleague of hers (the name escapes me) - find that page run by Brenda Stone and join it - she is brilliant and you will get good, Texas-specific information.
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Some of your loans in TX MUST, by law, be signed in an attorney’s office or title office - HELOCs and cash-outs and maybe others. Make sure you have office space lined up to be able to accommodate these types of loans as the cost of this will be included in your pricing.
10…Set up a business plan - know what you need to make to sustain both your personal life AND your business - and set your fees accordingly. You may want to find a local SCORE office to help you set up. Make sure your fees are set so you’re not operating in the red .
Be safe, be well, welcome and good luck
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