Even the Title companies have started to offer signings for less. Sometimes it is because there is less work involved, like an all cash purchases, but sometimes it looks completely arbitrary to reduce the fee. Are these savings being passed to our signers? Every once in a while a notary is called for a redraw and has to take one for the team. I’ve taken two recently where I had to drive up to their office in the next county and get the documents signed in mine and return the documents. The only way this will work is if there is no urgency and I can dovetail the trips with another one in that area otherwise I couldn’t break even on those assignments.
When I first started out as a NSA in 2017 I took $45 Helocs and $65 refis with full scanback. I couldn’t work otherwise. After I built up some experience, I started asking for more money and sometimes would get up to $65 for the Helocs and $75 for the refis. At that time landing a $90 refi seemed a real coup and the $100 buyer packages were manna from heaven. The companies that offered the low rates have 1) morphed into a new company or 2) gone out of business. The one company that is currently offering $30 for loan mods used to offer them for $25 so the $5 difference makes it possible to break even on those signings as long as they are within 10 miles of my base. Times have changed, inflation has made everything more expensive from the gas for the car to the price of the ink and toner which affects the bottom line. Still, there are ads for people to join the fray. They will pay big money to buy a ticket on a ship that has already sailed.
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I’ve seen those too and if you don’t take the offer the fee goes up $10 each time they offer it again. So the $62 can reach $82, $100. It must be their scheduling software.
Lol they never reach past $72 in my area. Some folks are working for free! 
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@Bobby-CA Out of pure curiosity, if a job came to you for $60 with scan backs at the house across the street from you, would you not take it? If not, why? Curious how you would not make a profit (might be a learning curve for me here). And if they did take 45 days to pay, how does that eliminate such profit for that particular assignment?
I think notaries are selling themselves short if they take assignments for less than 125. All in all you spend 2-3 hours plus cost of printing and cost of car maintenance. For me 125 is the bear minimum and that price is only offered to my regulars companies since they give me volume.
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Your feedback on your fee is appreciated however you should keep in mind that not every area leans that way in pricing. Everyone has the right to determine what their minimum is and as an independent business owner, I set my minimum which I controll. If you have the business to support your price structure you are then in a great market that can support that… others like myself are not as lucky.
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Not Bobby4913 but no, I would not take it with the above requirements. Here’s why
Print time and cost, signing time, scanback time…but for me AND THEN a 30-mile roundtrip to drop the package.
Won’t do it for $60
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I’d take the job as you’ve described it. Waiting 45 days is just a painful part of taking low paying jobs, that’s all. You’re right, no effect on profitability.
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@Bobby-CA and that would cover your time and travel to drop the package? Do you live next door to, or across the street from, a FedEx shipper?? 
Not meaning to be sarcastic…but umm…well, sorry if it did come out that way
I live quite near a FedEx drop store. I go there almost daily anyway. Not a biggie for me.
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As a notary we should not disrespecte ourselves and our job. We must not take the low offering companies. If we get united, and not take the jobs that offer less than $100 they will reconsider. I was working with a company like that on a volume but decided not to, and that was the best decisions i have ever made. My signings are not less than $100 and if the package is big i ask for more, and if there is scan back i ask for additional dollars, and do the negotiation upfront, by letting them known that.
This is my job not a side job and i treat it as a company that needs to make money, and not just survive.
If they don’t understand it i rather not work with tham. They are charging the client/borrower/seller, over $175 -$300 but they don’t want to pay the notary who is there to hear and face the client. In my experience, i think we are more than just to notarize signatures, we are there to bring peace and calm in an frasterattion the borrower has gone through before we get there. They tell me all about it, and just like a sponge i listen, and try to clean the messy situation and bring peaceful closure to the transaction. So this is a skill we have, and we must not sale it cheaply. Don’t take cheap signings. Tgat is the key.
Kind regards, my fellow notaries. Grace
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Wow!!! I wouldn’t do a signing for less than $150. I do however charge $50-$75 for single document signings.
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I have to respectfully disagree. Even if it is area based after doing all the math anything lower than 110 means you are better off finding something else to do. There is shortage of labor everywhere and its time to make more money in other parts of the economy.
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My fee is the same thing for the same thing every time - if you don’t like my fee which I feel is very fair, find someone else to do your job. You get what you pay for. That is called business folks!!!
There are some companies that will not work with me and some I choose not to work with. No problem!
I accept that you pay your notaries less than they are worth and I don’t want to work with you anyway.
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The dangerous thing about making a blank statement like that is not taking into consideration that everyone has different needs and expenses which they need to individually calculate what they need to achieve their financial goals. If i charge a min of $100 which gives me a profit of $75 per assignment for example because i live in an area where the cost of living is low and i have overall lower expenses to operate…and you charge $125 with the same $75 profit because you live in an area where your expenses are higher and your cost of living is higher… why should i keep my fee at $125 and loose out on work where i can still achieve my goals… im sorry but years in Banking and Finance has taught me many things and one thing i learned is that making $75 in profit is better than making $0
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Thats okay you keep your min fee where it needs to be and i will keep mine at the end of the day we all need to decide for ourselves what our profit margin needs to be in order to be successful in this business
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You are doing an awesome job keeping your cost down to $25. I guess your financial background helps 
BTW 125 is my minimum fee. 135 to 140 average. I cant keep my margins as low.
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I understand and yes i have learned alot over the 18 plus years in finance… no debts and shopping for supplies on sale and using coupons and rewards points definitely helps in driving my cost of living low. Plus have a second income source takes away the stress of having to bear the daily living expenses on just LSA work
The numbers I provided was an example only. I operate my business on an average profit margin of 70- 75% and make adjustments monthly to make sure I stay within that margin.
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I still get $130-$150 for ORT. Those are all direct calls however.
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