I know you asked AR - but honestly don’t work for peanuts.
This is a bad time to getting started in the Loan Signing business but the slowdown is palpable everywhere, not to mention the dramatic decrease in fees. Plus the requests that come in but are cancelled in an hour. The signing companies have too much overhead to survive. Better to have a relationship with a few escrow agencies.
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Absolutely counter every offer! It’s just way too easy for hiring party to start offerings basically ‘below cost’ because they stand a good chance in reeling in a newb in this way oversaturated field. If you really want to donate your time, don’t make lenders your favorite charity. In this current almost dead market, if you’re busy, you’re working for peanuts. This is about the worst time to ‘get back into’ this field. You won’t believe what people are working for while they fool themselves into believing that once they’ve proven themselves, the big bucks will come.
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Unfortunately, that is a ‘tall tale’ that is told by many schedulers & Signing Services [SSs].
Plus, they’re laughing all the way to their bank while the ‘unsuspecting’ Professional Signing Agents [PSAs] who believed the ‘tall tale’ are going bankrupt . . .
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best line of the day 
If you really want to donate your time, don’t make lenders your favorite charity.
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NotaryCalvin,
First of all, welcome. Glad you could join us.
I am not a new notary or loan signing agent, but I did move from one state to another in late September of 2024. What I am seeing is that the signing companies are heavily shopping their orders around for the lowest price. In fact, I have signings being offered to me that are past the date of the scheduled signing or the scheduled time of the signing. I have to call these signing companies on a regular basis and say here is my price, and I obviously can’t do this as scheduled because you are past the date or time of signing. It happens to me 8-10 times a week.
My best piece of advice is to know what your fixed costs are (paper, toner, equipment, supplies, car expenses) and then figure out what you need to make a profit. There are several notary billing programs such as VenBooks or Notary Gadget that can help you figure out true costs and expense profiles.
Don’t be afraid to counter offer either. Ask for what you need so that you are making a profit. Be open and flexible to signing times and dates, and communication is key. Keep the signing companies informed of what is happening with their files (confirm appointment message, estimate time of scanbacks, drops to shipping company, etc).
Hope this helps
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@brucem1213 Excellent! 
For those who have not yet created their Schedule of Fees, please Review the following thread:
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This is a loooong thread and I confess I didn’t read most of it, so forgive me if my comments are redundant to my colleagues. I’ll keep this short. Being a notary is NOT going to provide the financial remuneration you read about in the training ads. Notary is, in this environment, a part-time, supplementary income to the household. I do this full-time in a large geographic region with endless signings that come my way. The average fee is about $80 and I don’t have to drive very far to earn it. Typical package is 125 pages X 2 with about 6-8 notarizations. Meh. . .
I do ok but it’s NOT making a living. My input is, don’t think you can rely on notary as a way to make a living. You make some extra money and that’s about it, kids. Notary is an avocation and that’s probably all it was ever meant to be. The days of raising a family and having two cars in the driveway on the salary of a grocery store clerk are over. Most jobs are part-time and pay $18-22 an hour unless you have a bachelor’s or you know someone. The juice ain’t worth the squeeze for most notaries. Sad but true.
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@Bobby-CA Excellent Summation! Thank You 
Thank you. New and finding how much the process is subsidized is crazy. For now I am just taking what I can to gain enough experience in the field. I am hoping to do at least 10 a month over the next 3 months then I should be able to pushback more or be more selective. Thanks.
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The mileage deductions reduce your taxable income not the a direct reduction of you tax liability. Any reduction in tax liability is an indirect side affect.
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Servicelink used to pay me $100 for a a refi, now they’re offering me $60, take it or leave it🥺
Concur! 
percent Yep. True. I’ve been a mobile notary for 20 years now and the fees seem to have stayed the same, at least from the signing services. Escrow and Title direct are offering a bit more, so that’s good. And those are the clients we want to concentrate on, right?
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Yes, I agree 100%. Getting hired directly by lenders or title/escrow is ideal. Skipping middleman means getting paid faster too.
