I want to take a moment to acknowledge the notaries here on Notary cafe before us who spoke out when signing companies paid $150–$250 per signing. They saw what was coming and now we’re here facing fees as low as $40–$50 per signing. That’s not enough to run a signing agent business.
Signing companies are lying to us. They say there are too many notaries and that we need to lower our fees to compete. That’s just not true. The real problem is that signing services are underbidding each other while making money off our hard work.
We have the power not them. Without signing agents they don’t have a business. If we all refuse low fees they will have no choice but to pay us what we are worth.
Please do not accept low fees. Spread the word. Stand strong. We set the standard not them
Very much agree with your statement and I refuse to accept low fees. Unfortunately, many newbie Notaries accepting low fees. Some newbies on this Forum state to get experience and that response is not good enough. Also unfortunately lot of the newbies don’t read this Forum. Keep spreading the word ~ other Notaries in every state also comment the same on this Forum regarding low fees. Sharing my comment from WA. Providing state of origin is helpful when placing comments.
Agreed 100%. Let’s not also forget all of the unethical practices by signing companies. Or unethical practices by not all but some escrow offices. When they make mistakes and want to send Signing agents back out on their own dollar. The treatment that we endure as signing agents is horrible. On numerous occasions now, and I mean numerous, I have gotten grievances on my scorecard with mortgage connect. I have audited those grievances and found that none of them were correct. This has happened on a few different instances where they are applying false grievances to my scorecard and when I brought it up to Vendor Management, their reply was “what is the big deal if you’re still receiving work” which is absolutely unprofessional.
I’ve also dealt with unethical practices, particularly from Vendor Management at ServiceLink, which I would have never expected because my first four years working for ServiceLink, was great. I had great support from Vendor Management. I enjoyed and took pride in contracting work for them. But today is a new day And things have definitely changed. Going to an appointment for $40-$50. It’s just absolutely ridiculous. How do you even sustain a small business?
Additionally, I had been conducting direct work for an escrow officer out of the San Jose, California FIDELITY office. We had a decent relationship for about a year until one day she (escrow officer) Contacted me for a same-day order with just a few hours I obliged. When I got to her appointment, the client then wanted to change locations. And then when we got to Starbucks, he felt it appropriate to identify himself with a picture of his id in his phone (can’t make this stuff up) . I professionally explained to him (client) that I would have to adjourn the appointment until he was appropriately ready to complete our transaction. Since then, I have not gotten any work from the San Jose FIDELITY office. Just shows the kind of integrity that these people operate with.
The point of why I mentioned this is to be aware of the people we are working with. The people that operate with zero integrity and care.
I don’t take any of these low ball offers. But in my area someone is snatching them up for as little as $60. I think it also creates this fear for agents that if they don’t grab something low they just won’t work. Today is month end and there were lots of offers to schedule today last Thursday and Friday. Those notaries don’t realize they would have been offered Sunday or early this morning for at least double what they accepted.
It’s another reason closings are being offered a week in advance. Because someone will accept a fee that I will not. And that’s okay because those people will learn when they go broke. And there will be more work down the pipeline. The hardest thing is holding your line and not getting sucked into believing you won’t get any jobs if you don’t grab them for the low fees being offered.
As I often recommend, create your own Schedule of Fees that will support & sustain your business. Honor yourself & your professionalism/professional services by adhering to your Schedule of Fees.
If you need a little guidance creating a Schedule of Fees for your business, here is a thread I created with Guidelines to utilize:
Exactly! I don’t get how they even start just the basic supplies cost a lot. At these low rates they’re basically running a charity. No way they’re making a profit. They won’t last long but in the meantime they’re dragging the industry down. Gotta keep pushing the message
I hear you 100%. These legacy companies have changed and not in a good way. They make mistakes and expect us to clean up their mess on our own dime.
And these fees are a complete joke. No one running a real business can survive on $40-$50 per signing. They know it but they keep throwing crumbs hoping we’ll take the bait.
At the end of the day we’ve got to stand our ground. If we keep accepting low fees they’ll keep serving them. We know our worth and shouldn’t let these companies treat us like the help
I agree %. I look at the closing disclosures and see that they’re taking bids for 160 to 180. So by the time they offer the job to a notary it’s lower what we are use to, paying us 60 to 80 for the assignment. Leaving notaries now room fo negotiate.
The unfortunate thing is that I heard veterans of the notary community are the ones who’s telling the newbies to take the low balling jobs to get experience. That’s where it needs to stop.
If that’s occurring, certainly it should STOP immediately.
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There is only one training organization that advocates to take low-ball offers, but that’s an organization most professional signing agents [PSAs] DO NOT agree with nor advocate for participation within it.
Angelique, I can’t imagine where you heard that misinformation. Certainly not here! Experienced or not, we all get the same offer when a platform is used. Seems they start out at a third, sometimes half of what it should be. You always have to counter at a profitable fee.
The above excerpted range mirrors the initial Signing Order [SO] offers I receive as well . . .
If you’re going to lose money accepting the SO at a low-ball rate, why accept it? Some say: “To gain experience.”
Well, it’s your business. If you choose to accept a low-ball Fee for a SO & you lose money, your choice.
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It’s important to remember that it’s truly a different mindset from that of an employee.
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As I often express, memorize/reference your personalized Schedule of Fees & counter-offer with a Fee in the range that ensures your business will survive.
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NOTE: If you haven’t yet created your own personalized Schedule of Fees, here is a thread I’ve created that contains the Guidelines to support you in creating one tailored to your professional services:
I resigned from Service Link. I was taking it personally when they lowballed and then it was crickets when I counter-offered - plus their platform sucks.
I still accept texts from Signing Order, but I’m not sure why I bother.
Can I assume that signing services get a flat rate of say, $200 and then offer us $50 and keep the rest? If so, that makes sense. However, why do we keep getting new signing services? Do they not understand that it is us notaries who make them look good? If they could share their money, they could develop a good relationship with GREAT notaries who don’t need 15 pages of notary instructions.
Ive had offers as low as $20! On one low offer i accepted because it was close, i have yet to get paid. (Notaries in action). Our whole country is in a huge mess. Rich get richer thing. I just spent a lot if time arguing with an insurance company. Long story, but it just further reinforces the mess. I do photos for banks as a real estate agent. A full valuation used to pay $125 during the real estate mess in early 2000s. Now they offer $40. I saw a post saying our legislators should wear jackets like Nascar, or bowling shirts advertising their sponsors! Our business is at the bottom of the pecking order. Rome fell for less. Im in denver and get signing orders in areas i will not go to. I think i live in an area in will not go to. And never after dark!
I have concentrated on what this market bears by way of fees. I counter with fees that are regularly paid. There are still new notaries coming in or accepting less than that. But I sort of know the sweet spot for fees. And I don’t charge as much as many here have said should be charged. So I don’t know what I can say. I counter almost 100% of the blasts. Except for a few schedulers who will reach me direct at my fees. I have a fee schedule up on Signing Order. And it indicates increases based on location, drive time, page count. inclement weather. I have a price sheet. You really have to know what’s going on in your county and surrounding areas. I was lucky to have a mentor with over 15 years of experience who knew and shared what average fees were. But those averages have dropped. It’s a fine line to have to walk. Hope it gets better where you are.
I have to laugh at that because one time I accepted one without my contacts in and thought it was $200.00. It was not on a platform. I was scanning them the documents back and looked down and saw it said $20.00. I had to have a conversation with them to let them know how I felt. They increased it by $80.00. They know $20 is not worth the time, print, scan back and you want me to take to FedEx
It can be frustrating to try and get experience when you’re new. If there was a better process (or any process) to ‘intern’ the newbies, so to speak, we’d see less of this.
But yeah, they take the lowballs out of fear - and that can be a valid fear in areas where there are a lot of notaries. I’ve just started declining bad offers. With one signing services that was acting very shady, I had to get really firm about telling them not to contact me (they’ve been mentioned here repeatedly for non-payment), and finally had to block the number.
I have started to feel like the Vince Vaugh character in Mr & Mrs Smith where he says he doesn’t get out of bed for under a half a million - although my numbers are different.
percent!
Concur 
WoW! 
