Hello all. I’ve been having this happen a lot lately. I will arrive to the appointment on time and I/lthe lender/title will have already communicated to the signers what items and documents to have ready.
However, when I get there, they are not prepared, or one of the signers has not arrived yet or they don’t have proof of the wiring funds and need to go to the bank. (I had one family actually ask me to come with them to the bank, it took two hours for them to get the money from the four banks they needed to visit).
Another situation I had recently was a signing scheduled at a local café. However, when we arrived, there were no tables available. The signer simply said “Oh, we can hang around until a table becomes available, or we can go look for another place“. While I did not have another appointment, nor was I in a rush, and actually liked these people, I didn’t say anything. However, I don’t appreciate it when lack of preparation on the part of the signer extends the time that I must be on-site and takes up what would be my free time and illicit calls asking about how the signing is going.
How have any of you handled these situations, where the signers are the cause of a significant delay of 30 minutes or more?
I have gone to the bank with a signer once or twice after the signing was completed, to get a cashier’s check but never before the signing. As for being on time, I will wait up to 30 minutes past the appointment time for the borrower to show up. Only on rare occasions have I met someone at a “sit down” restaurant where you might have to wait for a table. It’s usually at a Starbucks or McDonalds or similar type place. The point is that I agree that it’s terribly rude on the signer’s part and extremely annoying to have to deal with the kind of things you’re talking about. On the other hand, if you leave without completing the signing, you will only get paid 50% at most and will likely either have to make another trip or remove yourself from the signing. So, if at all possible, I’ll bite the bullet and deal with it as it is presented to me if I don’t have another appointment I need to get to.
communicate everything with the hiring party\title company or signing service. If you’re having to go out of your way significantly ask for a fee raise
Never, ever a coffee shop. It is too public for sensitive information. Try to find office space, if possible, for use. Often real-estate offices have rarely used conference rooms. Or a church. If it is loan related. Use the bank.
I have had this situation at least twice, despite reinforcing the lenders request to the signers upon confirming the appointment. The first thing I have done is be sure to check off the items presented. Sometimes the items have a somewhat different name than what the lender is calling it on your list to retrieve.
Then we get the lender, EO, etc. on the phone. Everytime this works. The lender would ask if I could email the retrieved documents. Anything that the signer didn’t have they would instruct them to get it to them asap; and for me to send what was gathered with the package. I would be thanked and assured that my payment would be on time because they gratefully appreciated me calling. Note that this usually happened with loan applications.
Summary: 1) reinforce/go over list of documents to be retrieved with signer upon confirming appointment. 2) collect items first and call lender if any are missing. The lender will instruct you on next steps. Remember the signer was already informed on what to have ready for you to deliver back with the package.
I would never wait 4 hours while signers got their act together. I would call who hired me and explain my time is valuable and that I will send an invoice for 50% because I was there on time with documents in hand.
I was given an assignment for next week where the signer wants to meet at a Starbucks at 8am. Which is insane. I will go but if there’s no place to sign - we’ll have a problem. Some Starbuck locations have meeting rooms. But signing on one of their tiny tables with morning traffic? I have already told Title it’s not the best idea. We’ll see what happens. I’ve done several appointments at Starbucks but this is a very busy location at 8am. Maybe they are a manager and have access to an office. I hope so. For what you describe I contact who hired me and if I have other appointments I explain it needs to be re-scheduled. If I have time that day I will offer to do it especially if I have documents printed. But I have stopped letting signers jerk me around.
