I just wanted to warn other Notary Signing Agents, especially those in the Austin, TX area, that Spark Title does not pay. I accepted a signing from Kim Case, the Branch Manager and Escrow officer at Spark Title on May 22. As of today, July 8th, she has not paid and she has ignored all of my phone calls, voice mail messages and emails asking for status of payment. Kim Case located me through a service called Zig Sig, Zig Sig is not a signing company, it is just a platform that title companies can use to find notaries directly. I have been unable to find corporate office information for Spark Title, it appears that it is a small one office title company. Her full information is listed below:
J Kim Case
Branch Manager/Sr Escrow Officer
License #1880327 / Spark License #2311791
9050 N Capital of Texas Hwy |Bldg 3 Suite 255 | Austin, TX 78759
888-282-3163-Ext102 - office | 512-798-3199 direct line | 888-600-1048 - fax
kim.case@sparktitle.com
If you get a request from Spark Title you would be wise to refuse. I am in the process of filing complaints with TDI (the body that insures escrow officers) the TX AG and the TX SOS.
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That unusual for any title company.
Here how to get paid:
I’m sure you have a copy of the docs you had signed with the customer.
Go to the CD (last page), and get the LO name and phone number, call the LO, get the processors name and the lender, Call that person. Tell the processor that your not getting paid by the Title company they chose, and try to get into a 3 way phone call or email with everyone involved. If that processor doesn’t want to help, go the VP of operations at the lender.
Just be a pain in their A**. Also threaten to call the customer you signed for assistance.
We don’t work for free, and if this title company is stiffing you, their stiffing many notaries as well. Just don’t be the one that gives up, do it for the other notaries, then post here, on how you succeed…
It was a cash transaction so there is no lender / loan officer to get involved.
However, it appears that my promise to report the escrow officer and title company to the Texas Attorney General, Texas Secretary of State and the Texas Department of Insurance may have worked. The Texas Department of Insurance is the government body that regulates and licenses escrow officers. The escrow officer emailed me today and said that she was sending my check out via FedEX today, I will update this post if I do receive it.
I agree that we don’t work for free, but I also know that sometimes no matter what you do a company just won’t pay. I have to weigh the value of my time over sending multiple emails, making multiple phone calls, ending sending multiple letters etc if doing those things is useless.
I don’t want other notaries to get stiffed, which is why I posted my experience with Spark Title here. I looked them up on this forum and a few other notary forums before I accepted the request and no one had posted about them so I took the risk. But now others can see from my experience that this is not a company that they want to work for if they get a request so that they won’t get stiffed like I did. 
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Apparently, my promise to contact the Texas Attorney General, Texas Secretary of State and the Texas Department of Insurance worked. I received a payment check via FedEx today.
Work smarter, not harder, when you have to fight companies for your payment.
Something that you need to keep in mind when working with seller’s docs, which it sounds like this was, is that all of those go out to be signed at the beginning of the escrow but it could be a 30, 60, 90 day escrow or more. They can not pay you until escrow closes, which is based on many factors. There are all kinds of scenarios to have kept the file from closing yet. It’s also possible it could have cancelled. Most signing agents are used to doing loan docs, which come at the end of the transaction, so payment is typically sooner, rather than later. That being said, she showed little respect for you by not at least letting you know the status of the closing.
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I have been doing signings since 2007 and I work mainly with title companies so I am very knowledgeable about how they work. Unfortunately what you stated is not always the case nor correct.
In this instance this was a simultaneous seller and cash buyer closing, both parties were at the table and I signed them both at the same time. The buyer had already wired funds to the title company, I scanned the documents back to the title company and the transaction funded and closed that day. The escrow officer and realtor both communicated to me that the transaction funded that day and thanked me for helping them out with this transaction (it was a last minute closing request).
Also, title companies do not HAVE to wait until the close of escrow to pay a notary signing agent. IF the NSA fee is listed on the settlement statement to be paid by one of the parties in the transaction (buyer, seller, title, lender etc) then usually our check won’t get cut until the transaction closes. HOWEVER, we should and can get paid whether escrow closes or not, and the title company does have a way to pay us out of their funds if the transaction does not close.
If the NSA fee is not listed on the settlement statement that means that the title company is paying the fee separately, and again, this fee can be paid at any time. A lot of times if the NSA fee is not listed on the settlement statement that means that the title company is taking a loss on the transaction so they may drag their feet about paying.
This title company showed me no respect at all. I was well aware that the transaction was funded the day I completed the signing, I did them a courtesy by giving them 30 days to pay me. The title company then ignored my emails and phone calls to check on the status of payment and only responded to me after I let them know that I would report them for non-payment.
Bottom line, there is no reason why a title company can’t pay within 30 days. They may not like to do it, but it is possible, we don’t have to wait 30, 60, 90 or more days to get paid, whether or not a transaction closes and funds.
