Ya’ll (I’m from Louisiana) will have to excuse me but I am going to use this forum to vent about low-ball fee offers! Here are a couple of tricks companies have used to get me to take low fees.
I get a phone-call offer and know from the zip code that the signing is in a very rual area. I ask for the full address so I can compute the mileage (and ascertain if is a safe area). Instead of them giving me the address, they are oh-so-nice to provide the mileage between my home and the signing location. I learned the hard way to not accept their mileage quote. 7 mile quote is actually 28 miles.
Beware of when the offer is listed as a “signing”, i.e., it doesn’t state whether it is a refinance, HELOC, etc., and if scans are required. I accepted one and it turned out to be a Reverse Mortgage with full scans. Anyone who has ever done one knows how voluminous the package is and how long it takes a “mature person” to sign.
I have also been lied to repeatedly about how many pages the package contains. They tell me 40 to 60 pages and when I get the package it is 188 pages. I call them and ask for more money and if they do not increase my fee, I request reassignment.
Recently, title amended the package at the very last minute which means I had to re-print. In the package, the seller had to sign an agreement to pay the Notary fee which was twice my fee which means the signing company was paid the same as me. I was not compensated for my time and expense for the re-print even though I requested and increase.
I have received packages that were incorrectly put together. Full appraisals (with pictures) were included and there were 6 copies of the same documents. When this happens, I call the title company and request that they re-do package. My request has never been denied. In fact, I think they are happy to be given the chance to correct their error.
I got tired of working for fee. I have learned how to push back!!!
I am a new notary under a year. And I am with you. I have been ignoring all the signing notifications I receive in emails. I am just tired of all this printing,x 2, scan backs, drop off for crumbs. Not to mention traveling cost and dressing to represent the industry. It’s just not mathing for me and neither encouraging.
@strandbergver Several of us sages on the Notary Cafe forum have (regularly & repeatedly) shared the pitfalls as well as cautionary tales about this business sector.
You may find these 2 threads particularly insightful & helpful for making a future determination:
@strandbergver and @ronald.allen These are the things we have tried to tell people over and over again … know what you are getting into before you dive into the deep end. Printing X2, travel, professional or business casual dress have been the nature of the beast forever. You set your fees accordingly and stick to them
If your Listing of Fees for the Professional Services you provide is still “Under Construction,” . . . this thread (see below) may be helpful for achieving completion of it!
I just received a call from a previous signing service that I haven’t heard from in awhile. They were surprised when I told them my fee was $50.00 dollars more than it used to be when I was a newbie, 3.5 years ago, for a 4 hour drive. Keeping in mind that I’ve already put over 40,000 miles on my new car in just a little over 2 years.
My fee is still reasonable and I’ve even thought about raising it more due to how tired I get from driving that 4 hours all the time. Plus a lot of semi’s on the route. I did not receive a call back, but that is fine with me because I’m not driving 4 hrs. for a closing for $125.00. I look back at some of my fees and shake my head, but I did gain experience. Thank goodness, my car gets good gas mileage. But I also got burned one time for that same 4 hr. drive, and I had to be there at the crack of dawn. Hard lesson learned. I never did recover the fee, even with a letter from my attorney. Therefore, I don’t contract with Signing Services I do not know or without vetting them first. My commission expires in February and I’m thinking long and hard about renewing my commission in NM. God Bless~
It depends on location, location, location… Also, what kind of closing, i.e., refinance, HELOC, reverse mortgage or buyer/seller package. Because 99% of the time notaries are required to print two stacks. If it’s a hybrid signing then the borrower(s) can sign a lot of the docs online. But as far as I know, the Deed or Note and Mortgage docs. always need a wet signature.
I do believe, that all mobile notaries should get together and put our foot down to this low ball offers. If everyone asks for a refinance at least $200 the title companies and signing services will not have other option than to pay. They are charging the customer anyway. I had a closing that the borrower had to meet in a city close to mine, she said, the title company couldn’t get someone to get to her address, which was a very rural area. So I came here. I thought to myself. oh my God! They did not wan to pay!!! She said and I pay $150, it was a seller’s package, and of course I did not get that!!! There should be some kind of regulation to protect us as well!! Some kind of limit. I Know We are business owners!!!
May as well try to herd cats as get notaries to stop working for chump change to get their name out there…for the experience…so one recognized as competant then they’ll get the BIG BUCKS’.No, you won’t. We ALL get the same low offer…and only get a reasonable higher fee by saying NOOO. providing, of course, they don’t find another idiot newb first.
This has happened to me as a “runner”. I had to “pick” up something and mail it off, that turned into scanning 100+ pages from oh, it’s going to be 40 pages. I was so pissed. I’m new so I learned quick.
I get them offered at $50 I don’t do any signing for less than $100. I get what I ask for unless someone is willing to take $75-$80. On high mileage requests I have started asking for a lot more because of the time spent in a car. In Eastern Washington on two lane highways during harvest season. And since these types of signings are not popular with notaries I have been getting what I ask for usually.
percent on that! True words.