I thought the notary had to be an uninterested vendor
But on at least two occasions at signings I heard a real estate agent and a lender representative
boast that they “used to do their own closings” Huh!? Of course I didn’t say anything, but are real estate agents and lender representatives allowed to notarize for their own closings when the settlement statement shows that they are making certain profit from the transaction??? 
Keywords…> used to do
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AHAHAHA they told on themselves
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Title companies and lenders do closings all the time and they receive hundreds if not thousands of dollars in fees as shown on the settlement statement. But, the individual(s) performing the closings for the title company or lender are not receiving a commission or benefit from the transaction. My state has this guidance: Prohibits notaries from performing a notarization if they are named in the document or “will receive directly from a transaction connected with the notarial act a commission, fee, advantage, right, title, interest, cash, property, or other consideration exceeding in value the normal fee charged by the notary for the notarial act.
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Yes, I wonder if that’s true for all states
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Vermont specifically allows an employee of a corporation who is a notary to perform notarizations related to the corporation.
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Texas does as well. I had to add additional characters so this short comment would post.
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they have to be an employee, got it
The relevant Vermont law is part of the corporations law, not the notary law, so it’s easy to miss. It says
§ 231. Acknowledgments by stockholder or officer
A person legally qualified to take acknowledgments shall not be disqualified to take such acknowledgments to an instrument in which a corporation is a party, by reason of his or her being a stockholder in or an officer or employee of such corporation.
So it isn’t that a notary MUST be an employee of a corporation to take an acknowledgement from a representative of the corporation. It’s that if a notary is otherwise allowed to take the acknowledgement, being a stockholder, officer, or employee doesn’t disqualify the notary.
Yes, 30 years ago it was not uncommon for a loan office/Account Executive to close their own loans, especially at the small loan company such as Beneficial, HFC, etc. Some would notarize their own loan documents and in a larger office, a clerk would come in and notarize the DOT and any other document that might need it. Things changed in the late 90’s, maybe because of a law suit, and these companies started using NSA’s to come to the office to handle the signing and notarizing. I worked for one of these companies as a clerk and that’s how I learned how to handle a signing.
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very interesting thanks for the info
yes, it should be in all states …logicay
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