UPDATE 05/06/2020: I am happy to say this vendor manager agreed to pay the full signing fee including a reprint fee. A manual adjustment had been made behind the scenes and even though the payment message was not triggered and sent to me directly, the company had already intended on paying in full. NICE. I am thankful for professionals who take business metrics seriously and also recognize the efforts of the signing agent. THANK YOU! Hang in there everyone. ~Carmen
Original post
When we receive an assignment from a hiring company, the signing agent receives very specific notary instructions āCALL THIS NUMBER IF THERE ARE QUESTIONS AT THE SIGNING TABLEā, etc. And when the borrowers have questions that the signing agent cannot answer, we call the number, as instructed. Right? Right.
Except there are times when no one answers our calls or responds to our voice messages. It is so frustrating and even embarrassing to have to make up excuses to the borrower why our phone calls from the signing table go unanswered. But I do it. I find myself saying things like, āI am so sorryā¦ this is highly unusualā¦this rarely happens. Yes, they are a good company, but they must be so very busy assisting with other loan signing questionsā etc., etc. I even dig deeper into the loan docs and will reach out directly to the loan officer or title company. Itās not like I try calling one time then give up. Sometimes I understand there is a time zone issue. East coast businesses have long since closed when I am doing an after hours signing here in Washington. I believe they should still have someone available to answer questions after hours.
This happened to me. Again. First, let me tell you I attempted to spare the lender embarrassment by calling attention to a mistake before I arrived to the signing and allowing them time to fix it before it reached the borrowers. I received the assignment and when I called to confirm the appointment, one of the the borrowers indicated to me they are FATHER AND DAUGHTER. Her dad is co-borrower on her home loan. Sheās young and just starting out, so yeah, makes perfect sense. But when I finally received the loan package, the docs indicated they were husband/wife, so I immediately alerted the signing company and lender. I was told the entire loan package would need to be reissued/reprinted. And the loan package was resent the following day. I reprinted them after I got home from another remote assignment and departed immediately for the next signing. Many documents the borrowers were being asked to sign still indicated they were spouses, not father/daughter. Another document indicated he was an āunmarriedā man and required his signature. It was troubling to them both. Especially the father. He had introduced his wife when I arrived. He laughed nervously and said he was very much still married to his wife and he was afraid he and his daughter could be accused of attempting mortgage fraud with these statements they were being asked to sign. I agreed it was super creepy and awkward. But the borrowers were very patient and tried hard to understand this might just be an unfortunate clerical error. But after it appeared time and again throughout the loan package, it became aggravating. Understandably. The final straw was when the parents were reading through the new loan terms and it was apparently a far worse deal than the loan they currently had. They found many loan discrepancies, aside from relationship errors. So they had even more questions that they wanted answers to. I called for help multiple times. The borrower called their loan officer multiple times. We left several voice messages asking for someone to please return our call. The first voice messages we tried to keep light hearted, hey borrowers have questions about the forms they were being asked to sign, they choose to keep going, keep signing but please call us back asap because they do have questions/concerns, etc., etc.
I spent two hours with them and the borrowers had gotten through 85% of the paperwork, thinking that someone would surely call us back. No one did. So after two hours of waiting, the borrowers decided enough was enough, they were not comfortable with error-riddled loan docs AND no one answering our calls. I apologized profusely on behalf of the lender/title co for the errors, their frustration, and for wasting their time. They were very kind towards me. They understood it was out of my control. Not everyone understands when that happens at a signing, but they did. They were now worried about the partially executed loan docs they had just signed ā could they just keep them or destroy them themselves? What was going to happen to them? I explained I was required to collect all copies of the loan docs but that I would take them home and shred/destroy and wait for any further instruction by the hiring company. They said they trusted I would destroy the documents but they were also concerned whether I would be paid for my time, travel, and resources, as well. I told them not to worry, that I was sure things would work out. They asked if they could request me again, after the documents were corrected and reissued. I told them of course. I would be happy to do their signing, but ultimately it would be up to the lender/title co. I left one final voice message with the hiring company, sent emails, and I departed.
Once the hiring company received my email Friday evening that said this CLOSING WAS NOT COMPLETED, I immediately received a CC message from scheduling as they forwarded my message to the closing team. A notice of signing cancellation followed. That email said to contact vendor management if fees were due for the signing. I feel like funds are absolutely due. I feel like this is something the lender should absorb when a loan signing fails like this due to document errors and no one answering calls from the signing table.
Usually after a signing is completed, I get a fee confirmation notice. But not this time. I waited until today (Monday) to see if it just might be delayed. I did not receive any fee verification which usually initiates the payment process, so I forwarded the message to vendor management requesting my full signing fee plus the reprint fee, close to $300. The borrowers would have signed, if not for all the document errors. If not for our calls going unanswered. The borrowers and I did everything right. It was the other team that dropped the ball.
My questions to my fellow signing agents: How often does this happen to YOU? What do you do when your calls/msgs from the signing table go unanswered? How do you handle it? And do you still demand your full fees?
CHEERS! ~Carmen