I spoke with a bank manager the other day and got her insight about bank notaries and she told me, that people do come to get the free notary however they are limited on what they can do, but they are not always available because their core product is banking products, not a notary. I do feel most people go to banks first then get rejected then search for notaries. I get a high percentage of customers who come on the due date or the last day that they need a signing, does anyone else experienced this? This was never revealed to me years ago when I started as a notary…or noted in any of those notary books
It’s interesting because I feel most customers do: banks first, ups store, then search for notaries.
and 90% percent come for services when it’s the deadline or due…
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Mostly agree. I usually get from a couple hours to several days advance notice from people who can’t travel to me. Hospitals, nursing homes, homebound. The very few loans that get mailed out to borrowers-who-are-told-to-find-a-notary are always ‘right now’.
I think this is because many people who find the notaries online who are advertised…DO NOT pick up the phone or they go to said location and noyone is there or closed… (from feedback from the customers) Most customers seem to hate the ups store notary experience and people go online (RON) usually out of desperation or deadlines to get things signed. Is like 90% of business is emergency related .
Human nature is at work, here. Most people are procrastinators and will put off a notarization because they don’t really understand what’s involved (not doing it very often) or what it costs, especially for a mobile notary. My average GNW is $50 and the signers always express some degree of shock at the cost. They hate paying for a service they intuitively think should be free or very cheap.
They can go to a bank (good luck) or the local UPS store and get a shipping clerk to handle their healthcare directive or reconveyance. OR, they can call a professional notary who will, in the security of their own location, perform the job with skill and dexterity. In any case, one can expect it all to be done in the last minute. It’s just human nature.
Think of it this way: do you go to the dentist when your tooth hurts just a little and you expect it to go away soon and when it doesn’t after a week, you hop in your car at the last possible moment and beg the dentist to fix it? Yeah, I thought so. 
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Agree here, too. They are not happy with the travel fee…but I want to be paid for my travel time, gas…and the ‘drop what you’re doing & get here immediately’ convenience factor, when necessary.
Once I had someone tell me (yell at me) “You CHARGE for this!!! The state pays you!” and hang up. Oh, well, you can’t please everybody, so you gotta please yourself.
So, yeah, there are a lot of misconceptions out there, but this was the worst I’ve ever heard. On the flip side, most of those who make an appointment & come to me are happy and about 1/3 will give me a tip.
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This is one of the reasons I generally avoid GNW.
if someone comes to with a 3 page power of attorney you turn them away?
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To whom were you asking your question?
Riverpoint Tax, I wanted your input on this… I hear many here say they turn away GNW . I wanted more insight on why?
In Texas we are limited to at most $6 for the first signer and $1 for additional signer, per notarial act. When I explain there’s a travel fee [paid in cash upon arrival and non-refundable] involved I get much push back. I’ve too many who still ask me to come only to protest that what I’m doing is illegal. It’s not I who doesn’t understand how tertiary fees work, its them. Fold in the signer who waited until the last minute and wants to me hurry up, don’t have their ID, or the document doesn’t pass the smell test (lacking legal sufficiency, has blank spaces). In short GNW is usually more trouble than its worth to me.
If its a referral/request through a Law Firm, Realtor, Friend, etc., I’d take that 3-page PoA.
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GNW is much more attractive in California. I can charge what I want for travel and our max permitted fee is $15 per signature (not per document). I’ve had a couple of $200 jobs that required no printing, no scanning, no FedExing, and not that many notarizations. I feel sorry for the notaries who have restrictive parameters like Riverpoint Tax in Texas. $6 per signer is awful.
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Oh that makes sense, however here in FL I rarely get pushback on pricing, the online appointment system simply lets them choose the service and see the pricing (estimate)…some do ask at the beginning of some transactions how much…not many
same here in FL…I get many easy notary jobs $200+ and had an apostille job that was $1500.00 (85% profit) last week maybe less than 20 mins of actual work…no waiting paid up front
We’re not capped on travel fees in Texas. Only the actual notarial act itself. The challenge is with the clientele not wanting to pay for travel fees.
In 2021 we almost had legislation make its way through the Senate raising Notary Fees to $10 per each signature and $5 for each additional, but time ran out. This is what happens when we have a part-time, every 2 years, legislative (per the Texas Constitution) sessions.
Notarial acts capped at $6 is a shame. I fee for ya, man.
Sorry, too about your state legislature running out of time. We should only be so fortunate in California where they never stop doing stupid, awful, costly, ridiculous things that cost everyone $$$ in taxes and do nothing to improve our state. I’ll switch with you any time.
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$6 per notarization is awful? And you can charge more for the second signer?
In VA, the max. is $5/notarization no matter how many signers there are. I’m still doing it though.
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Its $1 more for each additional signer. Still take as much work for the second signer as it does the first.
