What is the “normal” timeframe you would receive docs for a closing? I had my first signing yesterday for a refi that I accepted on Friday evening and I received my docs on the day of the signing at 2:30 pm for a 6 pm closing appointment. It was 131 pages (262 pgs including the borrowers copy). I got the job done but getting the docs at the time made it very stressful. I would of liked to have extra time to prep being my first time. Is this something that is the norm or are docs usually sent over more than 4 hrs prior to the signing or even a day prior to signing? Just want to know what to expect in the future.
Absolutely normal. Sometimes you get the docs less than an hour before the signing and you’ve got to either hurry up or ask both the signers and the signing service for more time, which they almost always will allow. You’ll get used to it. There’s no getting around it.
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Bobby4913 is right. What sometimes helps is upon receipt of the Order & confirming with all, if you let them know you need docs no later than (a time), they often comply.
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Sometimes these lenders do not get all the documents or correct information needed till after appointment time. If you have time to get the assignment done, just go ahead and complete it. A month ago, I had a closing at 2pm and docs arrived to me at 4pm. Title officer felt bad. Since then the title officer has sent me over 20 direct orders since.
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I always send an email or message the SS asking them for an ETA on the documents if not sent the same day as the accepted assignment. I also share with them the time that I need to have the documents back in order for me to review and prep to ensure and error free closing. So far this has worked and they seem to make it a priority…more times than not.
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Thank you for the information.
4 hours in advance is the norm and is sufficient time in theory, but it is only good if it also works for your schedule that day. This is the frustration for me when I agree to accept assignments way in advance. I will have to decline other signing requests for that same time and schedule everything else around it. And as that appointment date/time approaches it may get pushed further if lender or title documents aren’t ready on time.
When first starting out, I urge new signing agents to go slow and to focus on doing the signing correctly. 1 per day, is my recommendation, that way you aren’t stressing about timing. As you become proficient, increase the number of signings you do per day. Getting too busy too fast increases pressure and may reinforce errors and bad habits.
You may get to a point where you have signing appointments scheduled for the day and another request will come in for the same day – yayy, yet another set of loan documents to wait around for! – so you may decide to only accept if DOCUMENTS ARE READY TO PRINT NOW. Or set a specific deadline according to your schedule. You might look at your schedule and say yes, I can do that signing for you but only if I receive documents by 10:00AM PST/ 7:00AM EST. (Make sure you specify your time zone because assignments come to us from across the country.)
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I totally agree with @Carmen_Lane that’s exactly what I did. When I first started I only accepted 1 assignment per day. Now when I schedule two or more in a day I follow the steps I described to you above.
I had to block one company on snap docs cause I had issues with them getting me my docs on time.
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I say the exact same thing and it never fails to get the docs within moments.
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