Last week a regular customer asked me to handle a refinance for him. We’re in Virginia and his title company is in Florida. We met at FedEx and I was very rushed because we couldn’t find witnesses and I had to drive him to his bank to find them. Anyway, I wasn’t my usual myself as I wanted to make a 5pm shipping deadline and missed a few sets of initials. (I knew I should have taken the time to doublecheck the package.) I had to meet him again the next day, he signed, and I had to ship those docs back using my own money - $60. It was a Sat. so no one was at the title company to call. Should I have had to pay for that second one? Since it’s my fault, should I be the one to pay?
The fees charged by TC are usually padded to allow for all kinds of mishaps, plus they get varying ‘special much lower rates’ than the average bear. When you got the ‘missing initials’ docs to print and there wasn’t a new label included, you should have told them about that oversight immediately and patiently waited for a label to be sent. As their cost is lower than yours, not sure if they’ll reimburse you, but I’d sure request it. Worse they can do is say no.
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Actually, since the title company was non-responsive last Friday, it was the lender who found me to ask what was going on because they hadn’t received the scans that I had sent to title. I agreed to take the couple of pages and get them signed on Saturday. I know they would’ve paid so much less than I did ($59) but I didn’t have a choice. What could I’ve done on a Sat? No one picked up the phone there. At this point I feel like it’s too late because the whole thing was closed and funds disbursed.
Even worse, the signer, who actually requested me himself, showed up twice and never brought payment for my fee. That’s the last time I agree to let the signer arrange it instead of title. Every time I let the signers arrange it themselves, something goes wrong.
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100 percent agree. The signer should just be the signer. In my experience whenever the signer tries
to take on more responsibility they can’t handle it.
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When you don’t get paid for reasons like this…consider it a NSA course you paid for and make a plan so it never happens again. Still…given what you’ve said…Title dropped the ball with the scans…so Title should take some responsibility for the screwup…and that’s what their ‘General Fund’ is for IF you weren’t paid off the HUD. They have the money; you need to politely NEGOTIATE.
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Thank you. I’ll give it a try. I appreciate that.
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percent with both insights you’ve offered to 
If the signer is who contacts you and you
Conduct yourself as a business, invoice the customer and obtain payment prior to signing. It can be done and you can get paid upfront. It’s all in how you present yourself!
There have been occasions when a title company has had to send me a second shipping label because of a missed signature or initials on my part. I’ve never been charged for it or had to pay out of my own pocket, so it’s clear to me that they must keep enough of the signing agent fee to cover that.
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Thank you. I sent an email to the title company and haven’t gotten a response.
Unfortunately, yes, you have to absorb the cost of returning the docs with the missing initials (or signatures, or stamps, etc). Hopefully it never happens again, but may be worth the effort to find out if anyone you know has an account with FedEx or UPS; they can get a label for you at a reduced cost - still expensive, but not as expensive. FYI … if title makes the mistake (forgets a doc, etc.) then they should provide you with a label, and wait for them to send it as you may never get reimbursed. Time is of the essence, but on their clock, not yours.
No, you don’t have to absorb the cost. Hang tough.
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If you make the mistake? Of course you do; it’s spelled out in the instructions every single time. But you do you 
It depends on how “you do you” … I’ve had errors back when I started…had to go back out…company supplied return shipping label
No, it’s not spelled out every time. This came directly from a title company on a Thursday night. I shipped docs out and not a single person could be reached there on Friday. Friday night I got a call from the lender saying they hadn’t received my scans (I sent them to title) and on Saturday, they told me I missed some initials. I took it upon myself to pay for it. I received no instructions from the title company. It was the signer himself who found me (a regular customer) so I had almost no contact with the title company until they emailed me the file. I guess that was the first mistake.
It is not hard to get a FedEX/UPS account. Go to their website. When you print a shipping label from your own account the fees are less than if you hand write a label.
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