Mouprise.com

Pushing the mobile notary, the signing agent out of business: why do we hurt the ones we love?

Due to the fact that lenders are doing business nationwide, the Mobile Notary Signing Agent (NSA) is often the only live contact with their borrowers. Between making sure documents are printed correctly, arranging appointments with borrowers, driving to a location chosen by the borrower, closing carefully, and returning the professionally executed package, it’s surprising that the signing agent is often the least paid and least appreciated. part of the loan process. Why do we hurt the ones we should love?

Take, for example, the notary signing agent fees. If an NSA is lucky, it’s doing its fair share of work for companies that pay fair rates. The unfortunate reality is that most companies today want the NSA to do more for less money and this is pushing them out of business. There are notary signing services, and even some title/escrow companies, who will expect an NSA to close for around $50. Of the $50, the NSA must account for gas, taxes and regular expenses. Divide the remaining money by the time between the actual appointment, the phone calls, the emails, the round trip, the fax return requirements (as many ask these days) and the NSA is left with a extremely low net pay.

It is understood that “signing service” companies are intermediaries and their fees will be less than working directly with the title, escrow, or a lender. The problem is that their fees are usually disproportionately low for the notary. We often see $150 to $200+ paid to the signing service, while the payment is only around $50 to the notary. The notary is the one who does 90% of the work and receives from 1/3 to ¼ of the fees.

In addition to low base fees, notaries are often asked to charge a 50% fee when borrowers refuse to sign. When an NSA reserves a certain amount of time for a client, they must be paid for that time, provided the failure to sign is not the notary’s fault. The NSA cannot make up that time, nor can they schedule any other work during that time, so it is lost time. It should never be the NSA’s responsibility to take the financial hit if borrowers don’t sign because the loan officer didn’t fully prepare them, there were errors in the documents, or the borrower doesn’t show up. We don’t see the lender getting back half the appraiser fee if the loan doesn’t close, so why disrespect the notary and not pay them for the time they reserved? The notary did nothing wrong, but they are the easy scapegoat.

We’re not even going to cover other issues that are forcing many NSAs to shut down, like punishing them for not accepting invalid ID or not updating documents, etc. This constant benefit from contracting parties is another “last straw” for the NSA, but we’ll cover those issues in future articles. The conclusion is; it’s up to the NSA community to demand fair pay and treatment.