Increasingly businesses & risk-managers are becoming aware of the need to implement sound policies & best practices based on a recent judicial mandate holding employers liable for ensuring that their staff Notaries follow professional standards of care when carrying out their duties. The court ruled standards often go beyond what is spelled out in state law. These issues can be professionally managed with the right knowledge, which is why the NNA has opened a key session of its 2010 Conference in Chicago to employers of Notaries.

With compliance & liability issues increasing dramatically, employers are faced with the need to set clear policies for their staff Notaries & to need sound record keeping & regular, formalized training to meet best practices requirements.

This information is so important that a special General Session at the Conference featuring an analysis of the Vancura v. Katris case is being offered without charge to employers of Notaries. The General Session, scheduled for Thursday June 17 at 9 a.m., will feature a discussion with Michael Closen, an attorney & leading expert in notarial best practices who testified as an expert witness before the New York Appellate Court.

In Vancura v. Katris, the Court ruled that an employer can be held liable for the misconduct of its Notary employees who are not properly trained or supervised. Employers now have a broad “common law” duty to protect the public from a Notary who fails to meet the standard of care outlined in the Model Notary Act, even if state law does not mandate that level of performance.

The session will detail employers’ responsibility to train & supervise staff Notaries & focus on generating notarial standards of care that protect the public, & protect themselves & their Notaries from liability.

The Tennessee Legislature is considering a bill that would permit Notaries to officiate wedding ceremonies. If passed, the Volunteer State would join Maine, South Carolina and Florida in giving Notaries the power to legally perform nuptials.

Senate Bill 95, introduced by State Sen. Jim Tracy, would add Notaries to the list of public officials — such as mayors, judges and county clerks — who are already legally authorized wedding officiants. The Washington, D.C., City Council has a similar bill pending.

Before any signature can be lawfully notarized, the signer must appear in person before a Notary Public at the time of the notarization. This is the only way to properly identify the person and verify his/her willingness to sign a document and understanding of what is being signed.

This may seem like a simple principle, but ignoring it is one of the most common ways Notaries get in trouble. Requests to notarize for an absent signer can come from a supervisor, client, close friend or relative. All too often in these instances, as innumerable court cases demonstrate, the signature on the document proves to be a forgery.

Every notarial certificate requires a signer to be in the Notary’s presence at the time of the notarization. If that is not the case, you open the door to fraud that can inflict serious financial harm on unsuspecting victims. You also expose yourself to criminal prosecution, civil lawsuits and administrative penalties. So remember:

1. The signer is always required to be in the physical presence of a Notary Public for every notarization

2. Personal appearance is the only way to properly identify the signer

3. Failure to require personal appearance opens the door to fraud and exposes you to civil and criminal liability

N3 Notary for information use only, not to be used as legal advice.

All N3 customers now have access to our online order management system.  Customers can order, track, and manger their mobile notary loan signing requests from any computer with web access.  To activate you account call us at 800.455.1146

A Notary Public Helps You Protect Your Interests

We would like to believe that the people we do business with are fair and honest, and for the most part, our beliefs are justified. We do business with people that keep up their end of agreements with little more than a verbal agreement. Sometimes, though, whether deliberately or accidentally, a business partnership goes sour. When that happens, given the litigious nature of the modern world, you are going to end up in court. If that happens, a set of notarized documents that spell out the terms and conditions of a business agreement are a key element in protecting your interests.

When rendering a decision, the judge must balance the types of evidence presented in a case. Not all evidence and documentation carries equal weight in the deliberations of a judge. Given a pair of identical documents, whose sole difference is the presence of a valid notary seal, a judge will give more weight to notarized document. Is this unfair? Of course not. A notary public is authorized by a state governing body to verify the identity of persons entering into a formal agreement, and to witness the signing of that agreement. A notary public helps you protect your interests by acting as an officially recognized impartial witness.

A Notary Public Facilitates Business

How willing are you to conduct a large scale transaction with a complete stranger? Using a notary public can help lower the risks of doing business

Low Cost

Helps Prevent Fraud

Can Help in Collections

In the business world, knowing who you are dealing with is always a concern. Although research can reduce some of the uncertainty factor, new business arrangements always carry a certain level of risk. A notary public helps keep business moving by giving you a very affordable extra layer of security against fraud and breach of contract. Simply put, notarizing business agreements lets you concentrate on getting the job done.

Sometimes, a Notary Public Is Required

Depending on the state where you live, the services of a notary public may be required in order to complete some kinds of business. Usually, business that needs the attention of a notary involves the state or local government at some level. Some examples of the kind of transactions that may require the services of a notary are listed here:

Selling a car

Selling a house or other real property that is registered with the state

Transferring financial power of attorney

The types of transactions that require a notary vary from state to state. In some states, the services of a notary may not be required but are often recommended in order for a transaction to be considered durable in a legal sense.

Mobile Notary advertising, the good and the bad

As mobile notary publics, we all wish that we could get our phone ringing off the hook like it was just a few years ago. At that time there wasn’t really much we had to do in the way of advertising to keep our phone ringing.Today, it’s a very different story.

Since the REFI boom ended there has been less work and more mobile notaries than ever before. The phones are no longer ringing off the hook and we are no longer turning away work. In fact, some of us are desperate for it.

Many mobile notary publics are turning towards advertising as a way to keep their phone ringing and business going. From notary search sites to yellow pages to PPC search engine marketing, every advertising avenue comes with different advantages as well as disadvantages. 

Notary search sites

For a mobile notary a notary list is a very effective way to get your name in front of people who are looking for a notary public. These sites work by offering people who are looking for a notary public the ability to search for notaries within a specific zip code. Once the person starts a search they are given a list of names to select from and are then provided with the contact information to the notary.

Advantages: People calling you from the site actually need a notary. Some sites are free to advertise on.

Disadvantages: Most mobile notaries are on these sites so it is difficult to stand out from the crowd. The actual number of people using theses sites to search for a notary may be very low.

Yellow Page Advertising

For a mobile notary yellow page advertising can be very effective. Think about how you use your local yellow pages when you’re looking for something. If you’re like most people, when searching through the yellow pages you’re ready to buy. You are not looking through the local phone book for a cab company just to gather more information or check on pricing. No, you need a cab. And it’s the same with a mobile notary service, people looking in the local yellow pages for a notary public need a notary public, maybe even a mobile notary public, and chances are that if you have an add you will receive a call.

Advantages: Low cost. People using the local yellow pages are looking to buy.

Disadvantages: You can not change your add once published. In markets where there are a lot of other notary publics or mobile notaries advertising it can be hard to stand out.

PPC Search engine marketing

PPC is the common term used for what is known as pay per click advertising or pay for performance advertising. It works like this: search engines like Google and Yahoo offer you advertising for specific key words or phrases like “mobile notary” and you agree to pay a fee for each time someone clicks on your advertising. This form of advertising is very popular and effective. You have the control to set your daily or monthly budget so you never really over spend on your advertising, however to be effective you will need a website for your mobile notary service.

Advantages: Helps to control advertising costs. Real time key word or key phrase control. Be seen only when people are searching for your key words or phrases.

Disadvantages: Certain key words can be very expensive. You open yourself up to click fraud.

When you’re looking for new ways to advertise your mobile notary service, keep in mind the commitment you will be making with the advertiser. While some companies do not require any term commitments, others will want year long or multi year commitments. Never sign an agreement without reviewing the terms and conditions that you are going to be agreeing to, and make sure you have a solid understanding of what you can expect from your advertising.

4 ways to make your Mobile Notary business more profitable.

Any one will tell you prices are going up while main street business revenues are going down. And as a mobile notary you face expenses that can be hard to control. From the price of gas to the cost of printer towner, less work in the market and services fees from signing services are dropping, So now more then ever you need to find ways to become more profitable in your mobile notary business.
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Notaries who have failed to follow best practices, or who have “slipped” on paying attention to detail, have inadvertently launched a little, but growing trend of mortgage lenders implementing their own requirements and rules for the Signing Agents they hire.

A little number of lenders have implemented their policies to protect themselves because hazardous practices on the part of some Notaries have cost them significant sums of money and put their transactions at risk. Some of the rules place a greater burden on Notaries and, if the trend continues, Signing Agents could be awash in new rules and regulations for each individual company, and for each assignment they perform.

One lender, for example, now requires Signing Agents to complete a “Notary Identification Verification Form” for every loan signing assignment. The requirement is the direct result of fraud cases in which a Notary’s seal was used on a loan package by someone other than theNotary Public. Notaries are supposed to keep their seals in a safe and secure location so they can not be used for fraudulent purposes.

Settlement Agents typically are licensed representatives or employees of title companies who finalize the loan closing. They perform duties that fall outside the purview of NSAs — such as preparing the abstraction of the title and recording the title documents. NSAs are not “Settlement Agents,” and they do not have the authority to sign a document as the Settlement Agent.

Another company now requires all Signing Agents it hires in Missouri to possess title insurance producer’s licenses. They also must produce a photocopy of their driver’s license as well as a secondary form of ID before being hired for an assignment. These requirements stem from the losses the company incurred after a couple of Signing Agents inadvertently signed the HUD-1 Settlement Statement under the line that read “Settlement Agent.”

While this trend represents a hefty, additional burden on Signing Agents, both cases stand as examples of how mortgage companies might react when the Notaries fail to follow professional standards of care. You ought to never let someone borrow your seal, and always call your employer if there is any query about how to proceed.

THE NOTARY SHALL ACT AS AN IMPARTIAL WITNESS AND NOT PROFIT OR GAIN FROM ANY DOCUMENT OR TRANSACTION REQUIRING A NOTARIAL ACT, APART FROM THE FEE ALLOWED BY STATUTE.

Impartiality is crucial to ensure the integrity of notarized documents. Notarial acts are trusted because Notaries serve as unbiased, third-party witnesses who verify a signer’s identity and willingness. That’s why it is so important Notaries avoid even the appearance of bias when performing their duties, and why impartiality is the cornerstone of Guiding Principle II of The Notary Public Code of Professional Responsibility.

Rules governing Notary Public impartiality help protect the transaction from improper influence. For example, a Notary might be tempted to compromise ethics if asked to notarize a document that provided the Notary with some kind of financial or other benefit. It would be even more difficult, if not impossible, for a Notary to maintain impartiality if asked to notarize a document that specifically names the Notary in a transaction.

Trust in a Notary’s fairness in impartiality is a cornerstone of the notarial technique — and that is why it is important that Notaries avoid even the appearance of potential self-interest when notarizing signatures on documents.

Even the appearance of impartiality can cause problems with a document. State laws do not always forbid a Notary from notarizing a document for a spouse, parent or other close relative, but this doesn’t stop someone from calling the Notary’s impartiality in to query if the document is challenged in court. That is why the Code urges Notaries to decline to notarize in any transaction that may call in to query the Notary’s propriety — even if allowed by state law.

When completing multiple notarizations for the same signer — a common occurrence for mortgages and other real estate-related transactions, for example — California Notary Public‘s commonly use ditto marks to repeat the same information on successive lines in their journals, and they often draw a diagonal line across the signature spaces so the signer only has to sign the journal two times.

California Notaries who use diagonal lines and ditto marks in their journals when recording multiple entries for a single signer should no longer follow this practice, according to a Notary statute clarification issued by the Secretary of State.

But that should not be a practice for Notaries in the Golden State. The Secretary’s clarification reads: “Government Code Section 8206 requires that the Notary Public’s journal include all the information for ‘each official act.’ Therefore, each act would include the date, time, type of each official act, character of the tool, signature, type of identification, fee, and thumbprint (if applicable) on a separate line for each act.”