Loan Signing Services

Archive for October, 2011

A student loan consolidation makes repayment seem more manageable because you only have one loan and one payment.

If you are a title escrow or mortgage company looking into finding a loan signing service to handle your signing needs you want to make sure you to check for the following:

What hours is the office staffed, are you able to call in and schedule a signing or place it over the phone? Do they have a website where you can also place your signing request? How long have they been in business?

Have the staff and or owners been notary signing agents? so they understand the needs of not only the notaries they are dealing with but companies who request a signing.

You want to also ask if they send you a confirmation when you put in your signing so you have the notaries information to forward the loan docs. One of the most important things is to have good communication with the signing service you will be using, Having a choice as to when you will be billed, Is payment excepted after signing is completed? or before?

How many notaries do they have in their database so you can make sure your signing will be able to be completed even if it is in a remote area, or at an odd time or location. Does the company have attorneys for the attorney only states, There are 7 states where the law currently has an attorney to handle the loan signing. So a notary signing agent is not allowed to do signings in those states.

Companies such as notaries24-7.com has both, notary signing agents and attorneys so you would not have to use 2 different signing services to handle your loans, you want to make sure that the company you choose is capable of handling all 50 states.

I read an article this morning on InmanNews, written by Ilyce Glink, entitled: ‘Don’t make this mistake when refinancing’. She gave some very good advice in saying that, no one should ever sign their name to a legal document without understanding exactly what the documents says, and what the transaction is all about.

As a notary signing agent, I see it firsthand: borrowers are so anxious to get the signing over with, or they’re so distracted, that they don’t take the time to read what they’re signing. And very few of them ask questions. If they do ask questions, they are usually not the right types of questions to ask. She suggested to borrowers: “If you don’t understand what is on the page, then keep asking questions until you do understand.” I agree.

Reading every single word, of every single document, could make for some very long closings. I, for one, am not in favor of sitting through a closing if a borrower wants to take the time to read over 100 pages of loan documents, and try to decipher the meaning of every word they don’t understand.

Nevertheless, I think that borrowers should take more time in understanding what it is they are signing. Even though they have a 3-day right to cancel, in most cases, I would venture to say that, very few of them actually take the time to read every single page of their copies.

A few days ago I wrote an article: Deed of Trust: ‘Does anybody really read all of this?’, in which I suggested that borrowers take the time to read this very important document. I dissected parts of the Deed of Trust and pointed out things they should look for. I have also written articles on other loan documents that the borrowers will encounter.

Which brings me to notary signing agents, and the role that we can and should play. There is a very strong mandate for notary signing agents to become very knowledgeable about all of the loan documents. Borrowers are becoming more and more skeptical (and savvy) as a result of the subprime fiasco, and they will want more time to read and understand what they are signing. And, if they take the advice of Ilyce Glink, they will ask more questions.

No, notary signing agents should never give legal advice. But there are nevertheless very many questions that we should be able to answer. There are many ways in which we can divert a potential no-sign into a smooth and successful closing. It is imperative for us to become as highly skilled as possible.

It will be a challenge. But I believe that notary signing agents are up to it.

Good luck.