Working as a Notary Signing Agent - Firsthand Experience and Opinion

I first learned about working as a notary signing agent from my former co-worker whom did it on the side to earn a little extra cash. At the time we were both paralegals in a very small law firm and while the hours were not, taxing as most paralegals outside of major cities can attest, the money was not enough to pay the bills. As a single mother of one my co-worker had a lot more drive to really pursue this endeavor outside our 9-5 hours.

I needed to become a notary to complete basic job functions as a paralegal anyway, so I took the plunge and obtained my certification from the NNA and started signing up with local and national signing services and title companies. After working for a real estate attorney for over a year I was more than familiar with basic loan documents and had routinely prepared closing documents. I only took the NNA course in order to supplement my present knowledge regarding loan documents and my duties and responsibilities at the closing table. I signed up with the signing service that my co-worker received most of her work from a company called Service Link located in PA. Eventually, my co-worker left our place of employment and was able to generate more in revenue working for primarily Service Link and taking other closings from title and signing companies as they came in. I had routinely viewed closing costs from title companies on HUD statements I prepared myself as a paralegal and I was conscious of the fact that title companies generally made around $450 per closing.

Although a Notary does all the actual work, printing and/or copying loan documents, traveling to the site of the signing, and notarizing and preparing documents for shipping (and in many cases faxing loan documents to the title company before doing this) you do not earn this entire $450 fee. Yet, since you do not have the contacts and in many cases the clout to work directly with the lender you most work through the title co./signing service and take a cut of that fee. When I first started out in the business I would peruse notary-signing forums and I took in a general consensus that the average going rate for a basic refinance closing was around $125+, which seemed reasonable to me. To date, I have never one received a closing over $125. The signing service that my co-worker sustained her income off of offered me $85 for e-mailed documents and $65 for overnight documents, they later reduced their fees even further. I have been offered, and in some cases accepted closings for as little as $50. While I understand that other notaries frown this upon, what it came down to was that if I refused to work unless a lender met my fees, than I simply just stopped working at all.

Are you considering leaving your full time job to become a full time notary signing agent? Unless you live in some sort of unique real estate market, at this time and in this economy I would suggest you keep your daytime job until the market picks up. Despite the low fees (and the fact that they continue to attempt to cut corners) there is an even larger issue now, which is signing services and title companies that either do not pay or pay only after badgering and harassing the proprietor(s) for your payment. (I would like to note that despite their low fees, Service Link always paid me, and on time). In many cases these companies go out of business and declare bankruptcy and there is little you can do to recoup your fees. To me, what appeared to be an easy part-time job to pick up a little extra money and enhance my daytime job skills turned out to be a big headache.