Questions and Answers from NSA's - Article 10 |
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Covers a wide variety of topics. Make sure you read them all to get all the information. by Victoria Ring---Bio Dear Victoria: I just needed to vent! I will only work free for a company one time! I took a closing at a reduced rate to help a company at the last minute yesterday. When I got the emailed docs I find out there were not 2 FULL sets of docs. I called the company and they told me they would adjust my fee. (Stupid me..I didn't ask how much more they would pay.) This morning I had 20 pages to fax back to them and found out they would not pay for faxing but that they would pay $25 for the second set of loan docs. So after 2 hours of signing last night and all the faxing this morning, I feel like I have been taken advantage of. In all the years I have been a signing agent I have been very fortunate that I have not lost any money or felt that some one really used me until today. I guess the best advice I can give to notaries is to ask all the right questions up front. Do you pay for faxing? Are you sure there is only 1 set of docs and how much do they pay for the second set just in case of a surprise. Thanks for your ear Victoria and I do want to thank you. I feel like you are a big help to all of us! --Name Withheld Dear Subscriber: I used to work full-time for temporary agencies. There was one agency that always had a tendency to call me at the last minute to go on an assignment and offered me really low pay. I only worked for this company one time to see how they operated and I never worked for them again. Unfortunately, in every industry (it doesn't matter what it is), there are good and bad companies to work for. All you can do is find out who they are, recognize their trends and strive to only work for companies who treat you fairly and pay you fairly. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Victoria: I've been signing for a little over a year and really enjoy it. I received a call today from a signing company that I hadn't worked with before and shortly after accepting the assignment I received a call from the lender asking me if I could work directly for them because the signing company was gouging them. I told her that I didn't feel right about that because the signing company had contacted me first. Since I haven't signed a contact, after this signing -- would it be ethical to work directly with the lender? Thanks for your help. I really enjoyed listening to you in Vegas. I didn't get a chance to meet you personally but enjoyed everything you had to say. --Suzanne Dear Suzanne: That is an excellent question. I guess everyone would handle the situation differently, but for me -- I would have done the assignment for the signing company I obligated myself to and then ask the lender if I could do future signings for them exclusively. I would then follow up with a business card and nice business letter. This way, you get the best of both worlds! This is also another good reason to always have a back-up person in your area to refer work to. Turning down a job causes the company to spend time looking for a replacement. If you can provide them with the name and telephone number of a back-up notary in your area, it will save them time and they will appreciate you for it. Or, if you would have had a back-up notary you could have accepted the work from the lender and had your back-up complete the job for the signing company. In either case -- every notary signing agent should have a back-up or two. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Victoria: I met you briefly at the recent NNA conference in Vegas. I just purchased your "How to Start a Bankruptcy Forms Processing Service" book and I am very pleased with how the book reads thus far. I am an attorney based in Dallas, Texas and I am seriously considering marketing the forms processing service. I am researching different forms processing software and have currently spoken with representatives from AmCooperative/Bankruptcy processors.com who was also a vendor at the recent NNA conference. They are offering an online software. What do know about their company? What do you think about their online solution and how would you compare them to "Bestcase" software. I would appreciate any input you may have. I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks. --Gary Dear Gary: The difference between AMCooperative and the 50 State Notary approach is that AMCooperative is set up to be a network of everyone working together for one common goal. My approach is that you can make more money if you do the work yourself, get your own software. find your own customers and deal directly with your attorneys on a personal level so that you can customize your services to fit their needs. I am NOT speaking against AMCooperative. I am sure it serves a purpose to those who enjoy being part of a network. But 50 State Notary is not in competition with AMCooperative. All 50 State Notary does is sell the book that provides the proper training to bankruptcy forms processors. My workshops and teleconferences are also centered around training and marketing. AMCooperative provides a service to the people 50 State Notary trains. It is up to the individual to decide if they want to become independent or part of a network. Their decision about how to run their business has no bearing on the training I provide and therefore AMCooperative and 50 State Notary should never be compared to each other since we both provide entirely different products and services. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Victoria: I just read the newsletter and I am still laughing at the lady who had the nerve to fax you the handwritten letter saying the movers dropped her computer and she didn't have a resume. Thanks so much for sharing that! I've had a really crappy week at work this week, and I really needed this laugh! Also, thank you for the kick in the butt about marketing. I've only been a notary for a year, and all of my notarizations have been done for family and friends. I've just been lazy about advertising. Your little piece gave me the kick in the pants that I've needed. --Sue Dear Sue: You sound like you are a really cool person. It's nice to know you can accept constructive criticism and apply it to your life in order to give you a good "kick in the pants." I need the same thing once in awhile myself. |
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