Before the signing
- Take the order in writing. The time, the place, every signer’s name, the fee, and the return instructions: where the documents go, by when, and whether the company wants scans of the signed pages before the originals arrive.
- Confirm with the borrowers. The time and place, that every signer will be there, and that each will bring identification your state accepts, in the name on the documents.
- Print what was sent, as asked. Count the pages against the package, print on the paper size the instructions give, and print a second set for the borrowers if the company asks for one.
- Read the names. The name on each signature line should match the ID that signer will show. Find a mismatch before the signing — the company can fix it or tell you how to sign it; you cannot.
At the table
Identify each signer the way your state requires, before anything is signed. Then go through the package page by page: where to sign, where to initial, where to date. Notarize the documents the lender’s instructions mark for notarization, completing each notarial certificate in full, and make a journal entry for each act as your state requires.
The line you never cross
Your state’s law says where this line falls, so read it first. Where it lets you, you may say what a document is called and show where it is signed. Unless you are an attorney, leave what a document means, whether the terms are good and whether to sign to the lender, the escrow officer or the borrowers’ attorney: in most states being a notary does not let you give legal advice. When a borrower asks, give them the phone number on the instructions and wait while they call. Never change a document yourself, not even a date.
The right to cancel
Some loans carry a right to cancel within three business days (Regulation Z, 12 CFR 1026.23). The lender’s package says whether this one does. Hand the borrower their copies, and leave the right itself to the lender.
The lender prepares the notice and its dates. Your part is the signing date: if the appointment moved to another day, the dates in the notice may be wrong — call the company before anyone signs. Every owner the notice names signs or receives it as the instructions say, even an owner who is not borrowing.
After the signing
- Check the package before you leave. Every signature, initial and date; every notarial certificate complete, sealed and signed.
- Send scans if asked, then return the originals by the deadline — often the same day, by the courier and the label the company provided.
- Invoice. Many title and escrow companies pay on terms — thirty days is common — so an invoice with a date on it, followed up when it ages, is how you get paid.
- Log the drive. Keep a record of the drive to the signing, on to the courier, and home again. Whether the legs from and to your home count as business miles or as commuting depends on where your principal place of business is — the mileage guide explains that, and what the log must show.
Where the work comes from
Title and escrow companies, lenders and signing services all send loan signings. Most will ask about your commission and bond before the first one, and many ask for errors-and-omissions insurance and a background screening too; keep the certificates current and easy to send.
How Hand & Seal runs the job
Companies send orders through your own order link, straight to your list to accept or decline. Each signing carries its checklist — signers confirmed, documents received, package printed, scan-backs sent, documents shipped — with the print queue, the journal’s book and page, and the invoice that ages until it is paid. The phone keeps the drive and the times you arrived and finished. See how it works.
This guide describes common practice; your state’s law and each company’s instructions decide. It is not legal advice.