NotaryBay.com Blog

I had a notary contact me recently and say that she had received a job alert (sweet! we are still in beta) from NotaryBay. But, she said it was from a signing service. In looking at the account, it was national title company, not a signing service (In my opinion. and these are my thoughts of course).

So what is a signing service?

Here’s my definition (and this is what we use to define who can use the automated features of NotaryBay):

A signing service is a company who’s sole purpose is profiting from the difference between its charges and what it pays its notary vendors.

For example (not to pick on anyone): NationsDirect.

From what I know of them, they are the exact definition of a signing service. They charge X amount on the HUD and pay X-whatever (very little) to the notary. Signing Service.

John Smith’s Signing Service (fictional company). They cover mostly a regional area, but advertise “national coverage”. They charge their client’s $250 for a single edoc closing. They pay their notaries an avg. of $100. Signing Service.

Examples I wouldn’t consider a SS:

MIS (mortgage information services). These guys are a national escrow/closing/title company. We’d love for them to use NotaryBay to speed up their notary search. (feel free to send them an encouraging e-mail!) Would definitely not consider them a signing service.

Netco Title. A national escrow/title company (you can e-mail them as well!). Not a Signing Service. LandAm…not a signing service.

Many large national escrow and closing companies have in house divisions and schedulers that handle mobile closings. We WANT those companies using NotaryBay.com. They pay fast and decent. We want the local title and escrow companies as well.

Am I wrong here in my definition? We don’t want bad companies using NotaryBay. But we totally want some of the national title companies on board. What do you think?

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When I first starting working as a mobile notary I was totally down with the NNA. I was listed in their directory, I was a member, I even got NNA business cards (which I misspelled my domain name in so thankfully never used).

Like many signing agents, I soon noticed the plethora of seminars, overpriced training material, and other products the organization continually puts out. As I was running my business, I would look at those postcards and say, “what in the world?” and “why are they doing this?”

The NNA has over 300,000 members.

300,000. Wow.

The NNA Makes Money Hand Over Fist

Let’s look at those numbers real quick. A one-year membership costs $52, a two-year membership costs $89. For our purposes lets say the average fee the NNA collect is $45 a year. That’s 13.5 million in revenue just from membership dues alone. Not too shabby for a very niche organization.

What is the NNA?

You might think thus far in my NNA analysis that I think the NNA is the devil. Far from it. I think part of many NSA’s hatred of the NNA stems from perceiving the NNA in the wrong light.

The NNA is a business. It’s a business that has a huge payroll expense to meet each month (nearly 300 staffers…see description at bottom of this page). If you think of the NNA as a non-profit, doing all kinds of goodness for the notary community…you’re going to be disappointed.

Not All Bad

The NNA is doing everything in it’s power to defend the legion of NSA’s in has created in the last decade. As much as many mobile notaries despise the NNA, they do attack legislation aimed at limited the powers or opportunities of notaries. This is easily evidenced by their opposition to attorney-only legislation in any state.

Bottom Line

The NNA is not going away. Love it or hate it, hopefully you’re a little more informed about the NNA’s role in our business.

Scott

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