The close of the legislative session brought in a few very important regulations for Arizona. These will go into effect on June 30, 2022. Here’s a brief re-cap for you. For the full law, please reference the Senate Bill 1115 -New and renewing Notaries will be required to take an exam if your commission has been suspended -We have new Acts added and now can perform; Signature Witnessing (no need to swap out the certificates) Protests (which I wouldn't recommend to anyone without training first) ARS 47-3505 Tangible Record Copy (True certified copy of an electronic notarization) Signature by Proxy (Signer must be unable to physically sign. Signature must include the verbiage "Signature affixed by [Proxy name] at the direction of [Principal]) -Seal/Stamp; no longer requires the ID/Commission number to be present -Retains the current provision allowing only one seal/stamp in possession of the Notary. Class 3 misdemeanor. -May use an embosser with the ink stamp/seal but not alone. -Commission number is now a requirement to be printed on our certificates -Title of officer is required either after our signature or next to our printed name below the signature line on certificates. -Notary signature must be logically associated with the certificate. -No more pre-filling certificates before the appointment. Must be completed in its entirety contemporaneously with the act. -When using a loose certificate, minimum elements required to logically associate it with the intended document, Title or type of document – Date of document – Number of pages – Any additional signers other than those named in the certificate. -Clarifies that a Notary commission does not allow an individual to act as an immigration consultant. (not sure what that means in respect to completing I9 verifications) -The existing provision requiring the physical description on an acceptable ID card to include the height, weight, hair, and eye color has been replaced with just the words “physical description” to allow for ID cards from other states/governments to be acceptable. -May not certify a copy of public record (ARS 41-319) except to certify a copy of a journal entry that is public record. -Translators involved in the notarial act must personally appear before the Notary (ARS 41-253 subsection F) - (basically, we cannot use an electronic translation app). -This disclaimer must be used verbatim, for any advertising of Notarial services whether it is orally or in a record including print media, broadcast media, or internet. Any alternative statement must be authorized by the Secretary of State. Failure to do so is a Class 6 felony and permanent revocation of commission. “I am not an Attorney licensed to practice law in this state. I am not allowed to draft legal records, give advice on legal matters, including immigration, or charge a fee for those activities.” -A Notary may not withhold access to or possession of an original record or document provided by a person that seeks performance of a notarial act, except as provided by law. (So, do not attempt to withhold documents from a loan signing as a condition of payment.) -RON initiative, if signer is not identified by personal knowledge or Oath of credible witnesses, you must use two (2) forms of identity proofing. -Must use a paper journal for paper notarizations and either a paper journal or electronic journal for electronic notarizations. -In addition to elements currently established, additional journal requirements include both a description of the document, type of notarial act, and signature of signer (if paper act) to be recorded in a journal. -A Notary who performs a RON and does not identify the remotely located individual by personal knowledge or credible witnesses, then two (2) forms of identity proofing must be used. That’s quite a bit of tweaking that went on with our laws and regulations here in Arizona. Another one was the limitation of 60-days after the date of issue of our bonds to obtain our commissions. COVID completely trashed that as it was taking way longer for our SOS to issue our commissions. That was completely repealed, and no other time limits have been established. Guess we can all rest easy at least for a little while.

REMOTE ONLINE NOTARIZATION (RON) is as appealing as it is scary for new and existing Notaries. If you are an experienced Notary Loan Signing Agent then you are now having to learn a new way to do your job. And, if you are a new Notary Loan Signing Agent you are being recorded so there is absolutely have to make sure you know what you are doing. The pressure is on all of us regardless of our experience level to stay up-to-date. The age of "Fake It Until You Make It" is over! Notary Stars as of October 2021 has begun to add up-to-date information regarding RON into its training course but we are taking a different approach than many training companies when it comes to RON. We are airing on the side of caution as we move into conducting RON closings- and we highly recommend before you jump on the RON bandwagon yourself that you get as much education regarding Loan Signings & Your RON platform as possible on and off of Notary Stars. Title & Lender Restrictions are very important for Notary Loan Signing Agents to understand. In our training course, we help Notary Loan Signing Agents understand what part of a transaction belongs to a Title Agency and what part belongs to a Lender. One thing that Notaries are often unaware of is the entity that drives both Title and Lender Policies (including how documents are signed in-person or electronically), and that entity is called UNDERWRITING. Underwriting is essentially the legal department of an institution that determines the risk associated with the transaction. NOTARY WARNINGS: When it comes to any and all Real Estate transactions you as a Notary should not suggest a Remote Online Closing to your signers under any circumstances, knowing what you now know. Although RON may be perfectly legal in your State it may be against the policy of the Title and Escrow Office or the Lender involved in the paperwork to use just any platform out there. You must absolutely make sure that you are able to use your (or one of your) RON Platforms before proceeding with a Real Estate Transaction. Conducting a Real Estate transaction on an unapproved platform could at best have you performing a closing unpaid that just needs to be redone- or worse, sued! Letting your Signing Agencies and Title Agencies know you are RON Capable is very important; however, you can completely invalidate a closing if you attempt to preform a RON closing with your signers without permission from the Signing Agency, Title Agency, or Lender. For documents outside of Real Estate Transactions you should be disclaiming to your signers, before they sign, they need to ensure the receiving party will accept an electronically Notarized document. Platform Suggestions are coming at us from all angles but choosing your RON platform choice should not come from anyone but your Secretary of States Office (or licensing office) and your process of deduction. Most RON States are giving suggestions to Notaries on what platforms to use and we suggest you use a suggested platform. This not the time in your career where you want to be cool. However, if you do venture outside of your State suggestions we strongly urge you to make sure your platform is compliant with Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, INC. (MERS). This is exactly why we mentioned you need to make sure your RON Platform is approved with your Signing Agency or Title Agency before proceeding with any Real Estate Transaction. Remember: You won't be a hero unless you can actually save the day. Members of Notary Stars as of January 3rd, 2022 have access to our RON Platform Reviews which may help guide you in choosing your own RON Platform. Please allow time for reviews to build up! Marketing RON Properly can be difficult. Taking the previously written information in this article it is important to understand that the average consumer will most likely not be searching for Remote Online Notarization (RON) as it's a an industry term. When marketing RON to the average consumer we suggest you have consumer-friendly information on your websites and business cards helping your customers understand you offer VIRTUAL NOTARIZATION as an option. Important Disclaimers YOU should be giving signers Amrock has a great Notary Script for Signing Agents which helps guide them. And Notary Stars will be working on a good script for our members in the near future of things you definitely want to say on camera. One thing off the bat we can think of is you need to inform the signers they are being recorded for record retention purposes on behalf of yourself, the title agency, and lender- or for the receiving party if their documents are not Real Estate Related. This is one thing we haven't seen any other training course addressing in their training and it makes perfect sense. Our script course can help you with Loan Documents, but we are working on an adapted RON Script similar to that we've seen so far to aid our members in performing signings with safety (for themselves) through RON.

The Military ID You may have heard this before, or maybe this is the first time you have come across this. For the Notary Signing Agent, it is not lawful to make or possess a copy of a Military ID. This includes a “Retired” status Military ID. Often, we are required to return a copy of a government issued photo ID back in our loan documents packages. And proud veterans want to offer up their military ID to us to verify their identity. And this is perfectly fine to meet our ID requirements. But we need to send a copy of the ID we used to identify them back in the loan packages and, well we can’t send a copy of a military ID. So we find ourselves handing back the military ID and asking for something else that fits our regulations. At times, they might even take offense that we are not able to use that ID. Stating this ‘was issued by our U.S. Government and is the best ID in the world’. Well, yes. It probably is, but I can’t accept a copy of it. Only the US government can possess a copy of this ID, or a medical facility or other agency charged with administering military related benefits. The applicable statute is: Title 18, U.S. Code Part I, Chapter 33, Section 701, which states: Whoever manufactures, sells or possesses any badge, identification card or other insignia of the design prescribed by the head of any department or agency of the United States for use by any officer or employee thereof, or any colorable imitation thereof, or photographs, prints or in any other manner makes or executes any engraving, photograph, print or impression in the likeness of any such badge, identification card, or other insignia, or any colorable imitation thereof, except as authorized under the regulation made pursuant to law, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both. Bolded to add emphasis, within the relevant statute, there lies and exception. The Defense Department provided in 79 FR 707, titled: Identification (ID) Cards for Members of the Uniformed Services; authorized photocopying include photocopying of DoD ID cards to facilitate medical care processing, check cashing, voting, tax matters, compliance with 50 U.S.C. appendix 501 (also known as “The Service member’s Civil Relief Act”), or administering other military-related benefits to eligible beneficiaries. The photocopying of a Military ID for government purpose is exempt. The day-to-day activities of State and Federal Agencies are government actions for government purposes. Performing government business is lawful and does not violate Title 18, U.S. Code Part I, Chapter 33, Section 701. As such, Immigration Agencies such as USCIS, NVC, and DOS are able to lawfully request and use Military IDs. Commercial establishments can ask to see your card to verify your identification, but they cannot copy it. Photocopied cards might be used for nefarious purposes and criminals value US Military IDs.

t's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a Hybrid certificate! Hybrid notarial certificates are certificates that combine both an Acknowledgement and a Jurat. Most all of the 50 states authorize their notaries to complete those two acts separately. Not all allow those two acts to be combined. We have only started seeing these types of certificates in the past 4-5 years. Before that, they just didn't exist. I don't know who's bright idea it was to combine them, but it took off like wild fire and has left the notary in a tight spot. The notary squeeze comes because most of our notary regulations do not specifically address the Hybrid certificate. So how do we know if we are authorized to complete this type of certificate? Some would say that if it's not addressed in our handbooks then it's fair game. I say, that our handbooks are not designed to list EVERYTHING that we can't or should not be doing. If it did, our handbooks/manuals would be the size of the IRS tax code. And really, that is not reasonable as we as humans can come up with some pretty off the wall stuff. But that's just my opinion. I am based in Arizona and have been faced with this dilemma myself. Can I use this hybrid certificate or not? Ultimately I went directly to the supervisor of our Notary Division at the Secretary of State and posed the question. After a few days, some research and round table discussions internally at the SOS, here's the answer I got; "...statute that a "Notary must include 'A' Notarial Certificate". This would indicate that all notarizations must contain ONE of three allowable notarial certificates. Therefore, combining certificates in Arizona is not an option, additionally the Notary is to have one journal entry for each notarization. Therefore the journal entry cannot indicate both an ACKNOWLEDGEMENT and JURAT." (10/13/2021) This subject comes up time and time again. And sometimes going to the horses mouth (SOS) can yield different answers at different times depending on whom you are speaking to. That's why I chose to go the department supervisor and requested the answer in an email so that I could share it with all of you. The fact that our own state and federal websites that have downloadable forms for various state specific documents that may include a Hybrid certificate in the preprinted notarial certificate is always an arguing point with your signers. It is not easy to explain why it's not state compliant and yet the form came from our own government agency. We assume that they should know notary regulations. But honestly, none of them have a clue. And most attorneys are not schooled in notarial law either. So, you see how well versed we need to be in our own regulations?!

THE RIGHT PRINTER FOR ME What is the best printer for me? Spoiler alert, the answer is: you have to figure it out for yourself. Don’t listen to Facebook or YouTube without doing your own research (or at least reading this article). Find the printer that is available and you can afford. There are dozens of combinations of factors to consider. Inkjet or laser? B/W or color? Print only or Multi-Function? Notaries need laser printers. In this article, we will discuss how laser printers work to understand the printer parts and compare different features. HOW INK JET PRINTERS WORK Ink jet printers squirt droplets of liquid ink onto the paper and laser printers use powder toner and heat to melt the image into the paper. While ink jet printers may cost less than laser printers initially, ink is more expensive than toner per page and inkjet printers take longer to print. In general, you can print hundreds of pages per inkjet cartridge but thousands of pages per toner cartridge. The ink can smudge or run if the paper gets wet. Many title and loan companies will not accept pages printed with inkjet printers. Laser printers and toner cartridges can be more expensive, however they last a lot longer. HOW LASER PRINTERS WORK Laser printers use 3 main parts that will need replacing: toner cartridge, transfer roller ( imager), and fuser. The printer uses light (laser) to create an electrostatic image on the transfer roller (imager). Toner is pulled to this image on the transfer roller and transferred to the paper as it passes against the roller. The paper is then pushed under presser between the fuser rollers and the heat melts the toner into the paper. A video illustrating the process can be found at: https://youtu.be/EwvmNv1leUo. In most HP printers, the transfer roller is built into the toner cartridge: https://youtu.be/WB0HnXcW8qQ. WHEN WILL I NEED TO REPLACE THESE PARTS Toner will be the first item to replace. Manufacturers state approximately how many pages you can print per cartridge, usually 8,000-12,000. Most state at 5% coverage, this means 5% of a letter size page is covered in toner. Real estate documents and legal size pages use more toner. You should expect to get about 50-75% of the stated number of pages per cartridge. There are 3 types of toner cartridges available. Manufacturer (OEM) cartridges are made by the printer manufacturer and filled with their specific blend of toner. Compatible cartridges are made by separate companies and filled with toner that is close to but not quite same as the OEM. Think of name brand vs. generic prescription drugs. Remanufactured cartridges are used (usually OEM) cartridges that are cleaned and filled with compatible toner. The transfer roller (imager) will wear down and start to develop streaks and spots. This is when you need to replace it. A transfer roller will usually last as long as 3-4 toner cartridges. Since HP builds the transfer roller into the toner cartridge it is automatically replaced when you insert a new toner cartridge. Fuser units eventually need to be replaced after frequent use. Most laser printers will inform you when the fuser unit needs to replaced. An easy way to identify when a fuser unit needs to be replaced is when there is smudging or smearing on your printout. Smudging and smearing occurs because the fuser will not heat the toner particles enough to fully melt them onto the page. HOW DO FEATURES AFFECT THE PRINTER Laser printers are monochrome (B/W) or color. Monochrome printers are generally less expensive, have larger toner cartridges, and print faster. Color printers use four different colors and generally take longer to print because the page has to cross over these 4 colors and the printer has to process each color. Color printers often need more time to cool down after a large number of pages have been printed. Some color printers may not print is one toner is empty. Laser printers are simplex (single sided) or duplex (2 sided). A duplex printer has an extra part, the duplexer, that turns the page over and runs it over the transfer roller(s) a second time before sending through the fuser. This feature is not needed for printing loan signing documents. It may slow down the print speed and is an extra part that may break. Printers can be print only or multi-function printers (MFP or all-in-one). Multi-function printers may include the ability to scan, copy, and fax. They usually print slower than ‘print only’ printers and these added abilities may not match stand alone machines. For example, a stand alone scanner may have more features, scan faster and have a better resolution. Generally quality is dictated by price and the more features means there are more parts that can break. WHAT BRAND IS BEST This is the question you will have to figure out for yourself and your budget. Xerox invented the laser printer and holds market share in business printers and MFPs, thus the term “Xerox” a page means make a copy. Xerox focuses on business printers and copiers. They use a special formula of toner and drum, which can be difficult for other manufacturers to make. Because Xerox usually leases and services their machines, they can be hard to buy. They are directly available for sale through Xerox or an approved third party dealer. Xerox dealers are available in most metropolitan areas. Used machines are available on Craigslist, OfferUp, and eBay. If you lease a machine, you usually will receive an allotment of pages and toner for free, then be charged beyond that. The good news, maintenance and repair is usually included. Brother focuses on retail printers for individuals and small/home offices. They are available in office supply stores and online. For this reason, they are widely recommended by notaries. Most Brother printers have the ability to use compatible or remanufactured toner, however this varies by model and Brother highly discourages it. Some people report issues with printing from Apple computers and Adobe Acrobat. HP makes almost half of the printer models available today They focus on home, small business, and large corporation printer needs. HP is known for its quality business enterprise printers and availability of its retail printers. Many of the retail printers are MFPs. Enterprise printers are made to handle hundreds of thousands of prints per month and millions of prints over the life of the printer. HP brand toners can be expensive because the transfer roller is part of the toner cartridge but you will never have the expense of replacing the separate transfer roller. Most HP toner cartridges have a memory chip on them knows how much toner is left and approximately how many more prints you have. Many new retail models have software which requires an original HP manufactured (OEM) toner be used, while some models give you a warning if you insert a HP compatible cartridge. Most enterprise printers do not have this software and compatible or remanufactured cartridges can be used. HP printers can be found new in office supply stores, Walmart, Target, and online. Used and refurbished (defective parts replaced) enterprise printers can be found on Craigslist, OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace, and eBay. These printers can last a lifetime and are usually leased or traded in by large corporations and small businesses. Many websites claim the per print cost is very close between Brother and HP. HP toners might be more expensive but HP does not require a separate transfer roller to be purchased. If you buy compatible or remanufactured toner cartridges, the price would drop dramatically in HP’s favor. When you buy a brand-new printer, the toner cartridge will physically be full size, however it will only be filled with about 50% of a regular toner cartridge. There are other brands like Canon and Dell but not enough notary feedback to include. WHAT MODELS ARE RECOMMENDED Because they are not sold in stores, Xerox is not a popular choice for notaries. They are quality machines and a great option. Check with your local Xerox dealer for a recommendation. Notaries recommend the Brother HL-L6200DWT printer because it has two large trays at the bottom. This printer prints up to 48 letter size pages per minute. Brother has it listed for $319, however as of 9/19/21 it is out of stock and has been for most of 2020-2021. It will cost $600-900 depending on where you can find it. D means it has a duplexer, which is not needed. W means you can print directly from a wireless device like a smartphone or table with going through your network. T means it comes with an extra tray, which is technically the 3rd tray. If you open the front cover, you will see a multipurpose tray which holds 50 sheets of paper. If you can only find the DW, you can use the multipurpose tray for either letter or legal and still have a dual tray printer. A great alternative is the HL-L5200D or DW or DWT. It only prints 42 pages per minute but is essentially the same printer as the L6200. The 5000 and 5100 are less expensive models. People report having difficulty printing with them, but they may be worth a try, especially if you have free return. HP fans recommend the enterprise printer models P4014, P4015, and M600 series for the office. The P4014 and P4015 were made in the early-mid 2000s while the M600 was made 2008-2012. HP also has the letter system. D means duplexer, N means network, T means extra tray. As the printer comes; flip down the front door for tray 1 and tray 2 is the main tray. If you add an extra tray, it would be tray 3, 4, or 5. You can add extra memory to these printers for about $15 to help handle really large files. Originally these were thousands of dollars but you can find them online or locally for $150-300 and they can last a lifetime or at least a notary career. You can find an extra online for $50-100. Because of the popularity of these machines, replacement parts are easily found online and there is probably a repair place close to you.

Attorney State vs the Notary Signing Agent (Here’s my disclaimer: I am not an Attorney, and this is not to be construed as legal advice.) The second biggest career question…. Can I be successful as a Notary Signing Agent in an Attorney Closing State like Georgia? People who are interested in becoming a Notary Public and a Notary Signing Agent that also live in an Attorney Closing State often wonder if it’s worth the time, money, and effort if all the real estate closings are (by law) done only by Attorney’s. First let’s define what an Attorney closing state is. In some states, preparing real estate documents is considered the ‘Practice of Law’ that only an Attorney can do. While many states (not all) require the documents to be prepared by an Attorney, there are only a handful that specify that the closing/signing of the documents also be conducted by an attorney. Often, when the documents are required to be prepared by the attorney, the documents are then submitted to the Title/Escrow company to complete the process. In a few states, an Attorney must be present or involved in the signing process. Those states are; Connecticut Delaware Georgia Massachusetts New York South Carolina South Dakota Vermont The key words in the paragraph above are “present or involved”. This language appears in the RE laws for the state of Georgia (for this example). While they will often encourage the signers to come into the office to sign their documents, they can be “involved” at a remote location via phone. This is enough to satisfy the requirements in the law. I am located in Arizona and often find myself placing an Attorney on speaker on my phone while conducting a closing on a property that is in an Attorney State. This is pretty common for those of us not in an attorney state. My notary colleagues in Georgia, New York and South Carolina are very successful NSAs in those states conducting their business in the exact same way. They take documents to the signer’s location, place the attorney on speaker phone and complete the signing in exactly the same manner that I would except they are actually located in that attorney state. So how do they make their business successful with these restrictions? Many have told me that their business looks something like this 40% of their total business from Signing Services Of that, approximately 25% is for properties located within their state boundaries. And yes, they have an Attorney on the phone during the signing. And 5% is for properties outside of their state. The remaining 60% of their total business is represented as 45% directly from those very same attorney law firms. Yes, and yes ! They market themselves directly to Real Estate Attorneys. And that leaves 15% of their total revenue coming from General Notary work. I hope that this has helped answer the question if you have ever wondered if you can do this type of work in your state. I always recommend you network with another notary in your state (maybe not directly in your immediate area) for pointers to get you started and techniques that they have used to go after and get that direct business.

My recommended 8 steps to become a Loan Signing Agent Read Bill Soroka’s book, Sign & Thrive, to see if this is for you. This is a quick read and packed with information. This book will show you, step-by-step, how to start a mobile notary and loan signing business from scratch. I find this a valuable resource for many people; Those considering becoming a loan signing agent, current signing agents looking to take their business to the next level or any professionals looking to promote their brand. Become a Notary Public in your state and sign up with the National Notary Association (NNA) to purchase your supplies. Each state has different requirements, laws and procedures. The NNA has all of the information you will need. They sell high quality must-have supplies like ink stamps and embossers with competitive pricing. My current kit includes the NNA Commission ink stamps #4913 & #4912 and their hand-held commission seal embosser #05300. Learn and understand your state specific notary laws and requirements. Some states have solid notary public training available, however many do not. I found the NNA Notary Essentials online training to be quite valuable. Another great resource is mentoring through Laura Biewer at atyourservicemobilenotary.com Promote your brand and perform notarizations. Tell EVERYONE you know that you are a notary public! Share it to your facebook profile (not in a spammy MLM way). Tell your friends, co-workers, classmates, family members, everyone! Network with local professionals, join your neighborhood facebook group pages to participate in the discussions. Do not spam the group with your services, but engage in discussions and connect with people in the group. you are not promoting a MLM, but a real service people will need eventually. Must have FREE resources include; Facebook business page Google business page - This provides the majority of my General Notary Work (GNW) Yelp business page Select a loan signing agent training program, complete the training and obtain certification. I personally recommend Notary2Pro and Sign & Thrive (in that order). The training and mentoring are outstanding. There are other popular training programs available (LSS - Loan Signing System, etc. Do your due diligence and select a program which you really relate with. Obtain your NNA signing agent certification and background check. Obtain your annual Signing Agent Certification and background check report from the NNA here. It is nationally recognized and required by many signing services. To prepare for this certification, download the Code of Conduct PDF from the Signing Professionals Workgroup (SPW) here. This will be an open book exam. Hustle. Connect. Give. Work hard, promote yourself, network with like minded professionals and GIVE. Share your knowledge and help others who reach out to you. Givers do gain! Continue your education. Never stop learning. Continue learning. Learning more about the loan signing business, networking, personal development, professional development, business acumen, etc. This process never ends! signingagent loansigning LSA loansigning

Knowing whether you need a witness on a document has more than one aspect to it and that fact has a lot of Notaries a bit confused. Let's break it down for you here. 1 - You may need a document witness or two (witness to a signature) on a document in a loan signing package. Often on conveyance documents (Quit Claim Deeds, Warranty Deeds, etc.) and on Security instruments (Deed of Trust, Mortgage, etc.) you will see witness signature lines. Those documents are created by the lender and if the lender is based in a state that requires witnesses, this document will likely come pre-formatted with the witness lines, regardless of where the property is located. So just having those witness signature lines on your document doesn't necessarily mean they will be used at your signing. So you are tasked with finding out or deciding whether you are using those witness lines or not. A quick call to your hiring party can answer the question, but as you become more experienced you can use some critical thinking skills to determine the answer. The first thing you should set out to discover is where the property is located and is it in a 'Witness State'. Currently there are five (5) states that require a witness on a Deed. They are; Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina. Regardless of what state you are commissioned in, you will need witness(es) if you are assigned to assist in a closing for a property in one of those states. The second discovery - Can you, as the Notary on that document, also be one of the witnesses? That question can only be answered by your Secretary of State or other governing agency...not the title company. If you can't find the answer in your State Notary Manual, then you will have to make a call. The following list is current as of the writing of this article, but always double check your state regulations. Connecticut; Deeds require two (2) witnesses and if you are a Notary in that state you may also be one (1) of the witnesses. Florida; Deeds require two (2) witnesses and if you are a Notary in that state you may also be one (1) of the witnesses. Georgia; Deeds require one (1) witness and if you are a Notary in that state the Notary can't be the witness. Louisiana; Deeds require two (2) witnesses and if you are a Notary in that state the Notary can't be the witness. South Carolina; Deeds require two (2) witnesses and if you are a Notary in that state you may also be one (1) of the witnesses. If you are signing on a property located in a witness state but YOU are NOT in a witness state, you should follow the regulations for your state to know if you can also be the witness; Arizona; Notary cannot be the witness when notarizing a document for property in a witness state. California; Notary cannot be the witness when notarizing a document for property in a witness state. Oregon; Does not have a law that addresses whether or not a Notary can act as the witness and the Notary on a single document. Washington; Notary cannot be the witness when notarizing a document for property in a witness state. Kansas; Notary cannot be the witness when notarizing a document for property in a witness state. Maine; Notary cannot be the witness when notarizing a document for property in a witness state. This is not a complete list so you will need to check to see if your state regulations address this. The NNA suggests that it is "generally better to say no" because it can create a possible conflict. 2 - The next confusing element comes when we look at a document known as a Power of Attorney (POA). This is not a document where you are deciding whether or not you need the witness lines. This usually falls in the category of General Notary Work (GNW) and is never at the discretion of the Notary. If there are witness lines on the document then there needs to be witness(es) present to witness the signing. Witnesses to these documents should never be the Notary. They are private individuals, over the age of 18-yrs and not a party to the document. Close relatives might be prohibited as well. 3 - And yet there is another process that involves the word "witnessing" and that is a notarial act called, Signature Witnessing. Witnessing a signature is a different act from an Acknowledgement or a Jurat and not every state has this act available to their Notaries. There are thirteen (13) states that have Signature Witnessing as a notarial act. Georgia, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas and Pennsylvania are among those. Signature witnessing is used when it is required to prove that a document was signed on a particular day. An acknowledgement does not require that the document be signed in your presence in most states. A Jurat establishes that the document was signed in your presence but is also a sworn oath. So Signature Witnessing is a different act with different requirements. California, Arizona, Florida, Texas are just a few of the stated that are not authorized to perform Signature Witnessing. How do you know if the certificate is Signature Witnessing? It will say 'Signed (or attested) before me' and will not require an Oath. 4 - Then there is a Subscribing Witness. Sometimes called ' Proof of Execution by Subscribing Witness'. This is a person who watches the signing of a document and then takes it to a Notary and acknowledges the principal did in fact sign it. Not many states allow this and can you imagine what opportunities for illegal activity would exist. Pretty much leaving the door wide open for fraud. 5 - And the last one (that I can think of) is the Credible Witness. This is not a signature or a notarial act. This is actually a human ID that is used to identify the signer when they do not possess valid government ID. It has been strongly recommended that a Credible Witness Affidavit be completed and retained by the Notary.

For Notary Signing Agents just getting started or even those in the business for a while, we have come to know and love our Rescission Calendars. These are important because they tell us when our Signer's last day to cancel is. We use it every time we go to a signing to check the dates, or enter the correct dates on the Signers' Notice of Right to Cancel form. We have printed copies that we carry with us. We have it on our smart phones. And we check it every time we print a new package that requires a NRTC to be in the package. But, are we too attached to it? We should be educated enough to figure out the correct date for the last day to cancel a transaction on our own without referring to a Rescission Calendar. Why? Because those pre-printed rescission calendars COULD potentially be wrong. And, in 2021 the NNA Rescission calendar was wrong TWICE. The first time was when the US Congress arbitrarily threw in a new holiday...Juneteenth, two days before it was to be observed. That left everyone scrambling. The second time was for the Fourth of July Holiday. There are eleven Federally recognized Holidays; New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. When a Holiday falls on a Saturday, it is observed on the Friday before. When it falls on a Sunday, it is observed the following Monday. We, in the industry call these "PUSH" Holidays because they are pushed forward or back by one day. The NNA Calendar for 2021 incorrectly listed the rescission date for Thursday 07/01/2021 as 07/05/2021 when it should have actually been 07/06 (because 7/5 was a PUSH Holiday). And for Friday 07/02, it was listed as 07/06 and should have been 07/07 (because 07/05 was a PUSH Holiday). And for Saturday 07/03 it was listed as 07/07 when it should have been for midnight on 07/08. The regulations state that certain loans must give the borrower a (3) three day right to cancel. Nothing in the regulations state that they can't have a day or two longer. It just can't be less than three days. So when we are figuring out the last day to cancel for ourselves (not relying on the rescission calendar), we are counting (3) three days from the date of the signing BUT you skip Sundays, Holidays, and skip PUSH Holidays. So all you really need to know is what the Federal Holidays are and what day they fall on.

HECM (pronounced "heck-um") is an acronym for Home Equity Conversion Mortgage. It is more commonly known as a Reverse Mortgage. A Reverse Mortgage is simply the opposite of a Forward (regular) Mortgage. Where the forward mortgage loan balance reduces as the years go by (by making monthly payments), a Reverse mortgage balance grows larger because you are not required to make any payments at all. So why would anyone want a Reverse Mortgage? Most of those reasons are financial in nature and the pendulum swings from the very poor to the very rich. A Reverse Mortgage allows the homeowner to access the equity in their home and pay off any current mortgage. And they are not required to pay anything back. No monthly payments....ever. Standard HECM loans can go up to $726,000.00 and the Jumbo products go up to $4 million. Let’s look at a couple of reasons to get a Reverse Mortgage; Seniors living on a fixed income, often just their Social Security would benefit from never having to make another mortgage payment, and having access to more cash can supplement their retirement. The opposite of that is the very well-to-do homeowner who wants to access the equity in their home as a means of liquidity. Maybe for investments or just to free up some tax-free cash. At the same time, it pays off their current mortgage (if any) and they never have to make another mortgage payment. Reverse Mortgages are available to anyone who is 62 or older. It must be a primary residence and there must be some equity in the home. So, if they currently have a mortgage, the equity is the difference between the value of the home and the amount of the current mortgage. Most HECM products require roughly 50% equity to qualify. You can also purchase a home using a Reverse Mortgage as well as refinance a current Reverse mortgage to capture any additional equity growth if the housing market has gone up. Not only will the homeowner never have to make another mortgage payment, but they may also have cash coming to them as a result of the Reverse Mortgage. They will have a few options on how to receive that money. The most popular is in regular monthly payments or they can open a Line of Credit that they can draw from. That Line of Credit will have a growth rate that far exceeds traditional Savings accounts. The other great thing is that most HECMs are backed by FHA/HUD. That means IF the lender does not do their job, is late on making payments to the homeowner, or becomes insolvent, then FHA/HUD will step in and administrate the remainder of the loan for the homeowner. These types of loans are also NON-RECOURSE Loans. That means that the homeowner or their Heirs will never owe more on the loan than the house is worth. Knowing that the loan balance increases over time, if the homeowner wants to sell the home or the family needs to decide what to do with it after they pass away, it is only a matter of what the market will bear. If the family can sell for $310,000 but the loan has increased to $340,000.00, the family will NOT owe the $30,000 difference. Likewise, if the loan balance is $310,000 and they sell for $340,000 then the Heirs keep the profit. Maybe this has helped you know a little more about that weird mortgage called a HECM. If you are interested as a Notary on learning more about Reverse Mortgages please consider becoming a member of our site to review our training videos and train LIVE with us once a month specifically on Reverse Mortgages. Article by Beth Hathoot for Notary Stars 05/27/2021

If you have never purchased or refinanced a home you may not have a full picture of how the loan process develops and what happens when. This is a great article written by Ms. Carol Ray, owner of Notary2Pro. Carol was an escrow officer for many years before creating one of the best-known and recognized training programs in the county for Notary Signing Agents. In this article, you will have an overview of the progression of the loan from application to close. And you should get a good sense of how important your role is in this process. Notary2Pro Articles 0 Comment(s)

Corrections are going to be much more a part of your Notary Loan Signing Agent career than your encounters with requests for backdating. Therefore, we want to clarify the difference between a correction and backdating to help enlighten the Notary community. First and foremost, if you miss guiding a signer to sign in the correct spot or date a document (even if notarized) and you must obtain the signature or date at a later time- as long as the document was present and reviewed you are fine to have the signer sign and/or date for the date the document was between you both for the date that it originally appeared. The same thing applies if you have miss-dated a notarial certificate, forgot to stamp a document, or misspelled a name and you are asked to correct it. You may apply your corrections if allowed or requested. Corrections can only be applied to documents that existed between the notary and signers. Now if you have a completely new document requesting a date in the past or future you absolutely may only date that document for the date your notarial certificate for the date the signer appears before you. Otherwise, that is backdating or postdating and just should not and can't be done. It is unethical and can cost you your Notary commission. Notaries will face requests for backdating and postdating documents throughout their term. It is not an uncommon request. Remember: the people or companies that ask you to do this are in some sort of need and although you may not be able to help them you should always decline them with care and concern. Never make people feel poorly about their request; however, you may educate them on your State laws (which is dangerous in all States). There are no circumstances that a notary should ever backdate or postdate any document. If a document is already dated for a signer, however, the notary in most cases can still notarize the document by entering the date the signer appeared before them on their notarial certificate as long as the date for the signer matches or is a previous date. For instance, in Arizona, documents may be signed on the date they are issued or any date thereafter as long as the notary enters the date in their notarial certificate for the date the signer signed in front of them. Notaries may not notarize documents that have future dates printed for the signers. REAL-LIFE EXAMPLE: We recently received a call on the notary line here at NotaryStars.com where one of our members did in-fact make a mistake on a Deed of Trust. She was more than willing to help fix it but something wasn't quite right. When she received a copy of the document for correction she realized that the Deed had actually changed. The vesting and signature line of the Deed of Trust had changed from John J. Star to John Joe Star. She also recognized that the document's bar code had been altered. It was twice the size of the bar code on the original documents. This was a tricky case and our greatest minds came together to help the notary make the decision not to correct the new version of the document. We advised the notary obtaining the missing signature and date would be okay; however, if she executed the Notarial Certificate for a new document that would be backdating. We further advised her to let the Title Agency and Signing Agency she would only be able to apply corrections to the original Deed of Trust that appeared between her and the signers. That could have either been a fresh copy of the original copy as long as it was identical. (REPRINT IS YOUR BEST OPTION IF YOU HAVEN'T DELETED THE DOCUMENTS YET). This was a bit stressful for the notary but we helped her compose her email to the Title Agency and Signing Company explaining politely her position and they digressed.