Learning, Sharing, and Teaching > Entrepreneurship

Loan Signing Agent Side Hustle - Anyone doing it?

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DebtFreeinPhilly:
Hi -
I recently listened to a few podcasts on Side Hustle Nation about becoming a loan signing agent or notary. Several of the people on the podcast explained how they make anywhere between $50 - $200 for each loan signing appointment. It seems like an interesting side hustle to me since I could do it on the weekends or evenings when I am available. Has anyone else done this before? What are your experiences? What are the true costs? Any other information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! 

Sugaree:
I'm kind of interested in this myself.  It's not overly expensive to become a notary in my state, but it seems like every single bank around here has at least one notary in every branch that will notarize for free for members, so I'm not sure how much business there would really be.

DebtFreeinPhilly:
As far as I understood it, you are only being used during the settlement of home loans. I guess you could also be a notary public since its the same license. Not too sure though.

profnot:
I worked as a Notary Signing Agent for a few years when everyone was getting 30 year fixed rate mortgages around 10 years ago.

The usual pay started at $150 per "signing" and went up.  The title companies sent the closing packages via FedEx so they arrived the day before the appointment.  We dropped off the signed and notarized packages the day after the appointment.

It was a LOT of fun.  The best notaries in big cities made over $100K a year during the high volume years.

Now the pay is usually $75 or less per signing.  NSAs get the documents via email, usually just a few hours before the scheduled appointment.  Now the title companies require the NSA to scan back the entire package to the title company before getting permission to FedEx it.  That alone can take a half hour as some packages are over 150 pages.

Not enough pay for the time spent working.  Especially when you have to get a  background check every year and buy high-limit insurance or the title companies won't use you.  And gas is now much more expensive.

This is not a weekend job.  Almost all signings occur between the 22nd and 26th of the month.  Most take place at borrowers' homes in the evenings.

The National Notary Association is all about making money off the notaries by selling them training, supplies, insurance, etc.  The amount of money they say can be made by the NSA is vastly exaggerated.

If you want to learn more about the nuts and bolts of this work, read the forum at NotaryRotary com

I noticed the podcast on Side Hustle Nation.  He obviously did not vet his sources (the training companies lie outrageously).  My esteem for his podcast plummeted.

I loved NSA work before the fees plummeted and documents arrived via email.  It was very easy to write my books around the scheduled signings.  Meeting people and their dogs was interesting.

DebtFreeinPhilly:
Thanks for the info @profnot ! I will check out NotaryRotary for additional stuff.

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