Notary News & Notes: Sept 2006
September 1, 2006
To all Signing Carolina sub-contractors:
There are a few things we need to address. We have brought on many new agents lately and it is important for everyone to be on the same page. Let us know if you have any questions .
We have a new phone #: Please note our new phone number: 336-992-3304. Our previous number (336-420-3484) is no longer working.
Calling the AFTER HOURS NUMBER at night or on the weekend: Calls to the after hours numbers should be emergency/urgent issues only on closings happening that day - or very early the next morning. If the issue is on a future closing, please save it for when we open the next day. Lately, we have experienced numerous calls after hours and on the weekends for silly non-urgent things. We need to reserve this time for those agents who are out there in the field needing help right away. If you do need to call, have your order information available (brwr and client name). Do not leave urgent issues via voice mail, such as not being able to go to a closing or printing problems, etc., on the company phone. That practice prevents us from being able to work the issue prior to business hours and can result in someone's loan not closing.
Printing edocs: Most agents find that a laser printer is not only affordable but a must for edoc loans in order to print packages within tight time constraints secondary to drive time, adverse weather conditions, late arrival of the docs to you, making borrower copies, two loans, etc. Inkjet printers are not acceptable for printing loan packages. It's very important to make sure that you are able to use different print utilities preferred by lenders. You definitely need to be able to print out Adobe Acrobat PDF, Word, and Swift View formatted packages. Visit our resources page for a list of print utilities you should have on your computer.
When you accept an edoc signing, make sure you are prepared to do the job right. Keep extra ink/toner on hand, as well as both letter and legal paper. Don't become the victim of a late night printing job without what you need on hand and all area stores closed!
It's critical that you contact Signing Carolina early in the process if you encounter any issues with accessing or printing your edocs. It doesn't make us look professional to wait until eleventh hour and tell the lender that the loan won't go because the agent ran into printing issues. If we have some lead time, then we may be able to secure another agent to close the loan. The priority is customer service for that borrower and lender!
Calling borrowers: It's necessary that you contact the borrower shortly after accepting the order and no later than the next day to avoid a host of issues that can occur. It is not acceptable to wait until you receive the loan package or the day of closing, unless it was a same day closing request. As most of you are aware, ATI orders require contact within 2 hours of assignment.
Why is early contact desirable? If you are proactive in calling right away, you will discover early on that you have a wrong or disconnected phone numbers early enough for us to try to obtain a "good" number. You will discover that the borrower is not aware of the closing date or time of appointment, can't make that date/time, doesn't have current proof of valid ID available, plans to have a POA at signing, or won't have the spouse there. You will discover that the borrower does not want the loan anymore or never discussed the loan with the spouse. Waiting until the eleventh hour to find out issues like this is not a good thing. Getting calls from Loan Officers and Managers telling us that their customer has not been contacted is hugely embarrassing.
The first phone contact is important not to just confirm the appointment time and secure directions, but to educate the borrower also as to NC spousal law requirements for signing and to make sure he/she is prepared to have credible ID for inspection when you arrive at the signing. If you're advised about the potential use of a POA and Signing Carolina is notified in advance, we can avoid your going to closing only to find that particular lender did not review and approve the POA or does not allow one to be used at all. Finding out these obstacles early means that you are freed up to accept other viable assignments if the end result is cancellation of the signing because things can't be worked out!
Let us know if you have left multiple messages and had no response from the borrower. We can give a heads up to the lender and get assistance from the LO if need be. This is especially critical if you are unable to secure any directions for the borrower's location and avoids "no show" situations from happening.
Please be courteous about contacting the borrower if you are going to be delayed beyond the appointment time for any reason. If you are in a "bad reception cell" location, think about stopping in at a gas station or other landline phone site to give the borrower a heads up. If an emergency occurs such as a car accident, sudden illness or serious family matter, we understand that calling us is not the foremost thing on your mind. But please let us know something as soon as you or another party can contact us if you won't be proceeding to the signing.
Communicating the closing status of your order: We are still spending precious time every morning calling a few of you to find out the status of your closing the previous day.This, quite frankly, has to stop. If we haven't been given a closing status and tracking #, then you have not completed your assignment and fulfilled your obligation. You must understand that the clients are chomping at the bit every morning asking for updates. Loan Officer commissions depend on these loans closing and naturally, they want to know a status. Our company is highly utilized by lenders/title companies because of our quick turnaround on scheduling their loans, seamlessly coordinating with multiple parties and notifying promptly. It's very embarrassing for us to get several calls and emails from parties wanting to know if their loan closed or not, and our response at the end of the business day being that we are attempting to secure that information from the agent. There are so many ways for you to notify Signing Carolina of status: website notary invoice completion at www.signingcarolina.com; email to closings@signingcarolina.com; fax to 800-930-0554; phone call to 336-992-3304. All confirmations should be into us by 9am without exception. Keep a supply of UPS/FedEx/DHL labels and envelopes/paks on hand so that you know what the tracking # will be when you notify on the status. Consider getting an account with the carriers so that you can go online and create labels to print out. Sending us a confirmation invoice three days later with the tracking number is of no use to us...unless the package still hasn't arrived! Even if you do not have a tracking number readily available, we must still know if the loan closed or not. You can get a tracking # to us later.
Reasons why we may no longer be calling an agent for assignments: We have adopted the “3 strikes; you’re out” policy for basic errors (ie: forgetting to notarize a doc/missing a signature, etc). Aside from this, the 3 most common reasons we stop using an agent is:
- The agent may be too much maintenance: meaning we continually have to follow up and ask questions about closing status, reminding them to call the brwr, etc.
- The agent cannot or will not print loan packages: edocs represent 70% of our business.
- The agent’s fee’s are not in line with the industry.
We share this information with you so you can work smarter, not harder. Your success means our success and vice versa. We know what our clients want and we have to deliver every time or someone else will. Remember: We only handle 1 state. If we allow a few agents who are slack to continue working for us, they can single-handedly end up tainting our reputation to the point where the client drops us. Losing work hits everyone’s bottom line - ours and yours. We do not mean to be harsh, but we do have to get on board with the reality of the profession we have all chosen.
As always, if you have any questions about anything contained in this letter, please call us.
Our number is 336-420-3484 – NOT! ( LOL) Our new number is 336-992-3304.
Thanks-
Sallie, Frank. Libby and Crystal
Signing Carolina, Inc.
Please email us for rate information.
Signing Carolina, Inc.
3220 Rockingham Road, High Point, NC 27265
Phone: 336.992.3304 Fax: 800.930.0554
Member of the National Notary Association