Notary & Notary Signing Agent Services
When you need your documents to count
What is a Notary Signing Agent?
A Notary Signing Agent is a Notary who has been trained to handle loan documents. Lenders and title companies hire Signing Agents as independent contractors to assist in the last step of the loan process.
What do Notary Signing Agents do?
The responsibilities of a Notary Signing Agent generally include printing loan documents, meeting the signer and notarizing their signature, and quickly returning the documents for processing. NSAs are also responsible for following any additional instructions from the lender, title company or signing service that hires them for loan closing work. For example, an NSA may be asked to fax back documents right away or use a specific mailing service to return the paperwork safely.
Since Notary Signing Agents have access to private financial information about borrowers and are sent into their client's home, the mortgage finance industry requires all Signing Agents to undergo a background screening on an annual basis. This helps prevent mortgage fraud and ensures the consumer's information is secure.
Notary signing agents play an important role in the closing process, especially remote closings. Often they are required to travel to the home of the seller or purchaser and must have a complete understanding of all the documents they’re reviewing with the client.
South Carolina is a Attorney state, but if you are in SC and need to finalize your closing taking place in a different state you would be required to use a NSA to get your deal closed on time. Your lender would offer to find you a NSA or you can find your own. Most times finding your own would be less fees.
What is a Notary Public?
A Notary Public is an official of integrity appointed by state government — typically by the secretary of state — to serve the public as an impartial witness in performing a variety of official fraud-deterrent acts related to the signing of important documents. These official acts are called notarizations, or notarial acts. Notaries are publicly commissioned as "ministerial" officials, meaning that they are expected to follow written rules without the exercise of significant personal discretion, as would otherwise be the case with a "judicial" official.
As official representatives of the state, Notaries Public certify the proper execution of many of the life-changing documents of private citizens — whether those diverse transactions convey real estate, grant powers of attorney, establish a prenuptial agreement, or perform the multitude of other activities that enable our civil society to function.
