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A Mobile Notary Public is a notary who travels to the homes, offices, and hospital rooms of those asking to have a form notarized. To become a notary public, one has to take a state mandated test, become fingerprinted, and then order the necessary supplies.
Once one becomes a notary, the next step is to find clients. In some states, the fees allowed to notarize forms are as low as 50 cents per form. In other states, the fees to notarize forms are four or ten dollars per form. If one adds in the cost of gas, mileage on the car, and travel time, this small amount of money can soon become a negative.
So how does one make money as a Mobile Notary Public? Although the state only allows a set fee for notarizing forms, it does not mandate set fees for the travel expenses associated with the notarization of these documents. Therefore, if you lived in the state of California, the fee to notarize a document would be $10. What would happen in this case, is that you would charge another $10 for traveling to the client’s home or place of business. And, if the place of business is farther than 20 minutes away, you can charge more. The key to charging traveling fees, is to let the client know in advance what you will be charging and why.
The most lucrative way to make money as a Mobile Notary Public is to work with lawyers and loan document signing companies. What would take place in this instance is that the notary would witness the signing of certain documents and notarize the necessary forms. In these incidents, the notary becomes more than a notary public, he or she becomes a signing agent. As a signing agent, the notary can charge $50 per signing package for a thirty mile radius, $75 for a fifty mile radius and $100 for anything over fifty miles, one way.
Loan document signing companies, are also known as, signing services. The following is a scenario on how it all falls into place:
A lending company contacts the signing service and says that the they have a borrower who needs to have some loan documents signed. The signing service will then call (or beep) two to three notaries and the first one to get back to them gets the job. The notary then waits for the documents to arrive via overnight messenger service. Once the package arrives, the notary will carefully look over the documents and then drives to the home or office of the borrower. The notary requests proper identification and witnesses the signing of the loan documents. Once the loan documents are signed, the notary will notarize the Deed of Trust, as well as a few other forms, such as, title affidavits.
Where does one find clients? By hitting the internet. Most signing companies have a web page, so your best bet would be to type in "mobile, notary, public, signing, service" on any search engine. Once the list comes up, click on each company and either fill out the online application or request an application via email. The best bet is to make sure that you sign up with each and every signing service you can locate on the internet, as you will become an independent contractor. As such, you will have to compete with other notaries in your area for jobs. What this means is that one company may only call you once every two months, while another one calls you on a monthly basis. And better yet, some companies will call you weekly, if not daily. The key factors in getting calls back for future jobs is laid out below:
· return all pages within five minutes of the beep
· have a fax machine ready to receive faxed instructions at all times
· make sure that you do your job right the first time
· make sure that you show up to every appointment on time
· make sure that you do not flake out and not show up once you have accepted a job
· make sure that you see proper identification
· make sure that you have each person, that you notarize, sign your notary journal and leave their thumbprint
· make sure that you place your seal on all required forms
· make sure that you do not change anything on the forms without permission from those who prepare the forms
· make sure that you return all documents, in the preaddressed messenger envelopes the day of each signing
So how much money can one make in this industry? It all depends on how much work you are willing to put into it. One can make anywhere from $50 per month, to $4,000 per month, before expenses.
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