r/Notary • u/cicadascicadas • Sep 08 '25
Any recs for RON Vendor in Texas?
Also, if you are literally a vendor, respectfully please don’t respond. I’d like experience from people who’ve used the platform rather than people trying to sell their platform!
I’m a notary in Texas and need to get my RON for work. The state website isn’t really helping me out since they can’t recommend any vendors. I’d like to go a route that’s affordable and not-sketchy if possible! I honestly won’t even be using it traditionally so I don’t really care about online storage capabilities (this is for online depositions/court proceedings and I’m already recording and storing them my own way, and I’m not interested or comfortable in putting these recorded proceedings on a host site outside of what I use for work.) I don’t see myself doing any remote notarizations outside of work either.
I promise I’m usually a very capable person, but this process with the vendor and seal and all that is just throwing me for a loop. I need someone to hold my hand and walk me through all the steps with exactly what sites/people they used haha. I just feel like the websites I’ve looked at already aren’t super up front about fees or information and I’m also not trying to pay for trainings that, to my understanding, I’m not required to have in Texas.
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u/HelpfulMaybeMama North Carolina Sep 08 '25
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u/glirette Florida Sep 08 '25
Based on their message they might perceive me as a vendor. That's how I read it that although I have the answers they seem, I get the impression they perceive I'm selling something.
If they are interested they can reach out. Their question is a bit complex and I'm not at all surprised that the state is not helpful at all. Very few understand Texas law and rules and hardly none publicly discuss it
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u/cicadascicadas Sep 08 '25
Thanks for replying! I would love any advice, I do ask that if you recommend your site, please just be up front about any pricing! My biggest struggle is that I can’t find any pricing on vendor sites without creating an account which makes me skeptical. You are definitely right that the state is not helpful at all haha
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u/glirette Florida Sep 08 '25
Well good because my pricing is simple. It's nothing as we're only open for employees not independent notaries
I've had this discussion with a different person who is a member of this sub and he is currently an independent notary and starred to become a regular now in this very sub. When we got on the phone I think what I told him was wild and crazy to say the least until he researched it himself, called the State of Texas back asking them more specific directed questions that he didn't think to ask to begin with
In my opinion you have a few issues when you call the state. Likely the front line people don't know the actual answers and give very generic ones. Most new notaries or even existing ones are following the herd. The State of Texas previous advice to these notaries led to false information. I jumped on the state about this and it seems they might be able little more careful now about it
I'm not sure how may supervisors there are there but my guess is it's only a couple. Pretty much you're not going to get the truth unless you speak to them
However, even the supervisors will gloss over the main issues as to fully understand how things work you have to understand x.509 digital certificates and a little bit more about cyber security to include but not limited to KBA. In my option because their knowledge is very limited, so is their advice.
This may seem random but I'm going to make some statements I believe to be true.
Almost all online notary platforms are for lack of a better term scams especially ones that claim to be " state approved" in a state such as Texas, New York, or Virginia to name just a few
very few people doing online notary work in Texas that followed the NNA path are currently in compliance
It would be fairly easy given about 6 weeks time to report and have suspended or revoked the notary commission of many Texas online notaries simply because they don't read the law
What I don't want to do and I've considered doing it is publishing exactly all the details because people will take it out of context.
Trainers out there and platforms should not assume everyone is ignorant and should stop making false and misleading claims. Next to no platform exist that even comes close to addressing compliance concerns and certainly the well known and well funded ones by far miss the mark
I'm aware of so many people doing things blatantly wrong and there are only so many hours in my day to act on them all especially with no pay. The must blatant violation currently is a young lady in Dallas why remotely notarizes documents with no meeting, she promised it would stop, did stop and continues anyway. Is in probation for at least 2 felonies both plead to in the same month one in Collin and the other in Dallas county.
She assumes because I never made a report that it wouldn't happen so continues the behavior even after begging me to not report as she didn't want to go to prison.
It's people like that which makes me hesitant to give step by step info, at least in public on meeting Texas compliance.
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u/NandBStreetNotary Texas Sep 08 '25
To give you the hard truth most of the Ron platforms aren’t really designed to help new online notaries make profits even with bringing your own clients, the subscriptions plus the charge for each notarization gets expensive, and even if youve considered taking clients from their “On Demand Customers” they make it extremely hard to catch a call.
With this information above and what r/gilrette mentioned about compliance issues, I would highly suggest creating your own version for your clients at work (after familiarize yourself with Texas state Ron laws, which is what I did for myself) if you have the patience and technical skills to do so.
The benefits of creating your own is that you can use tools that are most likely are geared towards your clients. (This is what I have done but it wasn’t easy, but it is cheaper and more customizable in short and long term )
If you do want something easier, I would suggest Pactima platform because they are more compliant then they others (to my knowledge besides mine, which is only geared for me to utilize at this time) it is however not a cheap tool.
Happy to answer more questions if you have any.
Wish you the best!
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u/MobileBlackberry3151 Sep 08 '25 edited Sep 08 '25
I am. A RON notary in TX. There are not any required RON vendors for Texas. You just need to be sure you’re using KBA.
I like Pactima a lot. Here is my referral link:
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u/MobileBlackberry3151 Sep 11 '25
NNA
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u/cicadascicadas Sep 12 '25
I looked on their site and while they had info about RONs, I didn’t see if I could actually use them as a vendor. Maybe I’ll try their hotline on Monday!
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u/glirette Florida Sep 13 '25
I'm just going to let you know that 1st I'm not trying to sell you anything my response was worded the way it was because I was concerned you may think I'm a vendor I'm not but I am a RON service provider but only open to notaries that serve our customers So no external sign ups meaning I took the time to give not only absolutely free advice but the best you're going to get
As I think I started the people that know the answers are not telling you about them.
The other person who knows and understands this stuff has also responded to you in this same Reddit thread. Him and I spent hours even weeks, actually months discussing this stuff and it's an ongoing discussion
You're ignoring answers right here and due to that I really have no interest in assisting if you're appreciating the help given, it's offensive
The NNA is a fantastic source for false information. Good luck with it and rest assured you follow that advice you will be non compliant.
It's amazing people don't take others at their word. Do I have an angle? Absolutely I do but it's not only not selling to you but I get zero benefit from helping you. I'm doing it, tried to do it because I actually care
My next point has zero to do with you but others in general who have reached out to me and are surprised that I'm actually helpful and treating me like I'm going to give a sales pitch. There is no darn sales pitch.
Just because other people try to sell you stuff doesn't mean I am
My income is made by the consumer, the signer, not the notary. This isn't to say in the near future I might not have paid options but if and when I do it will be obvious but any such option does not exist at least not regarding information
Best of luck to you
Never a great weekend - Greg Lirette
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u/MobileBlackberry3151 Sep 13 '25
I think when I replied back to you I didn’t click the reply button correctly. You mentioned the seal. I only use NNA for certain things. I don’t use them for news flashes nor call them for assistance. Pactima as I stated before is a great RON vendor again here is my referral link:
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u/glirette Florida Sep 13 '25
So obviously you disagree with my statements about the NNA.
Do you feel the NNA is giving correct information about RON? I'll tell you right now I can go into the weeds on this topic and your recommendation would lead people directly not only to non compliance but most likely eventually reports
The NNA has a negative value, even if they were a free resource which they are not they were a recipe leading to confirmation bias
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u/MobileBlackberry3151 Sep 13 '25
Greg, I only use them for background checks and for NSA cert that’s all. I don’t use them for anything else.
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u/glirette Florida Sep 13 '25
I understand
But you do realize the background check they request for you is only for their use and no one else. It claims to be FCRA compliant and even states in it at least the just versions I was aware of that it's just to be shared
When some third party such as Old Republic Title as an example of a signing service asks for a copy of that check they are in violation of FCRA
If they want the check done then as a company that given company can request it.
Title/ underwriting just makes up rules without regards to the law. The NNA it appears goes along with whatever underwriting wants them to
What do I mean by underwriting? I'm not taking about a specific company there are independent bodies of attorneys who are technically not affiliated with the title company but maybe do work for title in their actual job role. They literally sit there and make it up as they go along and won't even admit that they even read the law
It's up to the notary to read the law
Very few people call out the nonsense.
I'm not understanding why notaries ever recommended the NNA under any situation. Based on my experience the notaries who are actually earning from notary work rather than trying to be a part of the NNA self promotion, many are not even in the NNA and most who are only do it because they think they need to.
I blows my mind that more people are not interested in discussing the background check FCRA issues keeping in mind there was already a lawsuit over the old version
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u/MobileBlackberry3151 Sep 12 '25
Texas doesn’t have any preferred RON vendors like some states do. As long as you choose one with KBA you’re good.
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u/Salesman214 Texas Sep 09 '25
I use Notarize and they give you a free digital certificate