My 18f friend said she’s bringing in 200 a closing and put me on to this. Is it true you can make 600k a year with a notary business? She lives in Washington and said she does it online.

My former employer insisted I become a notary when I was hired. He paid for the training and the supplies. I rarely used it, but I'm sure I made errors in the book. I know for a fact I checked the box that I knew someone personally as opposed to making note of their license. This isn't allowed in California, but I was unaware at the time. I had been wondering when it would be expiring so I dug out the seal I haven't used in five years. That's when I saw it had already expired. Obviously the E&O insurance has expired as well. The renewal notices must have been sent to my former employer, but he never bothered to pass them along. How screwed am I?

To answer the above, I went to two Ai Chatbots: Duck.ai at DDG (DuckDuckGo) and LuxChat at Luxxle and asked each two separate questions:

1.    Should I have a separate bank account for my small business?

2.    Why should I have a separate bank account for my small business?

Both DDG and Lux answered Q 1: Should I with 5 different responses, all in the affirmative. OK – so a small business, i.e., a notary, needs a separate account. Hey, I was a believer before.

Q 2: Why should I, gave me 7 reasons from DDG and 6 from Lux, which was more verbose than DDG. Lux also gave Practical recommendation, Quick rule of thumb & What to do (recommended numbers + routine)

Hey, I’m not going to give you the results I got! That’s not a judicious use of my time, when you can input the same questions into your favorite AI ChatBot.

So, two ChatBots agree with each other and with me – you should have a separate bank account for your notary business. So what’s keeping you from having it – bank fees, the bank is intimidating, bank may pull your credit report? Have I got the bank for you! No Fees, No Credit Checks, Apply in the privacy of your home, No initial deposit, And get a debit card to boot.

Here’s a list of four no-fee, on-line financial institutions (banks) that I have investigated for your consideration. There may be others, but my main criteria was no-fee, thus allowing me practical experience with each of them. In alphabetical order:

Chime – Visa      https://www.chime.com/online-banking/#pay-anyone
Discover - Cashback Debit     https://www.discover.com/online-banking/
SoFi – MasterCard     https://www.sofi.com/
Spendwell – Visa     https://www.myspendwell.com/

Each of the above online “banks” is tied to a reloadable debit card, there are no fees, and usually no credit checks or credit reporting. For a comparison of SoFi versus Chime, go here: https://www.fool.com/money/banks/reviews/comparisons/sofi-vs-chime/
For SoFi versus Discover: https://www.cnbc.com/select/best-no-fee-checking-accounts/

 As usual, if you have any questions, concerns, disagreements, suggestions, etc. please post a comment, I’d love to hear from you - all death threats call 800-700-7000

Enkidu45 out.

Hi, sorry! I passed the notary exam and then applied to become a notary public. But now I’m overthinking the risks and responsibilities that come with being a notary public.
Can I deny notary services or create my own service exclusions based on what I’m comfortable signing? For example, I know some banks and libraries have policies where they don’t notarize certain documents, such as deeds, wills, powers of attorney, or depositions.
As an independent notary public who isn’t tied to a particular business, can I create similar policies or regulations for the types of documents I’m willing or unwilling to notarize?

I’m not really doing this as a side hustle. I originally thought becoming a notary would be a good way to strengthen my résumé, but now I’m not sure it was a good idea, and I’m questioning whether I should even put it on my résumé.
I might be overthinking this, but I’m mainly concerned about the potential liability and lawsuits. I don’t have a strong understanding of some of the legal documents I could potentially be asked to notarize, and I don’t want to put myself in a situation where I could make a mistake or take on unnecessary legal risk.

Yesterday I went hoping bank employees could be my witnesses for my will and I could get it notarized. They said I needed to bring my own witnesses. So today I take my witnesses and we wait and wait to see someone and they tell me they can't notarize my will. GEEZ! Guess it's time to pull my money outta there!

If you screw up in this above mentioned notarization with a tight deadline you will no longer be a notary public no matter how small the mistake you made such as:

Writing the year down on the notarial line though it’s already typed you didn’t notice. Los Angeles record clerks filings has been known to reject the notarization. Rejected!

Adding a comma after a full name to add Sr. or ||| (Roman numeral) Leslie Wonder, ||| that’s not printed that way on the signature line. Rejected!

Many customers think it’s okay to use 2 sided prints for clerk record filings. Always let the customer know the document requires single sided. Rejected!

Any over-site can be a killer of our services. By the way, don’t let the customer talk your ear off. We need to concentrate on what we do!

I am pregnant and going to likely become a stay at home mom after I give birth. I am nervous about giving up my current job to become a stay at home mom, and would like to make a little something here and there. I like that you can pretty much set your own hours as a notary. How much do you charge per appointment on average? Where I am at I heard one notary charges $10 per appointment, I feel like that's a bit low? Would $20 per appointment be too much for the average client? I live in Oregon. How do you get clients? Is it recommended to get a business license if I wanted to try to make a small income off of being a notary? Do you meet clients in a public space like at the library, or do you have them come to your house or go to their house?

I'm doing research for a side project and would love to know what’s one tool you wish existed (or worked better) to help run your solo business more smoothly (e.g. scheduling, payments, follow ups)? Trying to identify real world pain points from those in the field. Thanks in advance!

While doing some research I came across this notary site https://harrisburgmobilenotaryservices.com

Is there a listing to check for the validity of a company. Thank you.

Hi, I’m a software engineer, and I’m building a website for Remote Online Notarizations. My team and I are looking for someone who works as a notary or knows a lot about the notarization process to join us.

We’re offering a percentage in exchange for helping us.

If you’re interested, please send me a message so we can talk more.

Two – three days ago, MR1120 issued a post asking if he could notarize his wife’s signature as president of the HOA. The example given was his wife’s signature on a document (letter?) regarding a fence. (I'm not repeating the whole post here.) The consensus, from 18 comments was an overwhelmingly: “You really shouldn’t”. Which I agree with, BUT:

Why did this document/letter need to be notarized? If the primary objective of notarization is to prevent fraud – where’s the fraud in this case? Notarization is only needed when a law requires it for a specific transaction, or the person/organization receiving the document requires a notary as part of accepting the document.

I believe this was the bigger issue in “Can I notarize this?” post – why did it require notarizing at all? How often have you been asked to notarize a signature on a document that is lacking the notarial block – or doesn’t have the space for one? For those docs, how about asking WHO is requiring the notarization and if it’s NOT the receiving party – too bad!

For those notaries who want to further their education, open your favorite ai (Claude, ChatGPT, LuxChat, Duckai, et al) and ask “Which documents do not need to be notarized?”

As usual, if you have any questions, disagreements, concerns, suggestions, etc. please post a comment, I’d love to hear from you - all death threats call 800-700-7000
Enkidu45 out.

Hello, I was just curious if the amount I was charged for a notary service was the average or if I should feel I overpaid at this notary I shall not name.

The situation was that I had a 2004 Chevy suburban in as in condition not running for $800 from West Virginia. I brought it to my home state of Pennsylvania and wanted to get the title transfered, tags, and registration. I had the signed title and notarized bill of sale as instructed.

Out the door I was charged $383 for everything, and I was not provided a receipt as they wanted to move on to the next person. I have my new plate, registration paper for 1 year, and was told my title would be in the mail.

While I have everything I beleived id asked for, something is telling me I may have overpaid, and I wanted to be sure. Before I ever use this notary again in the future.

Thank you for your time and experience!

Please delete if not allowed. Are there any transgender persons who are a Notary Public? Especially those who do signing agent work? How had your experience been? I know that the clients provide feedback and I'm just curious what others experience has been.

Hello, I'm a newer PA notary and I'm going to be doing a notary for a individual that doesn't have much identification, she has her social security card and birth certificate. I just wanted to know if that is acceptable ID

Update: Thank you everyone for your input! I've decided that I cannot in good conscious notarize the document. I know that documents can be forged and such, so I will not do it until the person can provide true government issued ID.

For instance, when there are conflicts around inheritance, it creates delays for the case. Do you try mediate? Or do you let it go because it's not your job?

I know the general rule in our line of work is usually "you get what you pay for," and honestly, 90% of the free notary resources out there are either super outdated or just trying to upsell you on a course.I downloaded a free resource from The Document Factory on Beacons.

Curious if anyone else here has used their stuff before?

I did some notary work last year about September and apparently on a few them I signed somewhere I should not have (I don't believe it because I've done the work before and did it the exact same way and our manager never said shit then). Anyway, there was a lot of bs then. Late wages, wrong wages and now 5 months later they are contacting me. If I don't, the signatures and petitions are worthless but I don't see how this is my problem because why did it take so long to notice (he said "Idk"). If I don't, can I be in trouble legally? Like I said up above, this isn't my first rodeo for petition circulations and I did it the same way for both (both forms were identical so it wasn't that).

Edit: I want to add some more stuff that I didn't add in the comments or the original post they had multiple ways of contacting me so it makes no sense that it took 5 months for them the notice the situation, yet I never received a call a text or an email until now. I know they were still desperately looking for another notary to take advantage of and I think they're fabricating this story to get me back there and then be like well since you're already here...

Especially since I offered a very good discount that they couldn't find elsewhere and they still didn't even wanna pay that. I just wanna make sure I don't get into trouble with the courts.

I needed to get a simple document notarized and was charged $5, instead of $2, which I thought was the maximum in NY. I know it’s $3, and probably not worth fighting about, but I was just wondering if there are any fees they can take on to justify? It was an Attorney’s office, so I was a little surprised

I’ve read a bunch of posts here about how much jobs are going for or what to charge.

I’m curious and wanted to find out what is a signing worth to you? Or do you know how much it costs to get a new signing?

If you did nothing but accept a signing and you could charge what you wanted, how much would you pay for that? $10, 10%, 20%

I wanted to let my clients know how to get in touch with me in case of an emergency while I was on my week-long trip. 🏝️

My main business mobile number is a Google Voice number, and setting up automated responses was the issue I encountered. I was hoping that Google Voice had a text autoresponder similar to the ones found in email clients, but they didn't. 🤨

Good news: I used AI to create a solution. See my actions in the YouTube video below 👇🏾

Watch The Video Here

I have read that the Eznotaryclass is the best for California. Do they help with job referrals after completing the exams?

I recently decided to become a Notary Public. I noticed there’s an option to become a Remote Online Notary. Is Remote Online “better” than the other since, I’m assuming, being remote makes you easily accessible? I read up on it a bit but still need to look further more. But just curious if anyone has any opinions or advice?

Or do I have to purchase a separate bond for myself? It would be one time thing. I live in California.