Notaries can respond to a signing request as available or decline the offer. They can also choose not to respond at all.
Tip: If you're experiencing low or negative response rates, it may be because there isn’t enough information on the request, the fee is too low, the appointment is last minute. Keep these factors in mind when creating an order and read on for suggestions on how to increase the notary response rate based on these factors.
Not enough information
To make an educated decision, notaries need complete information. If notaries don't know what they are agreeing to, they are less likely to take a signing. Here's how to make sure you are providing the necessary details:
- Be specific with your signing product type. Is it a refinance? Is it a HELOC? Is it a VA Loan? The more specific you are, the more likely you are to get a response.
- The more details the better. Are there scanbacks? Do you have an estimated page count? A compelling product name would be "Refinance - Needs scanbacks" or "Refinance - No scanbacks."
- If a notary doesn't know the time of a signing, they may be more apprehensive to commit to it. Of course, there will be instances when you don't have this information, and that is fine. Update your order as soon as you are able to.
Including these details can save you the headache of re-negotiating a price or having a notary back out later on. Making these expectations clear from the start is a great way to ensure both parties are in accord and generate higher positive response rates.
Signing fee is too low
Notaries may leave comments saying the fee is too low and list a price they would do it for. In other cases, notaries may not respond at all. Take notice of these comments and compare your fees to standard industry fees. We’ve found that lower fees tend to correlate with lower quality of work and lower positive response rates.
Last minute appointment
This situation is sometimes inevitable. Generally, there are higher response rates the further in advance a signing is. Notaries are more likely to be busy for last minute requests. Although, a higher fee might just change a notary's mind. Start your search as early as you can.
Signing location is too far
Many notaries have a limit to how far they will travel for a signing. The signing location may be too remote or the price is too low for how far notaries have to travel. The distance shown for each notary in the automator will provide the distance from the notary to the signing location by direct route and not driving distance. Changing the signing location to a more populated area or closer to where most of the notaries are will help you get the order assigned.