Mortgage Loan Signing

A notary is a notary is a notary. This is true, we all have a commission from the state. We’re all called Notary Public. Some notaries also go by the title of Loan Signing Agent or Notary Signing Agent. These go by the acronym LSA and NSA respectively. An LSA or NSA performs mortgage industry loan signings. This requires training of some sort. You can be self-taught or have the certification of the National Notary Association (NNA). Either way when you do a mortgage signing, you can designate yourself a loan signing agent. Others will. They will also refer you as “the notary.” As long as you can get the job done you’re golden.

Types of mortgage loan signing include: Sale or Sell, Purchase, Refinance, Reverse Mortgage, and HELOCs. There are also private money, hard money, and construction loans. These can be broken down into two categories; Commercial and Residential loans. There are many consistencies between each of these loans. Many of us started doing refinance loans during the Covid era. This experience enabled us to become familiar with the documents in a loan package. The sellers packet is unique with several of the same documents such as the Settlement Statement and the Closing Escrow Instructions.

Those of us who do mortgage loan signing become hyper-focused on these types of documents. As I hire myself out to do private work I come across documents that are easily handled by notaries yet foreign to me. I’m a fish out of water doing a Power of Attorney or Will. The notarization is the same, but are witnessed needed? How many and whom? Can I be a witness? Can a family member be a witness? What if the document is signed already, can I still notarize it. What color ink of the pen? So it turns out that an LSA has to be more diligent to study the law governing notarizations then someone simply doing loan signing.

Mortgage loan signings are usually initiated by a title and escrow company. They can use their inhouse closer or a favorite notary. They can also use a trusted loan signing agency. I work for an agency that provides courier service. No matter where the signing occurs, the documents will be back at their office the next business day. A courier service is essential to gaining a market share of the title and escrow business. Granted the courier service has a limited range, but that range is extraordinarily broad.