Is it Safe for Women to Be Notary Signing Agents? | Safety Tips for Notary Public Signing Agents

I'm always asked, is it safe for a woman to be a notary signing agent? If the job description requires a notary to go to the borrower's house to sign the loan documents, is it really safe for a woman to be walking into all these strangers homes? It's a great question and honestly I don't feel comfortable answering that because I'm not a woman. So what I decided to do is bring in eight of my best students from around the country, six figure signing agents, and they can answer that question for you.

I've never felt unsafe and I've done thousands and I feel safe going to any place in Arizona.

I have never felt unsafe to do transactions, to do closings.

I've never felt threatened ever.

But I've never felt threatened and I felt this is a really safe position to be in.

Thank you. I'm Chanel Hernandez, I'm currently in California. Started in Georgia, probably at least 2,2000 for me, my signing service is at least 2,500. It might even be closer to 3,000. Thank you.

I'm Kelly Hill, I'm from Elgin, Illinois, which is outside of Chicago. I've done about a little over 2,000, maybe 2,500 and with my signing service I've done close to 300.

My name is May Cawley, I'm from the greater Cleveland, Ohio area. I've been doing notary work for about seven years. I've done about 5,000 signings, I would say.

Hi, I'm Laura Jones and I'm from Indianapolis, Indiana, Crossroads of America and I've done about 7,000 closings.

Hi, I'm Lisa Calvan and I'm from Las Vegas, Nevada and I've done a little over 2000 signings.

Hi, my name is Melina Foimayor from the Sunshine State, Florida and I have completed 2,600 closings myself and over 10,000 closing with my signing service.

Hi, I am Taffy Wagner and I'm from Denver, Colorado and I've done about 3,000 signings and I've done about 300 with my signing service.

Hi, my name is Irene Rueda, I'm from Phoenix, Arizona and I've done thousands of signings. I've been a notary public loan signing agent since 2019.

As you can see, all these signing agents from around the country. So it's not. And these are from signing agents who've been into thousands and thousands of homes. So literally Laura, 7,000 homes she's been in more or less, couple thousand. I mean it's incredible. So let's start with the very simple question. Does anybody here felt threatened for their life or felt threatened going into a loan document signings?

I have never felt unsafe going to anywhere, any people's houses, work to do transactions, to do closings.

I think it's definitely safe because we have the best part of the transaction. Everybody knows that we're there. The title company, the lender knows that we're there. The realtor, if it's a purchase or a seller. I've never felt unsafe, and I've done thousands. And I feel safe going to any place in Arizona.

I've never felt threatened ever. To me, they're not thinking, okay, I want to, you know, harm the notary. You know, they either want to sell a property, they want the money, or they're trying to buy a property. So their objective is not to hurt the notary.

I've been in signings where they were aggressive, but not towards me. If there was a problem with the paperwork, then they get aggressive. But even then I don't feel threatened. You know, I feel like, well, that's the problem with, well, let's call the title company, let's call them because let them handle that. I still, I never have felt like they were going to harm me because of that problem. So it's the mindset and because I know what I'm there for. And I'm like, if they want the refi. They want this house, they're not gonna, you know, I got the paperwork.

So, yeah, I've never felt threatened. And I've also had people call me once I got home if it's late to make sure that I got home to make sure that I was okay. So that says a lot about the person that you're doing the signing for. But I've never felt threatened and I felt this is a really safe position to be in.

I feel like this is the safest position you could actually have. I'm five foot nothing, so if somebody wanted to throw me in their trunk, they wouldn't have a problem. But, you know, they're not going to get. They're not going to get their loan, they're not going to get their home. When I show. I always say when I show up, everybody gets paid.

So they're basically vetting the person for you, you know, in a way, not that if they're a good person or something like that, but you have so many lawyers or escrow officers, loan officers, everybody who has their information, has their birth date, has their social. Like, they know who these People are. You know, the only thing I would say is there's been a couple neighborhoods or something that seemed a little bit off. But I go inside the house and there's like, a nice person or investor, and I feel, you know, fine during the signing. I don't feel. I've never felt unseen, safe.

I know a lot of my escrow officers that they don't like to send women to mobile signings at night. And I've told them, I'm like, I don't have a problem with going at night. I don't have a problem going into anybody's house. I've had signers where I've called them and it's been a guy. And they tell me, like, oh, my wife's gonna be here, or my girlfriend's gonna be here, just to put me at ease. Because they. I mean, it's for their safety as well. You know, what If I'm a crazy person and I say that they did something to me, I'm coming into their home.

Or they will, because most of them are women. They'll say, hey, Kelly, well, you know, where's. We'll send you to a Starbucks, or we'll send you somewhere so you can sign them or go to a regis office so that I don't even have to step foot in their house. And so that makes me feel comfortable, too.

At the same time, I also feel like more women are needed in this business because as a woman, if I needed a notary late at night, I will not have a man in my house. I need a woman notary to come into my house, because if a man came, I'm like, sorry, go away.

So I actually have had the husband actually drive me out because it's been so difficult because they know they're in a very secluded area and there's no lights and this kind of thing. And they know that you have no signal. And they're like, I will drive you back out to the main street so that you can get back to where you need to go. And see, that says a lot, especially for when it's late at night and what we do.

And, yeah, the purpose of this roundtable is to help a woman watching this right now realize it is so. I appreciate that because it's the other side, too. It's not just you going into their house. It's a woman having a man come at midnight. And honestly, if I have to be really honest with you, I'm just so naive to. And I apologize for it. Being a man, not realizing sometimes you know how a woman feels. And now, looking back on my days, I'm like, well, maybe I shouldn't have offered 11pm at that house. You know what I mean? Now I'm almost feeling like a jerk. But anyways, I'm glad that we're having this conversation.

Melina said your positive attitude is part of how you stay safe. I am very confident when I walk into certain areas and neighborhoods. And you guys all seem very confident in part, though, because I've also educated myself, but also I've been to safety trainings in, you know, feeling confident that if anything were to happen, I would know what to do and I know how to carry myself. And just knowing that I haven't had an issue and I haven't had to think about any of that kind of stuff. But when I'm exiting the signer's house, I'm getting into my car. I'm not sitting there. I'm not lollygagging on my phone. I'm gonna get in, I'm gonna start my car. I'm gonna go. And I haven't had any issues. And part of the reason I think I haven't had any issues, because that's what I'm doing. For any training at all, any awareness at all of what to do. Unencumber yourself, have a hand free. You know what I mean? Know where your keys are when you walk out the sign. When I get up from the table and I'm putting my notary bag back in there, I'm pulling my keys out of my bag or my pocket, wherever my keys ended up. The last thing I do before I walk away from the table, get my keys in my hand.

I think. I think you're. This is a great segue because I wanted to speak about, like, what are some things you do to ensure, you know, that you feel safe and confident? So I love this conversation. But, yeah, if we can maybe go around and talk about some things you do to ensure your safety or maybe some tips that we can give a viewer on what you do.

Sharing your location with someone, that's key. Yeah, that's very important to do. Someone knowing where you're going is really helpful.

And you do that with your husband?

I do that, yes. All the time.

I'm always being told by my husband, you'll be aware of your surroundings. Be aware of your surroundings, because sometimes you're in your mind and there's things going on and you're not. Somebody walks by you, whatever. You don't even see that person. I make sure that doesn't happen anymore. So I do several things, and not because I feel threatened, but because I'm trying to do things to be aware of my surroundings. So the first thing is I have Life360 on my phone. So my kids, my husband, you know, my mom can see where I am at all times. I have a system, which is I let everybody or I let my husband know where I am, and he knows what kind of signing I'm having. And if I tell him, okay, I'm going into my signing, that's it for the conversation. Then if I don't. If he doesn't hear from me within 45 minutes to an hour, he's blown up my phone. And if there's something. If there's something in the signing that's lasting longer, I'll answer the phone. I'll tell them, hey, you know, my husband's checking on me. And they'll say, oh, yeah, good, you know, so I'll answer the phone and I'll put on speakerphone, hey, honey, I'm here with such and such. So he can hear them and say, okay, I'll call you when I'm done. Those are some of the things that I do. But just constant contact, like, before I go to the signing, after I'm done, even if it's just, hey, I'm done, move on to the next one.

When I walk into a signing, I take control of immediately. So if they tell me, oh, we can sit at the table, I'm making sure that where I'm sitting right now, like, I'm facing where the door is at, there's nothing behind me. Even though I've never felt threatened at a signing, I still feel like I need to be aware of everything that's around me. I need to know where my exit point is. And I'm able to see that a.

Big portion of it is kind of be organized so that you can go in and out of the signing. Because if you're fumbling with things in your bag, you don't know what things are in your bag. It's harder to get out the door, but when you're done, get out and go.

I also carry a flashlight that is a taser by ViperTech. So when you're driving, you know, these houses don't have these numbers. They're not lit up. I need to see the numbers. So it's a flashlight, but it's a taser. The other thing is my accountability partners, we text each other every night when we get home from a closing. That way we know that we've made in. It's fine to let the spouses know but I like for the notaries to kind of look out for each other. So we text each other after every close and say hey, are you done for the day? You know, let me know when you get home safe. And we've been doing that for years.

I have a Samsung, my daughter has an Apple. But you can program it to, if you say certain phrases it will start recording and it will send a 911 to, it'll send out a message to everybody.

That's a feature.

It's a feature, it's a shortcut, right?

You can program it to do it.

So you say a certain phrase and it will automatically start recording and it will send your location and it will send, I have it set to lock like four people. It'll send a text and it'll like let them know where I am and it, it will record until I tell it to stop. If I can't get to my pepper spray, if I can't do that, never. That's what I'm like never ever, ever. So for some you got this in.

Life.

If you feel that where you're paranoid and I'm not because I've always had that instilled in me. You know what you're, you know, you walk with confidence like you said but just because I need it, you never know. I have never know.

Is there anything we want to wrap up with knowing the intention of this, of this, of this moment is to help a lady make a decision of doing something that's obviously changed your guys life for the better. Is there anything that you can think of to wrap up that you can maybe help a woman over the hump of fear of not being safe?

I would say worry more about being a good notary public loan signing agent.

Instead of your safety because you are good.

I promise.

Like she said, do great because that will come back to you. There's more clients that I've had that have done good things for me. I've never had anyone do anything bad and I've done 7,000 closings. So proof is in the pudding I would say.

So many people know that you're there. I mean we're starting with the real estate agent, your loan officer, the escrow officer, the title company. So many people know that the notary is going there to do that signing. I don't see how it can happen. So many people know where you're at at that time. So I've never felt afraid.

I think what you're saying kind of without saying, it's a very risky proposition to do something shady because there's so many people that are understanding that you're there. Like, if you're. What's the word? I'm like a perpetrator. You know, you just want to be in the lowest risk possible category versus, like you said, five people are going to be there. Five people know you're there. And sometimes a realtor's there. And so it's an interesting way of putting it. And I was just trying to disseminate what you're really saying. What you're really saying is like, if you're going to be a bad person, it's usually not in the light where so many people are going to be aware of the moment.

It's easier for somebody to do something bad to me when I'm walking out of a Starbucks than it is me being a signing agent.

And that's basically what I wanted to say. It's dangerous being a woman in this world, period. Don't let the fear of something happening to you stop you from an opportunity of making money and changing your family's life. This is a little bit safer because we do have everyone's information. Everyone's waiting for those stocks to get back.

Don't let the fear of walking to a borrower's house be the reason you don't change your life. And that's the purpose of this conversation, is I want as many women to change your life as possible. There's other reasons. Like this is a real business. It's not a get rich quick scheme. You got to put an effort. I'd rather those deter you than this idea that you're not going to be safe at an appointment. And so I think you said it perfectly. Don't let you know, for being a woman, it's definitely dangerous, period. Don't let that be the reason you're not a signing agent. So thank you for saying that.

I would say that you don't want to be a notary public loan signing agent who nobody knows that you're just accepting orders from the signing service. You never call them. You never. I mean, follow what the loan signing system says. Find out who the signing service owner is or the scheduler. Don't just accept orders and nobody ever hears from you or anything like that, you know, because that could contribute to you not being safe. If somebody is like, okay, I haven't heard from this notary. They did a signing yesterday. I don't have documents. I don't have who's to know that something didn't happen to you and that you're not just late, right? Introduce yourself, do what you're supposed to do with the loan signing system where people know you because if they know you, they'll look out for you. So don't let the all most people here are signing service owners. Make sure whoever you get a signing from knows you, has heard from you because then they will be more likely to look out for you and do the things that we talked about the, you know, escrow officers doing. But don't just be a notary who accepts orders.

I say just go for it. If you're bilingual, definitely go for it. We need more bilingual notaries.

Honestly ladies, I'll be very honest with you. I feel very ignorant and I feel very apologetic to the female community that I lead. A lot of things I take for granted, you don't to a lot of the women in here. We almost feel more safe. May said it specifically, I felt more unsafe being insurance salesperson than I am a notary public loan signing agent and that's what I really want to have this conversation around. But the safety, I think, you know, the resounding yes from this group is from a safety aspect. Five foot nothing, you know, Laura, you know, doesn't feel unsafe. And so I think that's the biggest conclusion of today. And so, you know, if you're a woman who just became a loan signing system student or somebody watching this like feel good and have solace in the safety aspect of this business is probably your least of your concerns. It's being a good notary public loan signing agent which should be your biggest concern. So ladies, congratulations on your success individually and thank you so much. Rich Roundtage. What an amazing group of women, right? I am so lucky to call them community members. I'm so lucky to be a small part of the journey. But as you just heard, it is an incredibly safe business for women to be in. The fact of the matter is this. Every forward facing business is going to have their safety concerns. But what I love about the specific industry, as you just heard, there's so many fail safes in place to make sure it is as safe as possible. Remember, 75% of loan signing agents are women. It is one of the safest forward facing businesses in America and you didn't have to hear it from me. So if you want to get in touch with any of these amazing ladies, if you have any more questions on safety, which by the way is a great, great question, don't hesitate to email me. I can put you in contact with anybody around this roundtable today. So whether you take the loan signing system or not. No, I'm rooting for you. This really is the best kept secret American income opportunities. And I'd have to say it's arguably one of the safest as well. Be great. I'm here if you need anything. Let's go.

Sam.