What is Remote Online Notarization? Loan Signing System Interview With Notarize!

Welcome to Boston, Massachusetts where apparently rains in the middle of summer. But it doesn't matter because I'm here to help you understand how to deal with Ron Remote online notaries. Everyone always been asking Mark, when are you going to start covering Ron? When are you going to start covering E closings? The time is now. It wasn't four years ago, it wasn't during the middle of COVID Covid kind of allowed everything to come to the top. And so now we are at the top. We are at the notarized headquarters here in Boston, Massachusetts going directly to the VP and the CEO of Notarized to figure out how can you make is a Ron platform and how can you take advantage of any eoses that are coming down the pipe. Everything I do is help you grow a notary public loan signing agent business or now a Ron business. And so follow me. So excited to introduce Ashley, BP and Nodarize. How you doing today Ashley?

Good, I'm good, how are you?

I'm so good. So everyone's always been asking me for years, Woody, Mark, when are you going to jump into Ron? When you get jump into E closings. And the answer is now. And so I figured I'd go straight to the source. Notarize is the first remote online notary company to a complete real estate closing front to end. So I think going directly to source is the best way to educate you on what Ron is, what is an E closing. So this video is specifically just on educating them on what Ron is. I think a lot of new notaries are still kind of just not sure what Ron is. I want to help answer that question today in this video and she's going to be as unbiased as possible. She's just going to drop all knowledge on Ron. Being one of the first players to this industry, I don't want to come off as the expert. So you know the way loan sign system roles, we bring in the experts. So we are here and notarized headquarters in Boston.

Good old Boston.

Are you excited?

I'm very excited.

Okay. So thank you so much. And the whole behind the scenes there's a whole team here, the whole group, so grateful to every single one of you for taking the time and letting us come into your office today. So let's get people educated on Ron. I just want to kind of get some questions that I get from my notaries who are trying to enter into this industry. So I got notes. So if you see me looking down, she has notes. We're making sure that we don't miss anything and help you get the best education on what Remote on notaries is the future of Ron, the future of real estate closings, and this. Hopefully, hopefully we'll answer every single question that anyone could have looking for content. So let's just start with the very basic question.

Yeah.

What is ron?

So what is ron? It's where a notary and a signer meet in a fully digital capacity over an audio video connection and electronically notarize a document where it's back in the signer's hands instantly.

Cool. So the way I'll summarize that is Remote online notary. That's the acronym for ron R O N, commonly known as RON versus Remote Online notary, because that's kind of a tongue twister, is basically notarizing someone over the Internet.

Over the Internet.

Did I say that? So. Nope. Do you not have to be in the same room? This is not ipen. This is complete Remote online over the Internet. Did I kind of summarize that?

And let's actually clarify that. So it's also to your point, it's not Ipen. It's not wren either. So RIN is Remote Inc. Notarization. So the difference between remote online notarization and remote ink notarization is remote ink notarization. You're still signing a piece of paper. You may be connected in different places over audio video, but you're still signing a piece of paper that then gets mailed to the notary to stamp.

Got it.

A remote online notarization is where you are stamping and signing the document completely electronically on a computer or iPhone or tablet and instantly shared back within minutes.

Cool. So let's go to the next step. There's 4.4 million active notaries, more or less. Right. In the 4.4 million notaries, 99% of us have done the good old fashioned pen and paper, meaning that they feel that that is the most secured way of conducting this. So explain to them that the security and ID fraud, you know, how does a remote online notary provider solve those questions? Because there's a lot of people I know as I lead, you know, a group of amazing notaries that they're concerned about, like, well, how much fraud am I going to have or responsibility? So ease them on what all notary platforms do, which we're going to get to in a moment, but kind of ease the side of the I don't want to have fraud and I don't want that liability.

Yeah. And completely. And one of the things that I say is that remote online notarization not only puts compliance back in the signer's corner, but actually puts it even further back into the notary's corner. So because with remote online notarization, there are several components that are required to verify someone's identity. So you have what's called KBA or knowledge based authentication. And that is where a signer has to pass a series of questions that validate they are who they say they are. So more information about their background, things that you wouldn't know unless you were that person. And then remote online notarization also provides additional security because the ID is no longer just tangibly given to the notary, but it actually goes through a software called credential analysis, where the ID is verified to one not be a fake or tampered with, and also that the identification matches the information that you may see on the front of the id. So that barcode that's always on the back of your id, you wonder what that's for. That actually holds information about who you are and what should be on your id. And then on top of that, how Ron also puts security back in the notary's corner is a fully recorded audio video session. No more he said, she said interaction. What happened in that meeting? There's now a record long standing of what happened in that notarization, in that loan closing, in that, that meeting with the signer. And lastly, there's also an audit trail. And if you think of an audit trail, you think of like breadcrumbs, for example. There's little bits and components about every single thing that happened in that digital meeting. When did you sign the document? When did you stamp the document? When did the signer sign the document? When did you validate the id? All of these components that help protect you, the notary. So if your notarization were ever to come back into question, you're able to have that audit trail and that recorded audio video session at your fingertips to help debunkle any misconstrues.

Okay, so you know, the audio visual at your fingertips. Epic. I think the next question, people who are really separated from Ron, is the next question of, well, Mark, well, where? Who's storing it? Do I have access to it? I mean, what if I get called the court? Right? Because right now it's like, you get called the court, you're like, boom, here's my journal. So who is responsible from a Ron standpoint to have the recordings and audio? How easy is it for the notary themselves to access that and or the signer. So I think that's a lot of people's, a lot of notary's minds is I'm confused or who's. Because in California you gotta keep your book for life.

Yeah.

And so talk about like the access to those visual and audio recordings.

Sure. So when you use a RON platform, a ROM platform should be providing you with an enotary journal. So similar to how you have a paper journal, you should have a digital journal that ensures it records all of the information that is required by your state to be housed in your journal. It should give you the opportunity to add information to your journal and you should also then have access to the record recorded videos that are associated with each of the transactions that you facilitated. And by state your platform that you are using is required to store those videos for a specified amount of period, depending on your state law. So you should easily be able, no matter if you're an active user of that wrong platform or not, you should be able to log in, access your journal, you can download the video, you can access all the information about what happened. And the platform should also work with you if you have any sort of claim to provide you the information you need.

So speaking of E journal.

Yeah.

Are you required of the same E journal? Does that transfer wrong platform to wrong platform? Or does each platform have their own E journal? And then you'd get access to the E journal on this platform. E journal on this platform, or is it one synced up E journal? Is that making sense?

What I'm asking makes sense? So you are going to have an E journal for each platform that you belong to. They're not all going to sync up in one singular place. So one of the things that's important is when you're looking into RON platforms is to understand how long do they hold those videos for you, what is captured in your notary journal? What control and access do you have over that notary journal? Because that is yours and that is there is a specified period of which that should be maintained and you should have access to that. So you do want to make sure that's part of your research and looking at Iran platform.

Yeah, great tip by the way. So as far as the E journal is concerned, I mean obviously then because I know California notary that everything has to be in sequential time order the E notary journal, I'm guessing you also have to follow that. So even if it's more than one platform, I guess it's an impossible to be at two places at one time. So therefore the Time syncing would be legal. And so again I'm trying to think like a notary would ask questions to cool. Did we miss anything on that like security notary journal that maybe a notary.

I think the one thing that there's an interesting story that we have about like reduced PII risk that you no longer have to worry about holding that tangible paper in your hands. So you know, the other benefit Ron, that provides security back to the notary is reduced PII so, so you no longer have to carry those, those papers that documentation in your car or worry about getting it to FedEx on time. You know, it just, you know, we'll talk about the benefits of Ron, you know, further. But it really increases your flexibility as well as removes a lot of that renamed schedule that you may have to worry about and ensuring you get the documents fax back on time, making sure they get back into the appropriate hands. I actually when Ron launched in the state of Texas, we went to the state of Texas and I was talking to notaries that were based in Texas and they came to an event to learn all about Ron and the notary that I was talking to actually had to leave early. She said, oh, I've got to go, I've got closing documents in the back of my car and I need to get to FedEx before they close at 5:00'. Clock. And it was really funny that we were there talking about the benefits that Ron could provide her business and her flexibility. But she obviously had to leave because she had closing documents in the back of her car. So no longer needed as well and no longer a risk to notary to have to house those.

Yeah, no, I agree. We'll talk about the benefits, Ron. But to that point, you know, it's really, there's a lot of ways it's making it safer for the notary, not just in carrying docs because at first blush you're like, look, so in the back of your car you have someone social, someone's tax returns. And it's just part of what we do as a notary public loan signing agent part of this business. And so you know, when you bring that to light, you're like, yeah, that kind of sounds a little suspect. And so, you know, Ron definitely or eclosing helps really kind of tighten that up and make it more safe for the notary.

Yeah.

Okay, cool. Let's go to the next thing. You know, a lot of people don't know, we've mentioned a few times in this video interview of what a wrong platform is. Yeah, so as generically, can you put what is a wrong platform? Yeah, we've mentioned a few times that when you're researching wrong platforms, you know, what are we meeting by that? And so if you can just help someone understand. Again, we're speaking to the notary who has no idea what RON is. And so you work for a RON platform. You're VP of one of the largest ones. So explain to them what a RON platform is.

Sure. So a RON platform is simply the technology that you use to facilitate remote online notarizations, whether that be for your clients directly or in support of that platform's clients.

Perfect. So my best analogy for the notaries would be, you know, especially signing agents. It would be kind of like the databases. You have snack docs, you have signing order, you have notary dashboards. In this case, you'd have notarized, you would have pavaso, you would have notary cam. And so a platform is someone who has the technology. And we'll talk about, you know, what, what to look for in platforms in a moment, you know, but everyone's a little bit different, has their little twists and turns to it. So the platform, your point, which I thought you said perfectly, is just the technology of conducting an online remote online notarization. And there's different companies who do that. And so I launched off saying, you know, you guys were the first company to a complete real estate transaction remotely, electronically. But what are other things that a notary could conduct via a RON platform?

That's a great question. So really, the opportunity is endless with remote online notarization. Naturally, you think of the closing space, you think of the lender and the title companies that are looking to bring more efficiencies with ron. But we have use cases from a wide variety of customers that use remote online notarization. General noting work, a poa, a consent to travel form. You know, we have companies that, you know, facilitate the purchase of a car online that use our platform to get specific documents notarized. It's not just limited to the real estate space. There's great opportunity in the real estate space, but really almost any document that can be legally notarized on paper can be also facilitated through a remote online notarization. Now, there are use cases, so I will also use this public service announcement to say there are use cases where you want to verify that the document will be accepted due to being notarized via remote online notarization. But as a company, you know, and as an entity, you're, you're working to Understand those use cases daily and support notaries. So the opportunity is endless.

No, I appreciate that tip. You know, so the first thing I heard is essentially anything can be notarized, can be notarized on some type of wrong platform. The good tip you said is making sure that whatever you're notarizing can be accepted. We're finding, especially through Covid, that more and more people are allowing this. But it's a good tip to make sure that before you jump on it, you're asking whoever is receiving it that they're cool with it being done remotely. Great, great tip on that. You know my next question on the uses, I say, you know, I think a lot of people think of real estate transactions, but Ron, for notarized, you guys are notarizing anything from like you said, poas to travel consent forms. And so thinking I would actually argue this early in the Ron adoption that general notary work is almost more widely used than the real estate transactions. Would you agree with that?

So I probably, I would agree with you. I think it's actually fairly balanced. I think like at first when, you know, notarized was, you know, working to, you know, advocate for Ron, we saw very heavy in the real estate space. But as we've grown, especially in the height of COVID in the last two years, the need for commercial support around notarizations and having those businesses and those entities streamline their processes and bring efficiency to their customer experience. I would definitely agree that it's, you know, it's fairly widespread. There's not one side of the seesaw that's balancing heavier than the other.

So let's speak about ROM platforms from the standpoint of is there something else you should you would recommend for a notary kind of tipping the toes into this arena. Is there anything else that you would suggest they look for in Iran platform? What are some questions that they should be not only asking themselves but also asking the ROM platform? Is there any piece of advice you could give on that or tips?

Great question. So I would say that if you're going through what is the right platform for me Checklist, One thing that you should obviously first check is if that platform is on your approved secretary of state vendor list. There are lots of platforms that have come up in the last few years, especially given the height of COVID make sure that that's an approved platform. Research what that platform offers to you. Does it allow you to run your independent business through Ron? Does it allow you to get new leads source from that platform? Make sure that that Platform is also giving you the support and resources that you need, whether that's marketing enablement, whether that's training and ongoing learning. And then lastly, really look into their fee schedule. Really look into essentially what that platform is going to charge you to facilitate Iran, what that platform is going to charge you to be a member of that platform, use that platform and any other resources they have. Because obviously in running a business and being a business owner, you want to ensure that this is an investment for you and that that platform is only going to elevate your roi, not determine.

You kind of brought up something which I think is appropriate now to talk about, and you said fee schedule. I think the biggest friction from a traditional notary that does paper and stamp is the idea of fees. So I think this would be an appropriate time to understand why they're fees. You know, once I dug into why, I'm like, oh, that makes sense. There's a big disconnect. I'm like, oh, they're just trying to take more money from us. So let's jump into that. Right. So you just said, check out their fee schedule. So what fees would a wrong platform charge a notary or charge the buyer or whoever's using it? Because sometimes strategy is pass it on to the consumer. Why are there fees? What are the fees? Where do the fees go?

So very fair question. And I will, you know, say that every platform is different in what they charge or what they identify to be, you know, needing to be charged. As far as facilitating a remote online notarization, we talked about earlier some of the security features that knowledge based authentication quiz, running the credential through a credential analysis software. So typically also storing your journal. So what a platform, you know, and I can't speak for what a platform should charge, but what I will say is in general space charging for, you know, that knowledge based authentication, it costs money to ensure that we pull the right. You pull the information to validate who that person says they are, running that ID through credential analysis software, storing the video and storing all the information in your journal. Really those are some of the basics of what you would pay for as part of using an online notarization platform. Other platforms, again, that's part of doing your research. Other platforms may charge for additional components, whether that be specific to the transaction or specific to having a membership with their platform. In terms of notarized, one of the things that we do is we try to separate the transaction costs from the membership costs because the transaction is very specific to the notarization but every platform is different.

Okay, so this is good. So transaction cost, is there a markup on that or should they be asking that to the wrong platform providers? Like look, I get that there's fees because you are paying to store my, my information or the audio and visual. I get that there is KBA costs is an appropriate question as a platform. Are you marking that up to see to make a profit or are you literally just passing on the cost to me?

It's a great question. You should certainly you should be able to ask for as much detail as you can get around what's being charged to you in a specific transaction. What are the scenarios that you may have additional charges or incur additional charges.

So I think you should be asking are you trying to mark the transaction costs up? I would argue the larger the platform probably the less likely you're going to do that. The smaller platform needs to make money any way they can and everyone's running business. It's your job as a business owner. Really dig down those details.

Sure.

Why would you charge somebody a membership fee, a platform fee if they're also being charged the transaction fees? And what's that answer? So they, that's what they want. The people out there need to want to know.

Sure. And it's, it's a completely understandable question. I think think it's hard to say the motivations of various platforms on why they charge a monthly platform for you to get started. I think that it's the platform's responsibility to bring that value and if they are charging a monthly platform fee that you feel that there's roi.

When you're looking for platforms for Ron, you should be checking if there's transaction fees and membership fees or platform use fees on top of the transaction costs.

Yeah.

What do you think fair is to the notary And I asked that so they can interview other platforms.

The accountability that Ron platforms have is you need to bring value. If you're going to charge a month monthly platform fee, the notary that you that pays that monthly platform fee should feel that they're getting something from it. So whether that is investment back in ongoing learning, whether that is allowing you to have access to more enablement materials, whether that is better tools to support your business, whether you're just dipping your toes in or you really want to go full fledged run, that monthly platform fee should be separate value to what you're paying for for that actual transaction.

That's the nuggets I wanted. That's the nuggets I wanted. So yeah, so I think that's great. So if you're out there researching platform feeds, you should ask what am I getting? Because frankly I, I, I believe that if they're you're getting continuing education or getting all these other xyz then maybe a platform fee is appropriate. So the purpose of this is to help you give you the best information so you can make the best choice on what platform to use. So I'm actually now that you get, you said that I'm actually not anti platform fees. As long as you're getting something for that platform fee like continuing education or maybe accounting tools. I don't know, I'm making this up but it's that you should be asking what am I getting explicitly for that platform fee and then you can make decision. Ah, that makes sense. So I want to sign up or you know what said you're making your pocketing that, that does not make sense. What advice can you tell them that they should be asking a platform specifically from a marketing side and also more specifically tech support side.

Okay, yeah, so let's start with tech. So one of the first things that you should obviously look into is is this platform all in one. Like in terms of am I going to have to download or purchase anything additional to using that platform? Am I going to need zoom, am I going to need any sort of material to capture an id or is everything housed within your platform to where all I need to do is sign up? You also should ask how are you going to train me? How am I going to learn how to use your platform? I've talked to hundreds of notaries and one of the things that they've said is I don't want to be trained in just 10 minutes. Platforms that tell me I'll instantly get trained today and be facilitating Ron, today that is nerve wracking for me. This is my clientele, this is my business that I'm converting into a digital capacity. I want to be competent. So one of the things that you should understand is that learning and that development experience, not only just initially but ongoing. One of the best investments that that ROM platform can give you is that initial learning experience. You also should again, you know we talked about fee schedules, make sure you check on fee schedules. As far as tech support, ask them what type of support do you provide me? Do I get access to a dedicated line? Do I get chat support? When are they available? Ron, you know the benefit is that it can be available 24 7. Is my support available? You know, in those evening hours? If I were to do a closing at 7 o' clock at night, Am I going to have access to someone to help me? What tools does the platform provide me to help support a signer that may need some tech support right there in the meeting, you know, versus having to contact a support team?

Are there some platforms that kind of use, like overseas help desk chat forms.

Is I, I can't speak for what other platforms do. So that's another question you should ask for is what resources do you put at my disposal to empower me to learn how to use your platform or to have resources to where I don't have to reach out to somebody, I don't have to call somebody.

Those are the questions you should be asking the platform. How late is your tech support open or the hotline open? These are great questions that you should be asking any platform because again, and then maybe even response time I think might be clutch, right? I think because you know, if you're, if the signer is in a hurry, but you're saying, oh, helps over five minutes, you could lose business because of that. And so I think trying to get average wait time or support time is another question you should be asking as well. Is there anything else that we should be asking on the tech side? They should be asking on a tech side that can help them make a good decision on what platform to use.

I think part of it too is just asking on the technology front what tools you, you're getting to enable and empower your business. Like you think about RON platforms being what facilitates the actual notarization. But a RON platform should also be an integral pillar to your business and ensure that that platform has technology features and functionality that are built to help you outside of that actual notarization meeting. Communication tools that allow you to send the information to the signer, information that you can add to that transaction. So when you get in meeting with your signer, it's an efficient as possible, including tags or notes to yourself. So thinking about what empowers you as a business owner to give a curated experience. I like that.

This is good. This is good. So what I'm hearing is almost, you know, like a CRM, right? Figuring out what CRM to use. You're figuring out what tools and tricks does each CRM give me that the other one doesn't. That's kind of what you're saying here is, is really kind of interviewing the platform and seeing what kind of outside tools you have outside, outside of just conducting the remote online notary, but what other kind of tools you have Is and maybe in scheduling, things like that. So I think it's a great point, you know, and you're a business owner. Your job is to leverage one platform against the other. And if you're not doing that, then you're not a business owner. So you should be like, you know, are you doing this? Like this? Are you doing. Is Pavosa doing what Notarize doing? Is Notary Cam doing what a sign X is doing? And so your job is to really take information like this and be like, okay, this platform is offering this and this platform, can you match this or do you have something like it? And so you should be taking this information and leveraging it around. And that's what you should do with all platforms. So I encourage you to research all platforms, let this kind of transition to something else. While I do believe that notary should be making money via Ron with general notary work, I kind of want to skew this conversation to E closing. What word do you guys use in house for like a real estate transaction? Closing versus general note.

So we've heard the term E closing used before. Typically we call Ron closing so that, because that's, that facilitates the specific type of way that closing was executed.

Explain to them, I don't know if you explained the difference between a general notary closing and then actual what you guys call wrong closings or I think that we call eclosing.

And actually to add to that, not only does the lender have to be on board, but the underwriter as well too is part of the decision making process. The title company is part of that too. There's also something called E recording, which ensures that the county in which the documents are being executed in takes those documents in an electronic format. So you, you know, sign notes. Obviously we sign notes, you know, in paper closings all the time. So somewhere in the state of Virginia, in my county, my note is filed in a county courthouse. But in wrong closings, they are called E notes, which are actually stored, you know, digitally. And so obviously that lender also wants to have an E vault, which ensures that those documents, those pivotal documents like the note, are stored electronically. And, you know, that sounds like a lot, a long list, you know, but it really is an ecosystem like the ecosystem has to adapt, Ron, simultaneously for all of the pieces to fall together.

And so you should be asking, you know, how built out is your ecosystem with partners ranging from lenders to title companies, to looking at my notes, underwriters to E recordings. That's, that's kind of the education that they need to be having. Is that correct?

Yeah, yeah. It's really important that you work with a platform that is built and helped solidify a lot of those relationships and has a lot of mileage left to go. Because this is only the beginning of run.

That's right. And this is why we're doing it now and not four years ago. And everyone, because I think now is really kind of a hockey stick. I think the past four years have kind of been the gradual, but I do believe now is the hockey stick time and hence why your boys cover this for you. But if you're looking to get into E closings or the RON closings they call it in house here, it's really asking, you're asking the platform, what kind of ecosystem have you built out? What kind of partners have you built out? And then that frankly could also justify the platform fees or the membership fees because you're like, oh snap, so you have ABC partners. Well then that's actually now worth X dollars.

Yeah.

Right. And so maybe because someone's free is they don't have an ecosystem built out. And so just because it's free doesn't necessarily mean you should be signing up with it or focusing your time on. It's better, probably a better way of saying it. And so it's having educated conversations like this. So you know, people are going to me more. It's like, cool, my state just got a RON approved. What would the steps that someone notary needed be to go from a traditional paper notary to a remote online?

One of the first things that you'll need is you will need to one, ensure that you are still commissioned and in good standing. Tool tip. Always recommend that before you go get your RON commission, make sure that if your paper commission is set to expire soon, renew it because your RON commission actually then gets gets tied to your paper commission. So if your commission was going to expire three months from now and you did all that work to get your RON commission, it's going to expire with your paper. So renew, make sure you're good to go. Then go to your Secretary of state's website to review what are the requirements or how to become certified as a RON notary. Every state is different. Some states require some training, some states require you to obtain a specific bond or level of EO policy research what your state requires notarized does have compliance pages for every state that we support. So you can go to our website and we can give you information on how to get started as a RON notary.

We'll link that below.

Yep, we'll link it below. And then, you know, the next thing is that you'll need to obtain a few things. You're going to need to get a digital certificate. Your platform that you choose, once you choose a platform will tell you what type of digital certificate you need to obtain. So wait to do that until you pick your RON platform. And then you're also going to need a digital signature and a digital seal. So that is your, your actual handwritten ink signature transition into a digital format and your seal that you'll use to electronically stamp documents, depending on the platform. Depends if they'll provide you one. But you'll have to research whichever platform you choose to ensure that if they don't provide it to you, they give you some guidance on where to get that.

So the biggest tip that I heard in there is to get your digital certificate after you choose your own platform. Did I hear that right?

Yeah. Or if you're researching, because you don't have to sign up on that, usually you'll need it to sign up on the wrong platform that you choose. But your, the website or the, the ROM platform should typically tell you what type of digital certificates they accept. So just be sure because it is an investment that you need to make to obtain one. It's anywhere from 75 to $100 for two years. Usually. Make sure that you verify which platform you're going to go with because that will help you pick your digital certificate and then you'll use that to sign up on the platform.

Talk through the ways you can make money on any platform not specific to notrex.

Yeah, pick a platform that can fuel your independent business. So making money by continuing the relationships that you've already established and are growing those relationships. Relationships. And then also is there a platform that helps bring opportunity to you or give you opportunity beyond either establishing a new relationship or a new connection with the business that you may uniquely support and support them ongoing or just obviously general opportunity in an on demand basis. As far as marketing, one of the things that you should ensure, you know what, no matter what path you take as a notary or what benefit you're wanting to get from a RON platform, it's a new conversation for many. There are still many individuals out there that say, how do I talk about this? How do I introduce this as a benefit to my clients, to the relationships that I've built? We're super comfy on paper, as you know, as most processes are before technology has helped invigorate them or Empower them. And so one of the things that you want to understand is from a marketing perspective, what enablement materials does that platform support me with to help start those conversations, to discuss the roi, to discuss the benefits? And then what information does that platform give me that either helps me to clearly call out Ron on my business webpage, help understand the impacts of Ron, easily allow that person to use that Ron platform? Do they allow easy links that allow me to like say, hey, you need a POA notarized by me, here's a link to click and takes you right into the notarized platform and connects with me. So marketing is not only just based on enablement and conversation starters and tools to host those conversations, but tools that allow marketing to naturally also benefit, benefit the technology as well.

What questions should they be asking the platform to kind of decipher if they're they legitimately have some opportunity there?

One of the things I'd recommend doing is go to the platform site, look around their website. How are they marketing to consumers? How are they marketing to businesses? How are they marketing to those in the real estate space? The relationships and the Persona that that platform builds to those that are going to bring you business is really important. And that credibility that they've established with that part of the ecosystem, that's something that you should really dig into.

Yeah, no, I think we hit the nail on the head. I think, I think you're right. I think not only is it do your own research, which I agree with, but it's also asking the tough questions like are you trying to market to the consumer side of Ron? So for instance, I know notarized is, I mean, Frank, I know Pavaso is for the lender side. So it's being able to ask those questions like this is where you're getting educated now. It's like, are you trying to drive consumer business? Because if they're trying to drive consumer business, they have to pass it on to a notary. And this is why platforms like notarized really only when if they can get a lot of adoption by notaries like you. And that's part of the reason she's trying to, you know, educate notaries is because the. No, the platforms need you. Let's not get this twisted. Like they need you, they need you educated, they need you willing to work. And so, you know, if they're especially trying to drive the consumer part of it, they really need you. Because then they're making money off of the consumer side also because then notarize charges the consumer X fee you make money. And so part of Notarize's business model was making money on the consumer side, which is good for the notary because they need a notary to fill that. And so with that being said, is there anything they should be asking on the payouts?

Yeah. So you should definitely clarify if you know, some platforms really do have a traditional employer employee model versus notarized. For example, we're 1099 model, so we support independent notaries. The goal is that you're able to use our platform to support your customers but also grow your reach and not feel tied to any specific entity through Ron Ron should be give you unlimited opportunity. I think that one of the questions that you should ask is to your point, how often am I getting paid? Do I have control over that? You know, what are you going to pay me? Are there chargebacks? Are there, you know, any sort of reduction in fees? Is there a change in the fee depending on the type of notarization that I'm supporting? All of those questions are certainly questions that you should ask just to ensure that you know the way in which that platform is going to compensate you works best for you and obviously works best with type of transactions that you're hoping to support.

Let me ask you this question actually is. So I bring my own customer to the platform. There is a travel consent fee. Yeah. You charge five bucks for that transaction. The KBA storage cost. Let's just use the $5 for the conversation.

Yeah.

Does the notary need to pay you five bucks first and then charge the consumer the $25 or how does that work for that on the independent model? And what questions should they be asking the platform specifically on that?

It's a really good question. So if our transaction fee was $5, we would bill you that $5 separately outside of the transaction. So if you then went and charged 25 bucks bucks, you're going to get 25 bucks credited to your account and you're also going to see a separate transaction of $5 debited for the transaction. So there's an actually an option. So the one thing that we've created is we've created two passive options for independent notaries because we know that independent notaries when running their business may have other tools or forms of payment that they're comfortable with. So you can choose to bill your signer directly through the platform. So once you're finished with your your notarization, that signer will be prompted to pay you that that amount that you've decided to charge once they pay it, it goes straight to you. You can also choose to invoice the customer outside of the notarized platform. So if you have, you know, if you use QuickBooks or use something different, Venmo, if you, if you want a different way in which you collect that, that fee, you have that option. We don't require you to use our platform, but if you do, we obviously make it very seamless and instantaneous.

Cool. So that's a question you should be asking, am I forced to use the billing option through your platform? Can I use your platform? You bill me for the transaction, I can get the Venmo or whatever your payment plan. Payment options are outside of the platform. So I keep digging because those are those that, that's fire. So you should be asking that of the platform. Do I have to use you? And then you can make the decision because maybe they charge you 7% on the credit card cost and they're actually making money because the credit card processing is only 2%. These are little things you should be figuring out on your own. But that's why I love that notarized has two options. So you should be asking because maybe you actually like the notarized or, excuse me, the built in billing system for ease of use, even though it might cost you a few more bucks. But it's good to know you should. These are questions you should be asking the platform.

If the platform, you know, charges you within the same transaction fee that you're charging your signers, they don't do it separately or even if they do, you should be really clear about what that charge entails because you shouldn't have to sit back and say, okay, I charge the signer 2025, but I only got 13. What was that? You know, the money that was debited, what did that cover? It should never be a mystery to you on what was debited and why. From your ROM platform, it should be really clear and again, the value should be there.

So a common question that I get is, you know, what can I charge as a notary? If I'm doing Gene W, I bring somebody on, I have a travel consent form I've uploaded. What can I charge the consumer, the client that I'm notarizing, what can I charge? Charge them on the transaction.

Yeah, so it varies by state. You should go to your secretary of state's website to understand what you are allowed to charge for the act of notarizing a document in your state. Every state is different. Some states also allow you to charge a technology Fee for that notarization, if you're using it in Iran capacity, if you're doing it in Iran capacity. So definitely recommend going there.

Yeah. My only thing I'll add to that is what she meant by technology fee is whatever your transaction costs are. But that's what she means, is technology fee. So you can charge the technology fee and then whatever your state does. But obviously she doesn't know what all 50 states charge.

Not yet.

And so just like I don't know what all 50 states charge for a general notary, work as a paper notary. So just follow, go to your secretary of state. They'll tell you what your remote online notary charges are. And then make sure you always ask, can I charge above and beyond the transaction costs, platform fees, technology fees, and make sure you get that clarified. But I don't know about you, but I think this was absolutely unbelievable. I'm so much smarter now than I was when I started. Thank you for this. Is there any kind of final parting advice, questions, inspiration that you want to leave the notary with, with choosing platforms, diving into Ron, I mean, kind of have some final words, I think, you.

Know, as a notary and you know, in adopting Ron, choose, choose your own adventure. You don't. You can dive both feet into the world of Ron. You could dip your toe into it and offer it as part of your service. It's just another way of notarizing documents. It's not meant to replace all of the work and, you know, the industry experience and the traditional methods that are here today, but it is here to offer a lot of flexibility and empower your business. So really choose a platform. Think about a platform that gives you community, that gives you opportunity, that empowers you and supports you. Because, you know, rom platform should be here to generate, you know, a lot of opportunity for the notary community. And we're happy to be one of them.

Well, thank you so much for again. I mean, I think, I think it says a lot about Notarize to come on and talk about platforms unbiasedly and not try to specifically talk about how great you are. There will be a video about that, by the way. But the fact that you were able just to kind of give advice, I think there's a lot about Notarize the company and you're truly wanting the notary to win versus only use notarized. These are the questions you should be asking platforms. And so I know, I appreciate that as a leader of a community. I know the notary does appreciate this too. So thank you very very much. And as you may not know, loan signing systems officially getting into ron. So we're gonna have the best RON course of any course out there. I could be a little biased on that. So we're excited to bring you the best RON training that only loan signing system can bring you. So all show notes, details, links, some of the free stuff that you resources you already have. Look sure for the show notes below link below. Click below. With that being said, thank you so so much. That was amazing. Until next time. Bye.