There's an old saying: 'A bird in the hand is worth two in a bush.' Notary signing agents operate on a similar principle.
Only for us, the 'bird' is the confirmation.
My motto is: 'Without a confirmation, there is no closing.' If you've been in this business long enough, you've experienced situations where a company will tell you that they agree to your fee. Then the moment you hang up the phone, they are looking for a different signing agent who will do the job cheaper. Or they will call you to do a closing, but they don't have the documents ready. And they don't want to send a confirmation until they're sure they have the documents. There could be other reasons.
I can't live on promises. And a phone call without a confirmation is basically that -- a phone call. And even the confirmation is no guarantee that there will be a closing. But at least I have something in the hand. I have a date and time, a name, and an address. I have an appointment to mark in my calendar.
So I set a cutoff time. I don't expect a confirmation in the next 2 minutes. But if it is 2 hours later, and I still have not received a confirmation -- sorry. I'm ready to accept a closing assignment from the next company that calls. I'll give the company a call and let them know that I haven't received a confirmation. If I still haven't received one, then I'm ready to move on to the next client.
It's similar to setting an appointment with a dentist. The dentist is reserving a chair for you, and expecting you to fill it at the appointed time. When someone calls me to do a closing, I'm setting aside a block of time for them. And if they don't fill it, that is money I'm losing, because I could have accepted another assignment to do a closing.
Each notary signing agent is free to set their own policies. But I think one policy that all signing agents should have is a cutoff time for confirmations.
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