Mobile notary answering service
A mobile notary answering service has one job while you are at a table with a signer: write down the next signing well enough that you can accept it, decline it, or call back. You cannot do that with the stamp in your hand and a borrower watching the clock. The phone can take the request. It cannot notarize anything, and it should not tell the caller which notarial act they need.
You are away from a desk on purpose. The call that matters is the one that arrives in the middle of someone else's signing. A useful answer is a complete note, not a promise you have not made. You will not find a script for the notarization itself here. You will find the note to take, the calls worth a transfer, and the promises the phone must not make. Write it so you can decide in the car.
You are the witness, not the switchboard
In the United States, a notary public is appointed by a state government. Wikipedia's page on U.S. notaries describes the primary role as an impartial witness when important documents are signed. Duties vary by state. In most cases a notary is barred from acting outside the home state unless they also hold a commission there or the states have a reciprocity arrangement. Inside the commissioning state, a notary is almost always allowed to notarize anywhere in that state, though some states add county limits.
That is why the work is mobile, and why the phone is a problem. You go to the signer. The next caller does not know you are already in a kitchen across town, watching an acknowledgment. If you pick up, you step out of the role you are there to perform. If you let it ring out, the signing request may go to whoever answers.
This page is not a guide to notarial acts, fees, or your commission. Those rules are your state's, and they are not the same everywhere. The phone setup below does not change them.
Write down four facts, and stop there
A callback you can use has four facts. Anything else can wait.
- What they say the signing is. Use their words: a refinance package, a seller package, a general acknowledgment. Do not translate that into the act you will perform.
- Where it is. Street, city, and any gate or entry note they offer. You decide later whether it is inside the area you travel.
- When they need you. A deadline, a window, or "today." Write the words they used.
- Who is asking, and a number that reaches them. A title company, a signing service, a borrower, or an attorney's office are different callbacks.
The receptionist reads those questions from your brief and puts the answers in the summary: who called, what they needed, and the next step. You accept or decline when you are back in the car. Accepting on the live call is a different product. RingKit will not commit you to a fee, a time, or a drive.
Do not choose the notarial act
A lay notary in most of the country may not offer legal advice or prepare documents. The same Wikipedia page says that, and it names Louisiana and Puerto Rico as the exceptions, where the notary's role is different. It also says that in most cases a notary should not recommend how a person should sign or which type of notarization is necessary. Your receptionist should be stricter than that, not looser. If a caller asks "which one do I need," the note says they asked. You answer, or you tell them to ask the person who drew the papers. The phone does not pick an acknowledgment or a jurat for them.
Put one sentence in the brief for the receptionist to repeat: the notary does not choose the act, and the caller should ask whoever prepared the documents. If they push, end the call as a message with the question written down. Do not improvise a second version of that sentence.
Rush calls and ordinary ones
Some calls cannot wait for the drive home. A signer who is already at an address, a deadline that is this afternoon, a package that fell through because another notary cancelled. Put that in the transfer rule in concrete words, and send it to your cell. You still finish the signing in front of you before you talk, or you let it go to the summary if you cannot step away. The transfer is an offer to your phone, not a promise you will pick up.
Ordinary scheduling is a message. "Next Tuesday, a seller package in the next town" does not need you to leave a borrower mid-signature. You return it when the current signing is done. If you transfer every call, you are taking the phone into every kitchen. If you transfer none, the same-day collapse sits unread until evening.
Answering calls while working is the general pattern: ring you first, then hand off the miss. RingKit does not port your number. Callers keep dialing the one on your card.
What belongs in the brief
Write the area you actually travel, the hours you will answer, and the signing types you take. If you do not do hospital signings, or you do not travel past a certain freeway, say so. The receptionist can repeat that. It should not negotiate a trip charge you never listed.
Put the fee schedule you want spoken, or say that fees are confirmed by you and not on the call. State maximums, where they exist, are your problem to state accurately. Do not ask the receptionist to compute a legal fee. A wrong number on a recorded call is worse than "the notary will confirm the fee."
Hours matter because signings are often early and late. If you stop at 7, say so, and say whether a later request is a message for morning or a transfer. The receptionist does not keep a calendar. It cannot hold a slot. The summary is the request. You are the one who says yes.
Price, and when a person is the better hire
RingKit is $0.20 a minute while the receptionist is talking, plus $1.99 a month for the number. The first 10 seconds of a call are free, then billing is in 6-second increments. A 2:10 call bills as 2:00. A quiet month is $1.99 if you still have the number. A payment method is required before the line is active. The figures are on the pricing page.
A staffed service is the better fit when the caller needs a yes or a no before they hang up, and you are willing to let a person commit your time. RingKit will not do that, and it will not tell a signer that their papers are ready. If the first call has to make that judgment, keep a person on the phone. If a complete note is enough, you stay at the table until the signer is done.