banner
article1photo
byline
in this issue
article1
article2
article3
article4

 
Amanda Walsh, an escrow assistant at Fidelity National Title's office in Portland, Oregon, was reviewing the documents received from a co–borrower involved in a refinance transaction. The documents were signed in the presence of a mobile signing agent, because the borrower was located in the state of Florida. The loan documents had to be shipped to co–borrowers in two different states for signing.

In a follow–up conversation with a borrower after the signing had taken place, Amanda took note that the borrower referred to the notary as "he." Amanda was looking at the documents that came back and they were clearly notarized by "she," a woman by the name of Denise Doe.

Amanda took the documents to the escrow officer, Kim White, who also thought it suspicious the borrower referred to the notary as a man. Kim began an investigation by calling the signing service company. The president of the signing service company called the commissioned notary, who said she had conducted the signing herself and she would not notarize documents she had not witnessed being signed. The signing service president passed this information on to Kim and suggested there had been a misunderstanding.

Since the loan documents had to be signed in two different states by two different borrowers, Kim thought perhaps there was confusion with the male notary on the second signing appointment. Amanda made another call to the borrower in Florida. It became crystal clear that someone named David Smith conducted the signing and someone named Doe notarized the documents. Amanda knew this was a case of notary fraud.

Amanda and Kim agreed the loan documents they had in hand were fraudulent, and they needed to report the incident to the lender and have new documents signed. Kim and Amanda contacted the signing service company president again with more facts. The notary was cancelled effective immediately by the signing service company. The notary can never perform signing services on behalf of the Fidelity Family of Companies again.

In addition the signing service company filed a complaint of misconduct with the Notary Section of Executive Office of the Governor in Florida, where she is commissioned as a notary public. This particular notary had been completely vetted, certified by the association and background–checked.

However, it appeared she became greedy or desperate somewhere along the way, by deciding to have her fiancé go out and conduct signings even though she was notarizing the documents. Even worse, the borrower in Amanda and Kim's transaction, who was a former notary public herself, stated Doe had actually pre–stamped these documents so they had her seal and signature on them before the borrower signed them!

Beyond the notary fraud, Amanda and Kim recognized there was also a breach of security because the borrower's confidential information was in an unintended party's hands — the fiancé. The breach was reported to privacy@fnf.com and a breach of security letter was sent out to the borrower along with a certificate for one year of free credit monitoring.

The signing service company instructed the notary to destroy any personal information she or Smith obtained in the course of the transaction. As a result, the signing service company waived all signing fees and our Company issued a credit for the title insurance premium for the borrower's inconvenience.

The original documents were signed on the last possible signing day in order to have the loan fund by month end, so Amanda and Kim knew having the loan documents redrawn and re–signed was not going to make the lender happy. To make matters worse, the lender is a very good customer of Fidelity National Title, but Amanda and Kim did not hesitate to do the right thing.

Amanda and Kim sent out new documents for signature and had them all re–signed and notarized properly. For the detection of the crime and their quick reactions to remedy the situation and save the borrower's loan, they have been rewarded with $1,500 to share, as well as letters of recognition from the Company.

 

 
 

MORAL OF THE STORY

Despite how many controls are in place for approving and monitoring notaries, they can still do something stupid or unethical! Thank goodness for honest escrow agents like Amanda and Kim, who are super heroes for recognizing something was wrong and having the guts to do something about it.

Sometimes protecting the Company, our customers and the public from crimes — including notary fraud — is all–consuming and slows us down, but it is the right thing to do. Had the transaction closed and the borrower contested the signing ceremony, the Company likely would have received a claim from the insured lender.

 
 

 

 
  SHARE  
 
 
footer_line
 
stop fraud! share
 
footer_line
 
 
FNF Home