INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE
Not Just a Notary: Why Experienced Signing Professionals Are Walking Away
Every mobile notary has heard it: "It's just a notary." It usually comes up when a fee is being reviewed, often from the escrow or title side of a transaction. It captures how the industry has come to see the professional who sits across the table from the signer, and it is a big part of why so many experienced notaries are quietly stepping away from loan signings.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Undervalued work, real consequences
- Loan signing fees have been falling for years
- Notaries pay their own travel, printing and professional costs
- Experienced notaries are going direct to clients who value them
- When they leave, errors, re-signs and fraud risk rise
The incentive to do loan signings keeps shrinking
No one keeps an official count of notaries leaving signing work. The warning signs, though, are hard to miss. The National Notary Association acknowledged more than a decade ago that many signing agents had seen their fees go down, and that it is one of the most persistent topics in notary communities. By 2020, the NNA was publishing advice on what it called one of the greatest challenges signing agents face: making more than $50 per loan signing appointment.
The NNA's own 2023 survey found signing agents experiencing a significant slowdown in assignments. The notaries who were holding steady had one thing in common: they had built businesses beyond loan signings and marketed directly to their own clients.
The experience on the ground matches. One 10-year veteran described watching vendor offers for a refinance drop from $150 to $125 to $95, and then being told $75 was still too much. Notaries regularly report signing services passing along a fraction of what the borrower pays for the signing.
Everyone at the closing table is paid, and the notary pays to be there
Consider what a typical purchase looks like. Every professional involved is paid for the role they play.
$12,000
Seller’s agent commission at 3% on a $400,000 home
$4,528
Average title, settlement, recording and transfer costs on a 2025 purchase
76¢
IRS business mileage rate per mile, from July 2026
The notary is often handed a fixed fee, and then expected to cover the costs of showing up:
- Travel. The IRS values business driving at 72.5 cents a mile in 2026, raised to 76 cents in July because of fuel prices. A 40-mile round trip costs about $30 before the notary signs a single page.
- Printing. Loan packages often run 100 pages or more, printed on the notary's own printer, paper and toner.
- Professional costs. Commission and renewal fees, background checks, errors and omissions insurance, certification, continuing education, journals, stamps and scanning equipment.
- Time. Preparing the package, waiting on late documents, walking the signer through every page, then scanning and shipping the same day.
After all of that, the notary takes home the smallest slice of a transaction worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
How much do loan signing agents actually make?
National directories put a typical loan signing fee at about $75 to $200, usually including printing and return shipping. Here is what one signing looks like once the costs come out. The figures are an illustration, not a survey.
| Direct from title or escrow | Through a signing service | |
|---|---|---|
| Fee for the signing | $125 | $75 |
| Mileage, 40-mile round trip at 76 cents | −$30 | −$30 |
| Paper and toner, 120-page package (estimate) | −$10 | −$10 |
| Left before taxes and insurance | $85 | $35 |
| Time: prep, drive, signing, scan-back | about 2.5 hours | about 2.5 hours |
| Roughly per hour | $34 | $14 |
And that is before self-employment taxes, errors and omissions insurance, commission and certification costs, equipment, and the unpaid time spent chasing late documents or rescheduled appointments. It is not hard to see why experienced notaries are choosing other work. For a full breakdown of notary income, see How Much Do Notaries Make?
What notaries actually bring to the table
The notary is not a courier with a stamp. A trained signing professional verifies identity in person and stands between a fraudster and a recorded deed at a time when seller impersonation and deed fraud are real threats. They confirm the signer appears to understand what they are signing, and refuse to proceed when something isn't right.
They catch the missed initial and the wrong date before a package goes back, saving everyone a second appointment and a delayed funding. And with older signers, hospital patients and sellers living far from the property, they bring patience that no software can replace. Many experienced notaries hold certifications, carry insurance and have completed thousands of signings. That expertise is the product.
The notary is often the only professional who sits face to face with the signer. Everything else in the file depends on that moment going right.
Work with a notary who treats every signing with care
Mobile notary, loan signing and apostille services throughout Massachusetts.
Notaries are going direct
So experienced notaries are doing what any professional would. They are building direct relationships with the attorneys, real estate agents, companies and families who value their work. They are finding niches where expertise is rewarded: apostilles, estate planning signings, hospital and bedside signings, I-9 verification and international documents. See Notary Specialties and Niches.
In our own work, the clients who value us most are the ones who see the travel, the preparation and the care. The real estate agents and attorneys we partner with closely advocate for fair fees on their clients' behalf, and we are grateful for them.
Why this ultimately hurts the industry
When experienced notaries leave signing work, they don't come back. What remains is a pool of newer, less experienced signers willing to accept lower fees, often without the knowledge to catch errors before they become problems.
The result is more rejected packages, more re-signs, more delayed closings and more exposure to fraud. Lenders, title companies and escrow teams end up paying for those problems in time, rework and risk, far more than they saved on the signing fee.
Notaries across the country are feeling undervalued, and many are voting with their feet. The question for the rest of the industry is simple. The next time a file comes through and someone says "it's just a notary," ask what this closing would look like without a good one.
Sources
National Notary Association: signing agent fee discussions (2014), making more than $50 per loan signing (2020), 2023 Notary Survey results. Closewise on lowball signing fees. MobileNotaryNet on typical signing fees. IRS 2026 mileage rate and the July 2026 increase. LodeStar 2025 closing cost data via Walnut. Bankrate on seller closing costs.
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