Last week, we posed the scenario of 2 Women, Same Name, where a simple loan signing for a husband and wife suddenly becomes complicated when a second woman shows up accusing the wife of being an impostor with the same name.
What would you do in this situation, considering that the loan signing appointment is finished and all of the documents are signed and notarized?
Your Answers
Many Notary Signing Agents wrote in with suggestions on how to resolve this sticky situation. Several respondents said they would ask for additional identifying information and compare the women’s responses to the loan documents to determine which person is telling the truth.
“Odds are the two women are not going to have the same date of birth, which can be verified on the loan application and driver’s license,” said reader Frank Bagnato. “If the license of the woman who signed does not match the date of birth on the application, the signature is a fraud.”
“I would ask to see the marriage certificate to see the date of birth and use that as the tie breaker,” said Notary Fredric Chasson. “If it remained vague, I would decline doing the notarization — and I think the California Secretary of State would be OK with that!”
Signing Agent Julie Brickley said that she would also halt the notarization, collect all documents and copies, and contact the title and signing company to make them aware of the situation. “The job of the Notary is to positively identify the signer of a document, and in this scenario that is not possible at the moment,” Brickley said.
However, reader Maria Alanis said that she preferred to let the lender deal with the situation. “I am not an investigator — I would leave it to the lender to straighten out who the spouse is,” she said. “I would also call the Secretary of State for advice on how I, as a Notary, am to proceed in this situation.”
NNA Recommendation
Determining which woman is the imposter is not your call, said Bill Anderson, NNA Vice President of Government Affairs. That’s the job of the lender and title company.
There are a number of things you should do to protect everyone involved, including yourself.
First gather up all the signed documents and leave. It’s important to preserve the evidence of what really happened at the signing table so that the right parties can investigate the matter. Then send the documents back following the directions of the contracting company and make sure you report that there could be an imposter involved. In fact, many lenders and title companies consider it your responsibility to report any suspicious incident related to a signing.
As soon as you leave, find a quiet place to write out a detailed account of what occurred while it is fresh in your memory. This account should be in addition to your journal entry. And it will be instrumental when describing the facts to the contracting company.
Make sure you have a good, clear journal entry that shows the steps you took to verify the identity of the first woman. And note in the journal that there were no signs that the ID she provided had been altered. If your state requires or allows you to record the ID number, make sure it’s included in the entry.
This will show that you did everything right in the event someone makes a claim against you.
David Thun is an Associate Editor at the National Notary Association.
Related Articles:
WWYD Answer: The Case Of The Unidentifiable Signer
‘Gray Areas’ That Often Confound Notaries
WWYD Answer: The Case Of The Anonymous Egg Donor
Additional Resources:
NNA Webinar: ID Fraud — A Notary Trap
NNA Webinar: How to Complete a Journal Entry
NNA Hotline