Overcharged Notaries Public Fees
How much have you paid for notary fees?
You’ve probably needed the services of a notary public at least once in your life. When you lost a credit or debit card? Or if you lost your driver’s license or passport? You probably needed to submit an affidavit of loss to get your bank card or driver’s license replaced.
Chances are, you’ve needed to sign that affidavit of loss before a notary public. The bank can only accept an affidavit attested by a notary public. How much did you have to pay? You may have saved the receipt. You may have charged the notary fee on your credit card. Did the fee seem too high? Find out if it was in excess of what they are legally allowed to charge.
How much can notaries public charge?
Did you know that notaries charge on a per signature or per document basis? Did you know that an average notary in the US makes about $15 per hour? Notaries don’t charge the same fee for every signature or document.
For example, notary fees for mortgages or sales of houses will probably cost more than the fees for attesting an affidavit or sworn statement. The notary fees for a will also costs more than a contract of lease.
States set limits for notary fees
Every state regulates the practice of notaries public. Notaries take tests so they can qualify to get a license and registration. In every state, there are laws that set limits on how much notaries public can charge for their services. Well, except in Iowa. There are no state-imposed limits on notarial fees in the state of Iowa. In California, you may need to pay $15 for notary services. In New York, a notary public can charge $2.50 for administering an oath but for a remote notarization or apostille, a notary public in Manhattan may charge you upwards of $65.
Have you been overcharged notarial fees?
Notaries cannot charge the public for more than the fee limits set by the state where they practice. If a notary public has overcharged you for notarial services, the notary public may have committed a violation of the law. If they have overcharged many people, their license may be suspended or revoked.
So what’s a few dollars?
Well, if you think only of one notarial service, one signature or one document, then you are probably right – what’s a few dollars? But if you think about a few dollars overcharged for hundreds of documents and hundreds of signatures over the course of a month or thousands of documents over the course of a year – that is not just a few dollars anymore.
Car dealerships require notarized documents for every car they sell. Imagine how many cars a car dealership sells in a month – professional estimates say that an average car salesperson may sell no less than 15 cars per month. That’s 15 documents. And car dealerships do not have just one car salesperson. So if a notary public overcharges a car dealership – the overcharged fees may run up to hundreds even thousands of dollars.
It’s not just a few dollars
You probably can afford it – but what if a kid in college who delivers pizza loses his wallet and his driver’s license and other identification cards and he has to submit an affidavit of loss for each and every single car to be replaced? That college kid is probably making minimum wage. If that kid is overcharged by a notary public that kid may not have enough money for his or her next meal.
What if the person overcharged is an elderly person? May be they are overcharging a widow or a single parent? Or a person who is managing their expenses with the aid of disability benefits?
You can stop overcharging notaries
If you think that you have been overcharged for notary services you can make a complaint. Filing complaints would help keep notaries compliant with the law.
Share your story with us. Contact us here. You can speak with any of our lawyers and help us investigate overcharging notaries.
You can help us make sure that nobody gets overcharged for notary fees.
