What Standard 9.6 Says
There is a kind of complaint that confuses good notaries more than any other. The signing went well. The signer was happy. Every notarization was complete. And a week later, the title company quietly stops sending work.
When you trace those complaints back, they almost never start at the closing table. They start in the confirmation email, in a line the notary never read. This week's standard is about that line.
Standard 9.6 of the Notary Signing Agent Code of Conduct, Version 3.0, published by the Signing Professionals Workgroup, is titled Assignment Requirements. In plain language, it asks the signing agent to thoroughly review the requirements and expectations of each assignment, paying particular attention to what documents and payments the notary must receive from the signer, and what documents and copies the notary must leave with that person.
Two neighboring standards complete the picture. Standard 9.7, Contracting Company Instructions, asks the notary to review each lender's and contracting company's instructions and signing presentation guidelines before the appointment, and to follow them unless doing so would violate a notary statute, regulation or official directive. Standard 9.5 asks the notary to follow any signing presentation guidelines the contracting company requires.
Read together, the three standards describe one moment: the 90 seconds between accepting an assignment and starting to prepare for it. That is where the confirmation lives, and that is where most vendor relationships are won or lost.
Why This Is the Standard Nobody Talks About
Most content for signing agents focuses on the table. How to present documents. How to handle a nervous signer. How to notarize correctly in your state. All of that matters, and this series has covered a lot of it.
But the contracting company is not grading you on the table alone. They are grading you against what they asked for. If the confirmation said to collect a copy of the signer's identification and a cashier's check for the closing funds, and the package arrives without either, the file cannot fund.
The signing was flawless and it does not matter. From the escrow officer's side of the desk, the notary did not do the job.
That is the uncomfortable truth in 9.6. The confirmation is not a courtesy. It is the contract for that specific assignment.
The Five Lines in Almost Every Confirmation
After managing thousands of signings, I can tell you that confirmations vary in length, in format and in tone, but five pieces of information show up in nearly all of them. Find these five before you print a single page.
1. What you must collect from the signer. This is the first thing 9.6 names, and it is the most expensive one to miss. Copies of identification. A cashier's check or proof of wire. Stipulated documents the lender is waiting for, like a signed letter of explanation or a copy of an insurance declaration. If the confirmation lists it, the closing agent is expecting it in the package. Leaving without it means the package goes out incomplete, and incomplete packages do not fund.
2. What you must leave with the signer. The second thing 9.6 names. Some assignments require a full copy of the closing package left with the borrower. Some require only specific disclosures. Some are explicit that no copies are left. This is not your call to make. It is written in the confirmation, and it is the contracting company's decision, not yours.
3. How many copies to print, and for whom. This line is where printing mistakes come from. One set for signing, one to leave, one for the file. Or a single set. Or two sets because there is a second borrower signing separately. Reading this line once saves you a return trip, a reprint at your expense, and a note in the client's file.
4. Special formats and presentation guidelines. This is where 9.5 and 9.7 come in. Some lenders want signatures to appear exactly as printed. Some want initials on every page of a specific document. Some send a visual example of how a particular signature block should look. If the contracting company wrote it down, they will check it when the package comes back. Following those instructions is required, unless they would have you violate notary law in your state, in which case the law wins and you tell the contracting company immediately.
5. Return instructions and the deadline. The last line most notaries skim. Which carrier, which label, which drop-off, and by what time. A package sitting in your car overnight because you missed the cutoff is a funding delay with your name on it.
How to Build the Habit
The fix is not complicated. When the confirmation arrives, before you open the documents, before you print, before you confirm with the signer, read it once from top to bottom and answer the five questions above in writing. On paper, on your phone, wherever you will actually see it at the table.
If you can answer all five, you have done 9.6. If you cannot, you have a question for the contracting company, and the time to ask it is now, not at the table with the signer watching.
This is also how you handle the situation where an instruction seems to conflict with your state's notary law. You catch it before the appointment, you contact the contracting company, and you resolve it while there is still time. That is exactly what 9.7 expects of you.
Where This Fits in the Series
Two weeks ago we covered Standard 9.8, reviewing the documents before the appointment. Last week, Standard 9.1, refusing an assignment you cannot fulfill. Standard 9.6 sits between them.
You decide whether to accept the assignment, then you read what the assignment requires, then you review the documents. Three standards, one principle: professionalism is what you did before you arrived.
The Line to Remember
Reading the instructions is not preparation. It is the assignment.
Which of the five lines has cost you a client at least once? I would like to know, because the answers tell me what to teach next.
Source: Notary Signing Agent Code of Conduct, Version 3.0, Signing Professionals Workgroup (signingprofessionalsworkgroup.org). This article is an independent educational breakdown and is not endorsed by or affiliated with the SPW.
