Notaries Tell BBB: Illinois Notary Federation Delayed Orders Or Never Filled Them

St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 31, 2013 – A Springfield, Ill., business that sells rubber stamps and insurance coverage to Illinois notaries has come under fire from customers who say their orders were delayed for months or never delivered at all, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) warns.
The BBB suggests caution when dealing with Illinois Notary Federation. Jason Adam Gold of Springfield is listed with the Illinois secretary of state as the most recent president of Illinois Notary Federation.
The business has an “F” rating with the BBB, the lowest possible. The BBB reports more than 40 complaints involving the company in the past year, most of which went unanswered.
“I’ll know better next time,” said a notary from Belleville who said she has never received her order six months after sending the company a $45 fee.
Michelle Corey, BBB president and CEO, said almost all of the complaints have been filed in the past 12 months. “Customers are waiting five or six months, or even longer, to get ordered items,” she said. “In some cases, these delays have meant that notaries have had to stop doing their work entirely, as they wait for their renewal materials.”
Illinois Notary Federation has the same toll-free number as Wisconsin Notary Federation, Florida Notary Federation, Texas Notary Federation and Michigan Notary Federation.
The Michigan Notary Federation also is the focus of several BBB complaints and has an “F” rating with the BBB in that state.
Most of Illinois Notary Federation’s information recently was removed from its website (www.ilnotaryfederation.com) and a note added that it is not currently taking new applications. The site directs customers to an Orlando, Fla., business, Accredited Surety and Casualty Company.
Sharon Jallad, chief operating officer of Accredited Surety and Casualty, said Illinois Notary Federation has worked as an agent for her company.  She said Accredited Surety and Casualty insures notaries and, in recent weeks, has been assisting consumers who have had problems with Illinois Notary Federation.
“They were having operational issues and our company felt it necessary to make sure their customers got serviced,” Jallad said. “We want to be proactive.”
Jallad said she could not say exactly why Illinois Notary Federation got into trouble, saying only, “sometimes agents run into personal issues.”  She said customers who have experienced problems with the company may contact her office at 407-629-2131.
The BBB could not reach officials with the Illinois Notary Federation.
Until recently, the website for Illinois Notary Federation included marketing materials that identified the company as “a one-stop shop for all your notary needs.” The website offered a basic notary package for $45, a deluxe package for $115 and a premium package for $166. All packages included a self-inking stamp, a four-year $5,000 bond, a $5,000 errors and omissions insurance policy, state filing service and a window sticker.
Most BBB complainants said they ordered the basic package at least several weeks before their four-year commission was due to expire.  When the stamp and proof of insurance did not arrive, they often had to go to other companies with their orders. The complainants said they phoned and emailed Illinois Notary Federation numerous times, but received no response.
Most complainants said they learned of the company when it sent them mail solicitations near the end of their four-year commissions.
A notary at a Campbell Hill, Ill., high school said she ordered her materials on Aug. 17, well in advance of the Sept. 30 expiration date of her certificate. She said that after filing complaints with the BBB and the Illinois attorney general’s office, she finally received her stamp in December.  She said the company provided no explanation for the delay. “I would never order from them again,” she said.
A notary from Highland, Ill., said she was granted a refund by her credit card company when she had not received her notary materials in a timely manner.  She said she finally received her stamp in December, more than four months after her order and after she already had ordered the stamp from another company. “I couldn’t keep waiting on them,” she said.
The BBB offers the following advice when ordering products online:

• Buy from a reputable business whenever possible and be wary of businesses you know little or nothing about.
• Before ordering, make sure the company lists a phone number and make sure you can speak to someone by phone prior to placing your order. This is important in case you have problems with your purchase.
• Pay by credit card whenever possible in the event you need to challenge the charge later.

Read more: http://interact.stltoday.com/pr/business/PR013113090111718#ixzz2Jamuizl3

Fun News When You Do Things Right

It is always wonderful when you can help others out -- Tonight just found out that I am in Be The Boss December 2012 -and they recognized me as a → Top Networker !!!!

Open publication - Free publishing - More be the boss

Can you do Medallion services as a Notary Public?

This question came up today from a friend of mine....

Have I done them in the past when I worked for a bank yes Shelly --- now-a-days as a notary here is the proper response:

The answer is a “medallion signature guarantee,” a special signature guarantee required for the sale or transfer of securities (a type of negotiable instrument). This service is provided only by banks or other financial institutions that have been certified to issue medallion signature guarantees. Sale or transfer of securities instruments requires the holder’s signature. By issuing a medallion signature guarantee, the selling or transferring financial institution guarantees that the signature is genuine, and accepts liability for signature forgery. This differs significantly from a notary’s purpose in performing an acknowledgment or oath/affirmation notarial act.

In short, a medallion signature guarantee is the issuing financial institution’s certification that a signature related to sale or transfer of securities is authentic. Medallion signature guarantees have a completely different purpose from notarization, should not be confused with notarization, and ***cannot be performed by a notary unless he/she is a certified participant in a financial institution’s medallion signature guarantee program.***

Any requests for a “medallion signature notary” or “golden medallion notarization” or similar should be referred to a bank. The requester may contact any local bank and ask if the bank can issue a “medallion signature guarantee.” Warmly, Tonie

Why use Dash Notary? From Julia Kappel, RE Investor

Tonie may have saved me $200,000 in an hour last weekend! I was in the process of signing a contract to purchase a house when a minor question came up with the listing agent. Tonie, who was present as a witness and notary, could have just allowed us to work it out ourselves but instead she facilitated the discussion by asking some neutral but very important questions. As the talks went on, it became clear that there were several underlying issues with this transaction that could become a problem in the future such as claims of fraud on prior transactions and the ability of the seller to make sound decisions.

Had Tonie not asked the questions she did, in the way that she did, I would not have known about these issues. Tonie's former real estate experience and her ability to understand the ramifications of what was being said by the listing agent and the seller in casual conversation led her to step up and refuse to notarize any documents until these issues could be resolved. Had she not been willing to do that, I may have completed the transaction and later lost the house in a legal battle. I can't say enough about how impressed I was with Tonie's professionalism and skills and how much I appreciate her saving my bacon! I'll be using her services much more in the future!

Bush Vantage Collection Corner Desk, Harvest Cherry

(Reuters) - Nearly 12 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2011, an increase of 13 percent over 2010

according to a report released on Wednesday by the research firm Javelin Strategy & Research.

Another headline other day:

(Android Security issues) 5 million of Android devices got infected by virus, security giant Symantec says.

The above has been a well known issue with androids since the release.... with so much ID theft via phones why are folks not paying attention?

Here are a few tips:

From Javelin to avoid becoming an identity fraud victim and mitigating losses:

- Password protect your home and mobile devices. Avoid exposing personal information that can be used by someone else for identity verification.
- Be careful about the apps you download. Only download through a service that monitors the apps, such as iTunes.
- Share information carefully when you are on a public wifi network.
- Monitor your credit cards by checking their use online or reading the statements carefully. Quickly report to your credit card issuer if you see any suspicious transactions.
- Take data breach notifications seriously. If your data has been accessed, consider subscribing to a credit-monitoring service, which is often is offered for free for a year by the company that had been breached.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~and more Tips from me:

1. Lock your screen with a pin code or password. While this seems simple, anything that provides an extra layer of difficulty for an untrustworthy user is beneficial.
2. Install and enable remote services. All major smartphone operating systems (Blackberry, iOS, Android, Windows Mobile) can be enabled with some or all of these features: remote lock, remote wipe, and even GPS location (for finding where your phone went) are available in many cases. This goes hand in hand with No. 3.

3. Back up your data. Either through a product that offers this functionality, or simply by copying your documents, pictures and info to your computer. This can save you in the event of a lost, stolen, destroyed, or otherwise non-functioning phone.
4. Use encryption where available. Though not offered on every platform, if you can use it, you should. Even in cases where you lock your phone, the data on your device storage can, in some cases, be accessible unless it is encrypted. This includes external memory cards, such as SD cards, installed in the device as well.
5. Use Antivirus. The mobile malware landscape is developing more quickly now than ever before, due to increased reliance on smartphones for everyday tasks such as banking, paying bills, and managing finances. As a direct result, malware writers will likely show an ever increasing interest in gaining access to your money.

The Importance Of Character....

In Leadership From The Inside Out, the late Kevin Cashman makes a powerful distinction between character, the essence of who we are, and persona, the external personality we have created to cope with our everyday life. A leader who leads through character is guided by authenticity, while the one who leads from persona is guided by image.

The former has trust and compassion as foremost guiding principles, while the latter is concerned about fear and self-interest. The leader who leads through character is focused on creating value and contribution rather than winning at all costs. Such a leader values openness and inclusion, shunning control and exclusion, the hallmarks of the leader who is driven by image.
Here are a few tips to inspire you in your leadership journey:
1. Make values actionable
Living your values every day is an important aspect of character in action. Companies go through considerable expense having consultants craft value statements that, unfortunately, end up being nothing more than motherhood statements hanging on the wall in the reception lobby. Prevent this from happening by making values actionable. “We value open communication” is vague and left to interpretation. Consider what happens if you clarify this by adding: “There are no sacred cows in this team.”
2. Be known as a promise-keeper
In The Leadership Challenge, authors James Kouzes and Barry Posner consider “Model the Way” through personal example and dedicated execution, as a foundational practice for admirable leaders. One way to put this into action is to keep your promises, to do what you say you will do. No matter how small the promise is, no matter who the promise is made to, strive to keep your word. While events may well prevent us from honoring commitments we made, don’t let a commitment slip by without getting back to people to let them know why you can’t fulfill your promise. Resolve to handle your word as precious currency and watch how your value rises in everyone’s eyes.
3. Don’t take shortcuts in quality
As Henry Ford put it: “Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” Do you preach to your team that quality is an important value, yet when there is a crisis, you find yourself telling people to take shortcuts at the expense of quality in order to get the order out the door? Every time you do this, it erodes your authenticity in the eyes of your constituents. Eventually, when you speak about quality, they will discount it as lip service.
4. Be consistent in your dealings with others
Do you treat some people in your organization or team better than you treat others? For example, do you unwittingly complain about a member of your team to other team members? While we can easily slip into such behavior, especially when we are tired and frustrated by the day’s events, consider that this chips away at your integrity as a leader.
5. Audit your decisions
At the end of every week, get in the habit of going over each decision you made. Did your focus on the bottom line cause you to forget the impact on some people? Did your biases affect the objectivity of your actions? Are you proud? Do your actions reflect positively on you as a person of character? What could you have done better? Every action we take, no matter how small, has our character stamp on it.
According to Biology Letters’ “Cues of being watched enhance cooperation in a real-world setting,” one of the reasons we are more civilized when we know we are being watched is due to concerns about our reputation. Reputation is the quality or character that other people attribute to us; it’s the surface layer. It’s our carefully crafted profile on Facebook; it’s the multitude of recommendations that are posted on our LinkedIn profile.
Character, on the other hand, is what is deep inside us; it’s who we are on a daily basis, when things go well and when things go wrong. It’s who we are in the boardroom as well as in our living room. We have reason to be proud when both reputation and character are a mirror image of each other. Abraham Lincoln put it this way: “Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”  Bruna Martinuzzi President, Clarion Enterprises Ltd
_____________________________________________________________________
My whole point in posting this was to make folks think about who they are recommending and why?  Is it someone or company with Character and Integrity? or is it someone you just met and liked but have no real knowledge of their company or character. 

So many times in life we pass the day away with no real thought other than to make sure everything is taken care.  No thought of how we are affecting others with our decisions.....

Let's start the new year with a bolder vision of who we truly are both in the professional and personal venue.  By bolder vision, I meant take your expectations of 2012 and go ahead and increase it by 10%.  Sit down and find out why you hamper yourself with the constraints we put on ourselves everyday because we do not have this or that.  If we put away the negative thinking and do a weekly "Character" check of our decisions I truly feel 10% is a no-brainer to achieve in a yearly basis.
Tonie Boaman, Dash Notary

Is there a specific Texas law that prohibits a notary from notarizing their own document or one in which they have a financial interest?

RESPONSE:

You would like to know which Texas law prohibits a notary from notarizing his or her own document, or a document in which he or she has a financial interest.
A statement on the Texas Secretary of State’s website provides a quick answer to your concern: “…notarizations should not be performed by a notary public who is a party to the instrument or financially or beneficially interested in the transaction. The facts in each situation will determine whether the notary’s action was proper.”
However, as you have accurately determined, a specific Texas law does not exist to answer to your question.
This notary rule has been determined through rulings of higher Texas courts. Two cases that can be cited are Morris v. Dunn, 164 S.W.2d 562, 563 (Tex. Civ. App.–Fort Worth 1942, no writ); and Terrell v. Chambers, 630 S.W.2d 800. Both of these cases are summarized in the American Association of Notaries’ Texas Notary Public Manual, 2nd edition, 2006 (25-26).

However, the Texas Legislature has specified two situations in which there are no such disqualifications:
-An employee of a corporation may take an acknowledgment or proof of a written instrument in which the corporation has an interest, or
-An officer of a corporation who is a shareholder in the corporation may do likewise unless the corporation has 1,000 or fewer shareholders and the officer owns more than one-tenth of one percent of the issued and outstanding stock.
These are outlined in Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Section121.002.
It stands to reason that if one cannot notarize a document in which he or she has a financial or personal interest in, one cannot notarize his or her own document.

Good Rules to Follow in All States:

A notary public taking an acknowledgement cannot also be:
-a party to the instrument, e.g. grantor or grantee, including named Trustee in a Deed of Trust
-a spouse of a party to the instrument
-a person having a direct financial interest/stake in the transaction producing the instrument, e.g. real estate broker
-a person acting as agent or attorney-in-fact for another party to the instrument

You may also be interested in reading an emailed newsletter article that the AAN published in May, 2011. Examining Notary-Family Conflicts of Interest explains why no state’s laws allow or encourage a notary to notarize a document in which he or she may have a personal or financial interest.

50 Business Directories for Marketing

50 Business Directories For Local Marketing

1. Google
2. Bing
3. Yahoo!
4. Yelp
5. Merchant Circle
6. LinkedIn
7. YellowPages.com
9. Whitepages
10. Supermedia
11. Yellowbook
12. CitySearch
13. Mapquest
14. Biznik
15. Local.com
16. Foursquare
17. ThinkLocal
18. CitySlick
19. USYellowPages
20. MyCity
21. Outside.in
22. Dex
23. BizJournals.com
24. TeleAtlas
25. Justclicklocal
26. Discover our Town
27. Metrobot
28. Best Deals on
29. twibs
30. LocalEze
31. Kudzu
32. CityVoter
33. Manta
34. Zipweb
35. MatchPoint
36. UsCity.net
37. Local Site submit
38. InfoUSA
39. Axciom
40. Infignos
41. Yellowassistance
42. ChoiceVendor.com
42. Myhuckleberry
43. Genieknows
44. MojoPages
45. Brownbook
46. Magic Yellow
47. CitySquares
48. TeleAtlas
49. Navteq GPS
50. Judysbook 

Read more: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/10322/The-Ultimate-List-50-Local-Business-Directories.aspx#ixzz1QHvxhvQH