About
How we vet our notaries and contractors
What we check before anyone is offered a job, what we keep checking while they work with us, and, plainly, what we don't verify. These are the rules the booking system enforces, not a promise beyond them.
Before the first job
What each role has to have on file
Nobody can accept a job until every item on their checklist is complete and in date.
Notaries
Mobile and online notarizations, loan signings and witness-only jobs.
- Commission certificate, uploaded by the notary
- E&O declarations page or certificate, uploaded by the notary
- An active commission with at least 60 days left before it expires
- Errors and omissions (E&O) insurance of at least $100,000, not expired
- A W-9 and a signed contractor agreement
- A home ZIP code and travel radius, so jobs only go to notaries who cover the address
- For New Jersey notaries, a signed confirmation of each state rule: notary journal; notarial fee limits; remote notarization notice
- For loan signings only: a current NNA signing agent certificate. Without one, a notary gets no loan signings
- A background check is optional for notaries and is not required
Process servers
Serving court papers.
- Driver's license, uploaded by the server
- Vehicle registration, uploaded by the server
- Auto insurance card or declarations page, uploaded by the server
- Background screening report, uploaded by the server
- Process server license or registration, when they say their state or county requires one. A server who isn't sure waits for the owner to decide
- A W-9 and a signed process server agreement
Court runners
Filings, record pulls and courthouse errands. No serving.
- Driver's license, uploaded by the runner
- Auto insurance card or declarations page, uploaded by the runner
- Background screening report, uploaded by the runner
- A W-9 and a signed field contractor agreement
Witnesses
Witnessing signatures at a signing or on a video session.
- A photo ID
- A signed witness agreement
- Every witness is approved by the owner; none are approved automatically
Background checks for process servers and court runners must be from the last 12 months. The owner can waive one for an established business with reviews, after looking at the business and its reviews; a waiver is never automatic.
Approval
How an application is approved
- Notary, process server and court runner applications are approved automatically when every required document is uploaded and the dates and amounts entered meet the rules above. Anything missing waits for the owner.
- An automatic approval is marked as not reviewed by a person, and about 1 in 5 is flagged for a person to spot-check the documents.
- Notaries work with us as independent businesses. Before they get automatic job offers, the owner approves each one as an established vendor: a business on record, in business 1+ year, at least 3 other clients, and their own E&O insurance. The business details are what the notary tells us.
- Approval opens onboarding: signing the agreement and uploading the W-9. The job checklist must be complete before any job can be accepted.
While they work with us
What keeps being checked
- Expiry reminders and automatic blocking. Commissions, E&O, licenses, registrations, auto insurance and background checks get a reminder 30 days and 7 days before they expire. Once one has expired, that contractor can't accept new jobs. An expired commission blocks a notary even if the owner has overridden the checklist.
- Loan signings go only to notaries whose NNA certification is current.
- No-shows. On in-person appointments, a contractor who hasn't checked in 15 minutes after the start loses the job, which is offered to someone else, and you are told. 3 no-shows in 90 days pauses the contractor until the owner clears it.
- Ratings. After each completed job you can rate it from 1 to 5 stars. A rating of 2 stars or fewer goes straight to the owner.
- Job sheets and checklists. Each job has a printable sheet with what to bring and do. Hospital, care facility, hospice and jail visits add a facility checklist. When a job is marked complete, the notary records the acts performed, the kind of ID checked (never the ID number) and that the journal entry was made.
- Fee caps. The notarial part of a price stays within the state's per-act cap. In New Jersey that is $2.50 per act; travel and service fees are separate lines. See all prices.
Limits
What we don't verify
- Contractors upload their own documents. The site checks that each one is there and that the dates and amounts they enter meet the rules; a person reviews only some of them. We can't guarantee that a document is authentic.
- Notaries are not required to have a background check.
- Business details used for vendor approval, such as years in business and other clients, are what the contractor reports.
- Contractors are independent businesses, not our employees. A notary can't give legal advice or explain what a document means, and neither can we: MCC Solutions is not a law firm.
For title companies: vendor compliance answers. Want to join? Apply as a notary or see the vendor packet.
Questions
Common questions
Do you check that a notary's commission is real?
Each notary uploads their commission certificate and enters its expiration date. The site checks that the certificate is there and the date is far enough out; a person reviews some of these documents, not all of them. We can't guarantee that an uploaded document is authentic.
Is every notary background checked?
No. A background check is optional for notaries. It is required for process servers and court runners, unless the owner waives it for an established business with reviews.
What happens when a credential expires?
The contractor gets reminders before it expires. Once it has expired, they can't accept new jobs until a current document is on file.
Can I ask for a specific notary?
Call the desk. We tell you what we can arrange; jobs normally go to the nearest notary whose checklist is complete.