Becoming a Notary Pubic Loan Signing Agent: Get a Dual Tray Laser Printer

By Mark Wills - Course Instructor of the Loan Signing System and Forbes Real Estate Council Member, and Best Selling Author

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I'm Frequently Asked What Kind of Printer a New Notary Loan Signing Agent Should Buy.

A new notary public loan signing agent should buy a dual tray laser printer.

And this article will tell you why. 

For starters... what does 'dual tray' mean? 

The dual tray feature is absolutely, non-negotiable requirement for notary loan signing agents because it allows you to print both legal and letter sized paper in the same set of documents — hence the name, 'dual tray' printer. This type of printer will have one tray for letter sized paper a completely separate tray for legal sized paper. It will automatically alternate between the two sizes according to the required size that each document should be. 

Nearly every set of loan documents has a fairly equal mixture of legal and letter sized pages. 

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So what's all the fuss about paper size?

Understand that if a loan signing agent prints a legal sized document on a letter sized piece of paper (or vice versa) there is chance the loan documents will not accepted after they'e been signed and a re-sign of the entire set will need to happen. 

If a re-sign becomes necessary, that notary loan signing agent is unlikely to receive another assignment from that mortgage professional ever again. 

This is why a dual tray laser printer is a must-have.

Next... 

Why a Laser Printer Versus an Inkjet Printer?

There are two main reasons. 

The first is price. Many new loan signing agents are turned off by the higher upfront price tag on a dual tray laser printer versus an ink jet printer... but what they don't know is it actually saves you much more money in the long run. 

Laser-toner cartridges print more sheets relative to their cost than inkjet cartridges. The cost of printing in black–and–white with an inkjet cartridge generally ranges from 5 to 7 cents per page, and can frequently exceed that cost. A laser printer’s cost per page can range between 2 and 4 cents, and there are even some laser printers that can get that number down to less than a penny per page. Regardless of which laser printer a loan signing agent gets... the more pages they print, the more money they stand to save by opting for laser instead of inkjet. 

Remember, loan signing agents who work for loan sign services are required to print out two sets of loan documents: one for the borrower to sign and one set for the borrower to keep as their copy — which means you may be printing 250 pages per loan signing. 

Here's some quick math to help explain point: 

If you are printing at 3 cents per page versus 6 cents per page, you end up saving $7.50 in print costs per loan signing appointment! Which also means $7.50 MORE that gets to stay in your take-home fee for each job you complete.  

Then, when you tally those printing costs at the end of the month, a laser printer truly ends up making more financial sense than its inkjet counterpart. 

Even if a loan signing agent only does 5 loan signings per month, that same math still shows a savings of $450 in the first year alone.  

The next reason to choose a laser printer over an ink jet printer is speed. And as a notary loan signing agent, you can't put a price on time. The sooner you can print your loan documents, the sooner you can get to your loan signing appointment... and the quicker you can accept the appointment after that. 

Laser printing speeds range from 12 to 20 pages per minute (with the best ones printing up to 45 pages per minute), while inkjet printers run from 3 to 13 pages per minute. At that rate, a laser printer is 2 to 4 times faster than an inkjet printer. Once again, you'll likely be printing around 250 pages per loan signing. Imagine if your printer only managed to spit out 6 pages per minute... that's 40 minutes until your set of loan documents is printed and ready to go.

YIKES. 

In this way, it's easy to see why a notary loan signing agent would want a laser printer. Ink jet printers are great if you don't need to print documents often... but an active loan signing agent prints thousands of pages each and every week — making a laser printer the most practical and efficient option for your loan signing business. 

Now let's talk about scanners.

Some printers come with a scanner built right into the unit. This additional feature obviously drives up the cost of the printer considerably.

For this reason, I don't see a printer/scanner combination as a necessity — I think you can save your money on this one. 

And I'll tell you why but first, I want to address a few questions that might be floating around in your mind at the moment. 

For example, you may be wondering why a notary loan signing agent would even need a scanner at all. The reason why you might need a scanner in your loan signing business is because some escrow companies and lenders require loan signing agents to scan the signed documents and email them back before the originals are dropped off at FedEx for delivery. ​

This leads me to the first reason why I don't necessarily recommend buying a scanner/printer combo for new notary loan signing agents: 

There aren't that many lenders who decide to make this extra step a requirement. And for the handful that do, you can simply tell them that either you don't have access to a scanner or pay around $5 once in a while (when you do come across a scanback requirement at a loan signing) to scan and email the documents from a FedEx Office. 

Or better yet! You could can easily buy an inexpensive standalone scanner to keep at home. I typically see them online for less than $50. 

But the biggest reason why I suggest you save your money on a flashy printer/scanner combo is because, like I teach in my Loan Signing System five star-rated online training course...

You Shouldn't Be a Signing Service Notary Loan Signing Agent For Long. 

The fact that a loan signing agent even has to print documents at their own expense eats into their total profit. More importantly, they split their fee with the loan signing service, which detracts even more money from their bottom lone. Getting direct loan signing business from escrow or mortgage officers eliminates the need for a printer at all because they print the loan documents for you. So I wouldn't recommend spending big bucks on a fancy printer with scanning capabilities if you won't even need it for that long. 

​See what I mean? 

The printer I personally use in my own loan signing agent business is a Brother dual tray laser printer. It's wireless and prints at a very affordable price per sheet. I've linked it for you below! 

I've also included a link to a similar printer but with a built in scanner — and although this isn't what I recommend, I do understand that some notary loan signing agents want to do strictly signing service business, which becomes a little easier when you have access to a scanner at all time.

My mission is to help you grow your notary loan signing operation in whichever way helps you achieve your unique business goals! ​

And if you found this information helpful, there's plenty more where that came from. 

Join the thousands of other successful notary loan signing agents who have used Loan Signing System's five star-rated online training course to make hundreds or even thousands of extra dollars every month in the loan signing industry.