Guide
When a borrower doesn't show up, a notary signing agent should check the order, try the borrower by phone and text, and call the company that hired them before leaving the location, then wait as long as that company asks. With no instruction, signing agents commonly wait 15 to 30 minutes past the appointment time. What follows is how signing agents usually handle it, not a legal rule, and your hiring company's instructions come first.
The questions below cover how long to wait, who to call, what to write down, how the trip gets paid, and what to do with the package. If you could not reach the borrower before the appointment, start with what to confirm with the borrower before a signing, because the best no-show is the one you hear about the night before. If you are the one who cannot make it, that is a different call, covered in how to cancel a signing you already accepted. A no-show also leaves a hole in your day, and how many loan signings a notary can do in one day shows how much time a single signing really takes up.
As long as the company that hired you asks, and if it has no instruction, usually 15 to 30 minutes past the appointment time. That range is common practice, not a rule. It comes from signing agents comparing notes on forums like Notary Cafe and from training material that puts the window at 15 to 20 minutes, subject to company policy. Some companies put a number in their signing instructions, and that number wins. On one Notary Cafe thread a notary waited three hours for a signer who never came, and the replies were clear that no hiring company expects that. The clock that matters is the one you start when you call the company. Once they know you are there and nobody is answering, how long you stay is their call.
Check that the mistake is not yours, then call the borrower, then call the company. Open the order and read the date, time, and address again. Wrong times and wrong addresses cause no-shows that were never the borrower's fault, and a signing can move to an office or a relative's house without the change reaching you. Next, ring the bell or knock, call the borrower, and send a text so there is a time stamp. Then call the company that hired you while you are still standing there, not after you get home. They may have a second number or a loan officer who can reach the borrower. They may also know the closing moved and nobody told you. Say it in one breath: "I am at the property for the 6 p.m. signing on order 4417. Nobody is answering the door, and I have called and texted. How long do you want me to wait?" Follow up in writing if they do not pick up.
Times, attempts, and who you told. Note when you arrived, each call and text, who you spoke to at the company, what they told you to do, and when you left. Send a short written summary to the company the same day. It takes two minutes, and it does three jobs. It supports your invoice, it shows you did not miss the appointment yourself, and it gives the scheduler something to forward to the lender. If the borrower later says you never came, your log is the answer.
That depends on what you agreed to before you drove out. Terms vary widely. Notaries on forums report companies that pay the full fee, companies that pay part of it, companies that cover a print and travel fee, and companies that add a wait fee. Your agreement or the order's terms decide it, so read them when you accept, not in the driveway. If the order is silent, ask one question at acceptance: "What do you pay if the borrower doesn't sign or isn't there?" Keep the answer in writing. After a no-show, invoice the way that agreement says, and attach your log.
Keep them secure and ask the company what it wants done. The package holds the borrower's personal and financial information, so it should not sit on your car seat or get left at the door. The company may ask you to hold it for a new appointment, return it, or destroy it. If it wants you to hold the set, ask before the new appointment whether those documents are still good, because a moved closing can mean new dates and new documents from the lender. Using an old set by accident is a fast way to turn one wasted trip into two. Ask for destruction instructions in writing, and then follow your usual shredding routine.
Do not hand over the package and do not proceed. Call the company. A spouse, adult child, or roommate who says "I can sign for her" or "just leave it with me" is trying to help, but neither decision is yours or theirs. The borrowers who sign are the ones the lender and the title company named on the order. If someone says they hold a power of attorney, that is a question for the title company and the lender, who usually review and approve it before anyone signs. Be polite, tell them you have to check with the office, and make the call from where you stand. If the borrower is on the way, ask the company whether to wait.
If you are still there and the company has not released you, go ahead with the signing and tell the company when you start. A borrower who arrives 20 minutes late is still a signing. Before you sit down, look at what comes next on your day, because a late start pushes every later appointment back, and that next signer deserves a call now rather than an apology later. If you have already left, do not agree to come back on the phone with the borrower. Be friendly, tell them you will let the company know right away, and send it through the company. A loan signing's date can touch funding, so the National Notary Association's guidance is to tell your contracting company right away, because it will likely need the lender and title company to approve the new schedule. Once it does, treat the return as a new appointment with its own block on your calendar and its own fee discussion.
NotaryBoard has no no-show button, and it does not contact borrowers. It is a scheduling board between an agency and the notaries it already works with, so the phone call to the agency is still the step that counts. Once you have told the agency, it can cancel the signing on its side. When it does, you get a cancellation notice and the hold comes off your calendar, which opens that time back up on its board. If the signing is rebooked, the agency sends a new request, and you accept or decline it like any other. NotaryBoard does not settle trip fees or pay invoices. Fee terms and payment stay between you and the agency.
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