Notary Dictionary
Acknowledgment - Notarial
act in which a Notary certifies having positively identified a
document signer who appeared before the Notary and acknowledged
having signed the document.
Affiant - Signer of an affidavit; taker of an oath or affirmation.
Affidavit - Written statement signed before a Notary by a person who
swears or affirms that the statement is true.
Affirmation - Spoken, solemn promise on one’s personal honor, with
no reference to a Supreme Being, that is made before a Notary, in
relation to a jurat or as a notarial act in its own right.
Aggregate Analysis - How the lender calculates monthly escrow and
the initial deposit you will be required to make at closing into the
impound account. The monthly impound payment is determined by
estimating your annual tax and insurance expenses and dividing this
by twelve. To figure the required initial deposit, your lender will
estimate what the balance will be in your account at the end of each
month for one year. This begins with the month of your first
payment. They then will collect from you, at the time of closing,
the amount of money necessary to ensure your account is not in the
negative, including a cushion permitted by federal and state law.
Allonge - Generally an attachment to a legal document that can be
used to insert language or signatures when the original document does
not have enough space for the additional material. The allonge must be
attached so as to become a part of the instrument.
Amortization - Payment to reduce the principal of a debt in regular
installments.
Apostille - Certificate of authentication required by the Hague
Convention on Authentication (1961) and replacing traditional
“chain” of authenticating certificates. It is common for notarized
documents which will be sent to other countries to also require an
Apostille.
Attorney in Fact - A person who is given authority to sign or act on
behalf of another individual through a document called a Power of
Attorney.
Authentication - Process of proving the validity of the signature
and seal of a Notary or other official, usually through attachment
of a certificate of authentication.
Certificate, Notarial - Wording completed, signed and sealed by a
Notary that states the particulars of a notarization and appears at
the end of signed document or on a paper attached to it.
Certificate of Authentication - Paper issued by the Secretary of
State or a county clerk certifying that the signature and seal on an
attached document belong to a duly commissioned Notary or other
official.
Certified Copy - Photocopy or transcript verified as an accurate
reproduction of an original document.
Closing - The process during which the property transaction is
consummated.
Closing Costs - Money paid by the borrower to bring about the
closing of a mortgage loan. For instance: the appraisal, attorney
fees, survey, escrow payments, etc.
Conventional Loan - A loan secured by a mortgage or deed of trust in
which the loan-to-value ratio is in an acceptable range for a
particular lender.
Conventional Mortgage - A mortgage that is not insured or guaranteed
by the government.
Conveyance - The transfer of the title to a property from one person
to another.
Copy Certification by Document Custodian - Alternative to a
certified copy. The custodian of a document signs a declaration that
a copy of that document is identical to the original. The Notary
performs a jurat, which is done under oath or affirmation, then
notarizes the custodian’s signature.
Credible Identifying Witness - Individual who personally knows a
document signer, swears to or affirms the identity of that signer,
signs in the Notary’s journal, and presents the Notary with a
state-approved ID. If one credible witness is used to identify a
signer for an acknowledgment or jurat, the Notary must personally
know the credible witness. If two credible witnesses are used, the
Notary does not need to know either one of them.
Daily Interest Charge
Picture this. You are signing your loan documents on the 15th of May
and your first house payment is due July 1st. For the sake of giving
an example let’s say that is 45 days exactly.
Your mortgage payment is paying for the month you pay it in. So
paying on July 1st is paying for the month of July.
Your interest is being paid for the previous month, in arrears. So
paying on July 1st is paying for the month of June.
Hey, where is that extra 15 days of interest in May going to come
from? You got it!
So, if your loan funds/closes on the 15th day of May you owe 15 days
interest to cover the rest of the month. June is taken care of with
the July 1 payment. If it closes on the 2nd of May you owe 28 days
worth. There, that was easier than you thought. Also, keep in mind
this is figured from when your loan funds or closes. This may not be
the actually day you sign the papers. You’ll have to cover that with
your Loan Officer.
Deed - A document through which a conveyance of property is
effected.
Earnest Money - A deposit of funds by the purchaser of a piece of
real property as evidence of good faith toward the purchase.
Escrow - A method of closing a real estate transaction in which all
required documents and funds are placed with a third party for
processing and disbursement. Escrow is usually referring to your
property taxes and homeowners insurance.
Estoppel Affidavit - The term is related to the verb "estop" which
comes from the Old French term estopper, meaning "stop up, impede.”
Estoppel by Deed - Where rules of evidence prevent a litigant from
denying the truth of what was said or done.
Grant Deed - The document that legally transfers title to real
property to a new owner.
Grantee - The person to whom a grant or conveyance is made.
Grantor - The person from whom a grant is made or a trust is set up.
HUD - Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Jurat - Notarial act in which a Notary certifies that the signer
personally appeared before the Notary, and the Notary watched the
signing of a document. The Notary positively identified the signer
and administered an oath or affirmation in which the signer declares
the document to be true and accurate.
Lien - When a creditor or bank has the right to sell the mortgaged
or collateral property of those who fail to meet the obligations of
a loan contract. Once the debt is paid in full however, the property
title is conveyed from the lien holder to you free and clear.
Living Will - Also known as a “medical directive” or “advance
directive”. A written document that states a person’s wishes
regarding life support or other medical treatment under certain
circumstances, usually when death is imminent.
Loan Signing Agent - A Loan Signing Agent is a Notary Public who has
been specifically trained with the knowledge and skills needed in
presenting legally binding documents used in real estate loan
transactions.
Loose Certificate - Notary certificate wording on a separate sheet
of paper that is attached to a document when no notarial wording or
incorrect notarial wording is present.
Oath - Spoken, solemn promise to a Supreme Being that is made before
a Notary in relation to a jurat or as a notarial act in its own
right. I personally do not administer Oaths, only Affirmations.
Mortgage - Is a mortgage what you get to buy a home? Actually a
mortgage is what you ‘give’ to get the money you need to buy or
refinance real property. You are in reality giving a mortgage to the
lender as part of the transaction for real property by making the
property security(collateral) for the repayment of the debt. You are
allowing a lien to be put on the property. You sign a promissory
Note promising to pay the debt and sign a Mortgage or Deed of Trust
to secure the debt with the property. In other words, you are
pledging the property to the lender as security for the payment of
the debt.
Mortgagee - The holder of a mortgage. The party to whom a mortgage
is made, usually the lender.
Mortgagor - A person who mortgages property; the property owner.
Notary Public - A Notary Public is someone commissioned by the state
whose primary duties include certifying that:
- The signer(s) personally appeared before the Notary at the time of notarization in the county and on the date indicated within the Notarial Certificate.
- The signer(s) were properly identified.
- That if the document required the signer to swear/affirm to the truthfulness of the statements within the document, that the signer did so in front of the notary.
Note - Promissory Note. A promise to pay a sum of money with a
specific interest rate to a lender. You sign this Note during the
signing of your loan documents.
Right of Rescission - The right to cancel a contract that uses the
home of a person as collateral, as with a refinance. This is part of
the federal Truth in Lending Act. The cancellation must take place
within three business days.
Satisfactory Evidence - Reliable state-approved identification
documents or the sworn or affirmed word of one or two credible
identifying witnesses that an individual has the identity claimed.
Second Mortgage - A mortgage that has a lien position subordinate to
(ranked below) the first mortgage.
Signature by Mark - An “X” or other symbol made in place of a
signature by a person unable to write. This is witnessed by two
other persons in order for the mark to be notarized.
Subscribing Witness - An individual who swears to or affirms having
viewed the signing or heard the acknowledgment of the signing of a
document by a person who does not appear before the Notary. The
subscribing witness must be identified by a credible witness who
personally knows the subscribing witness, is personally known to the
Notary and presents the Notary with acceptable identification.
Transferee - buyer.
Transferor - the seller.
Venue - State and county where a notarization takes place, as
indicated at the top a notarial certificate.