FOR INDIANA NOTARIES ONLY
As the current President of the Indiana Notary Association I receive many interesting comments about the notary world. These comments, as well as criticisms, are often about the state of the notary industry and consist of items like remote notarization, being paid in a timely fashion, etc. Recently, I have received several of these comments/criticisms about a particular gentlemen who is known in the notary world as very flamboyant and kind of eccentric person. This gentlemen's name is Jeremy Belmont and he is the owner of 123notary.com.
The website 123notary.com has been around for quite sometime. It is a website designed to promote individual notary signing agents by allowing them to place a profile on the 123notary site about their services. The site offers free & paid listings, top place listings, blog posts, e-courses, and much more.
The comments/criticism stated earlier have very little to do with the website at all. It has to do with the site owner, Jeremy Belmont. Over the years, many of our members have complained that Jeremy has made phone calls to them at unusual hours and tries to administer an oral notary quiz over the phone. Other complaints stem from Jeremy's reactions to his questions. If, for instance, the notary doesn't answer Jeremy questions in a timely manner, he goes into a profane rant for several minutes. Imagine my intrigue when Jeremy called me this past Sunday, July 16, 2017 at around 8 pm to give me an oral notary test. I took notes during that phone call and wanted to give Indiana notaries the latest on what's new with Jeremy and 123notary.com.
During our conversation, I discovered that Jeremy will be giving notaries across the country oral notary tests by phone. He stated that he will be giving this test himself. Jeremy also said that the test will be about 2 minutes long with questions about oaths/affirmations, Acknowledgements/Jurats, identifying the borrower, etc. He also stated that he is attempting to increase the quality standards of the notaries on his site.
- Jeremy was not asked by any title/signing company to do these types of quality checks on his site.
- Jeremy is not a notary himself and admits that he is not familiar with Indiana Notary laws.
- Jeremy says that he has the right to call any notary that advertises on his site anytime day or night. Notaries have complained that he has even called them at 2:00-3:00 am to give them the quiz.
- Jeremy gets very upset if the notary does not answer his question and will let the profanity fly. During my call, for example, Jeremy did not hesitate to tell me how the (insert profanity) notaries don't know anything, are lazy, and would cheat on a written test.
Jeremy called me from phone number (213) 705-3318. He stated that he makes these types of calls from that number. Jeremy advises that if you choose not to participate in his quiz then you should not answer a call from this number. I wanted to be sure the Indiana notaries that advertise on his site have this number so that you can make a more informed decision.
If you received a call from this number and you were on a notary assignment, at church, at dinner with your family, or sleeping in the middle of the night, (thinking you were getting a call from a family member in an emergency), please take the time to realize who is calling so you can make an informed decision.
Anxiety is caused by a lack of control, organization, preparation and action.
by David Kekich
Daniel C. Lewis is the current President of the Indiana Notary Association. He was named by the National Notary Association as the 2010 National Notary of the Year and also named an Honorary Secretary of State by the Indiana Secretary of State in Indiana that same year. He is the Managing Partner of Lewis Notary & Lewis Training Services Inc. as well as an Independent Associate with LegalShield. For more information about LegalShield click here
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