ReBoot by the IDOI for RREAL System

The RREAL IN database was taken down overnight to implement new Security Protocols by the Indiana Department of Insurance(IDOI). 

 As a result of the new protocols, all users will be required to reset their password upon login.  However, your usernames will remain as previously issued. Please call or email the IDOI
if you need assistance resetting your password.

In addition, Bulk Upload functionality has been added to the system.  Users will have a choice to continue entering transactions manually or use the Bulk Upload functionality that has been added. If you chose to enter manually chose “One at a time” as your filing option.

Please note, using the Bulk Upload feature will require formatting of transaction data into an excel spreadsheet, specific to the type of transaction, prior to upload.  As there are many steps involved in this process, the IDOI will be working to improve on the flow and efficiency.

A training slide deck will be distributed via this the IDOI distribution list and posted to the Related Statutes and FAQs tab on the RREAL IN home page, by end of day of Friday 5/13/2016.

If you have challenges resetting your password please let the IDOI know.  The IDOI apologizes for the untimely notice and any inconvenience due to these changes.

Other Blogs by Author

How to find a Notary in Indiana

Keeping Notaries Information Secure

What is Internet Catfishing?

Daniel C. Lewis is known across the country as an Identity Theft expert. He was named by the National Notary Association as the 2010 National Notary of the Year.  He was also named that same year by the Indiana Secretary of State as an Honorary Secretary of State.  Daniel is currently serving as the of the Indiana Notary Association.  Daniel is an entrepreneur, writer, video editor, and was the Executive Director of the radio show "We Are Too Smart To Live Like This."

How to find a Notary Public in Indiana

by Daniel C. Lewis

How to find a Notary in Indiana

No matter where you are in Indiana, knowing where to find a professional mobile Notary Public could come into quite a handy investment of knowledge.  This is especially important if you are conducting some type of business transactions with others.

An Indiana Notary Public is an public officer of Indiana, authorized by law to certify documents, take affidavits, and administer oaths.  In Indiana a Notary Public is appointed for eight years by the Indiana Secretary of State.  The jurisdiction of an Indiana Notary Public is statewide but no Notary can be compelled to notarizes documents outside of their home county.

All Indiana notaries will have a $25,000 Bond to protect the public.   All professional mobile notaries carry Errors & Omission Insurance and participates in some form of continuing education program each year.

There are several reasons why using a notary in your transactions makes sense.  One of the most important reasons is that under the Federal Rules of Evidence, a notarized document is considered "self authenticating".  This same rule is true in most states "rules of evidence".  When a document is self authenticating, the signers of the transaction do not need to testify in court to verify the authenticity of their signatures.  According to the experts, having a document notarized is a huge strategic advantage in litigation.

Click here to protect your identity

Public notaries duties might be simple to execute, however, they are extremely important.  Notaries have two primary functions.  First to ensure the signing parties are who they say they are.  This is done in most cases by requiring the signers to present proper identification.  Second, to ensure the person signing is doing so voluntarily.  This is especially crucial when a senior citizen or someone with limited English skills is signing a document.  Having a notary as part of a transaction can lowers risk of future issues.

 

There are several ways to find a professional notary in your area.  One of the best is to use a notary locating service like Lewis Notary Services Inc.  They can be found at www.lewisnotary.com online.  You can also call or text at 317 403 1282.  They are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for your convenience.  Using a service like this allows someone in the general public to get access to many options to make their next business transaction a success.

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Daniel C. Lewis is the President of the Indiana Notary Association.  He is the Managing Partner of Lewis Notary Service and has service the public as a Notary for more than 15 years.  Daniel is also a Navy Veteran and teaches Notary Workshops throughout Indiana.

Keeping Notaries Information Secure

By Daniel C. Lewis

I was recently attending a local notary event and started a conversation with an owner of a signing company.  As we were talking I discovered that this person no longer had their signing business because of a personal issue.  This issue had caused them to be locked out of their office.  Ordinarily this wouldn't be a huge deal, however, the notaries in their network's personal information was all left in the office.  This information included physical addresses, social security numbers, dates of birth, etc.  It also had copies of the notaries' commissions.  Yes, this would be all the information a person would need to steal each notary information and become an Identity Thief. The person would even be able to order a notary stamp to verify the false documents they create.

Unfortunately, many home based signing companies operate in this manner.  They keep your notary information in an unsecured fashion (either on flash drives, laptops/desktops, or unlocked filing cabinets).  This seriously exposes the professional notary with the risk of being victimized from what is known as "crimes of opportunity".

Our company, along with others in this area, had decided long ago to raise the standards for our businesses. We are committed to providing the highest quality of service to the notaries in our network.  

Our organization highly encourages you and your notaries to protect yourselves and businesses by:

1.  Being selective about who you do business with.  Check blogs, other notaries in the area, and attend after hours networking events for professional notaries.  If you don't have these types of events in your area, sponsor one yourself.  Remember, protecting your business starts with you and not the company seeking your services.  

2.  Keeping yourself up-to-date on how to protect yourself and your business from becoming victims of identity theft.  There are several companies offering various protection plans that would protect you and your company from identity theft.  We recommend to all the notaries in our network, IDShield.  It is less than $10 per month and gives one of the most comprehensive protection plans out there. 

Click here for more information on IDShield

3.  Protecting your notary business from potential lawsuits.  Lawsuits can be time consuming as well as expensive, even if you are confident that you will win.  Avoid doing business with companies and people you have not taken the time to properly vet.  Also avoid situations that could be perceived as suspicious as  well as situations of conflicts of interest.  I highly recommend professional notary entrepreneurs use a legal service company called LegalShield to handle their legal issues.  LegalShield is the largest legal plan provider with 45 years of experience in customer centric legal plans.  Working with the attorneys with this service has saved me tens of thousands of dollars over the years in legal cost.

Need Health Insurance as a Notary Entrepreneur?  Click here

  Professional notaries are small business owners.  According to the 2011 Small Business Owners Identity Fraud Report by Javelin Strategy & Research, small business owners are victims of fraud at a rate of 15% more often than the general population.  Most, if not all professional notaries, operate their businesses on very thin margins, and would more than likely not be able to survive as a victim of identity theft.  Protecting yourself and your business makes good common sense.

  Click here to get affordable attorney services.

 Daniel C. Lewis resides in Carmel, IN.  He was named in 2010 Notary of the Year by the National Notary Association.  He was also named in the same year an Honorary Secretary of State by the Indiana Secretary of State.  Daniel is currently serving as President of the Indiana Notary Association.  Daniel is an entrepreneur, writer, video editor and Managing Partner of Lewis Notary Services Inc.  Daniel is also a licensed Financial Advisor and specializes in helping notary entrepreneur with retirement planning.  If you wish to receive assistance with your business plan and receive a FREE financial review click here

What is Internet Catfishing?

When I mention the term "Catfishing" many people think that I'm talking about going fishing for a certain type of fish.  What I'm actually referring to is a relatively new scam.

"Catfishing" is actually an internet scam or hoax in which someone pretends to be someone else online and deceives an unsuspecting victim.

People become "Catfishers" for a variety of reasons.  Some to deal with unresolved issues with their targets or victims while others are trying to lure, harm, intimidate, threaten or just defraud their victims.  These victims are at times children.

Recently a California high school teacher was arrested for a catfishing scam.  He allegedly posed as a woman on Facebook to get his male students to send him sexually explicit pictures.  A lot of times these crimes go unreported.  Sometimes victims are not even aware that they are being scam.



Unfortunately people become familiar with "Catfishing" after they are victims.  Even worse, "Catfishing" isn't illegal in all states.  Online impersonation is not being taken serious by our lawmakers.

Our company is focused on educating the general public about the scams, how they work and what people can do to not become a victim.  We are currently developing a small studio and project to make several short entertaining helpful videosr the public to spread the word about "Catfishing".  We want to launch a nationwide campaign to strengthen both local and federal laws and educate everyone as to the potential dangers this can cause.

Join us in the fight to end Identity Theft and Catfishing.
Click here to join the fight.

Easier Way to Print Documents

Want an easy way to print your docs.... CLICK HERE

How do you print your documents?

Do you print them on a single tray printer?

Do you print all your documents on legal paper and get complaints from your vendors?

Receive last minute assignments and need to print on a single tray in your car?





Printing documents have never been easier.  Introducing Page Separator.  This is a program that will allow you to easily separate legal documents from letter documents in your loan packages.  In just 3 mouse clicks you can separate and print documents.  The Page Separator software never needs repair and it is a fraction of the cost of an expense printer.

Check out what other notaries are saying about the Page Separator

Now available with your choice of 3 different plans: Basic, Standard & Professional.

Page Separator makes printing legal and letter loan documents easier than ever.

Has the Signing Company "FieldChoice" become Desperate

Just as the title suggest, you be the judge.  

The Offer
I received a call from a representative of FieldChoice.  The representative ask if I would be willing to take an assignment that was according to her records 1 1/2 hours from me for $$.  After getting the exact location and  I found that it would actually take me about 2 hours one way to get to the assignment so I countered her offer with my own offer for $$$.  The representative said she had to see if she can get an approval and will call me back.  We ended the call.

The Second Offer
 Received a second call from FieldChoice.  This time the representative stated that he is JD Trinidad and he is the Director of Operations.  He made a offer that was still less than what I asked for.  I told him that I would not be able to do the assignment due to cost and time commitment on my part was greater than the pay out.  I told him to feel free to contact another notary.

So far "Offers" made and in this case "Offers" declined.  Standard notary business stuff right?  Well here is where it gets a little weird ....

Desperate Measures???
JD Trinidad then pulled up my last closing with their company and told me that he believed I overcharged them for my last closing (I will call it Closing X).  Mr. Trinidad then told me I need to work with his company and take the closing at a lower price(this is a standard practice for these type of companies).   Then Mr. Trinidad said something I never heard before.

He said that I (the notary) was an employee of his company base on his companies guidelines and that he could compel me to take the assignment.

At this point I wasn't sure if I was hearing this right so I ask him to repeat it and he did.  I stated that I am a Independent Contractor and that your guidelines apply if I was actually accepting the assignment.  Mr. Trinidad told me again that he was the Director of Operations and compel me to take the assignment.  Once we could not agree on a fee I ended the call.

More Desperate Measures???
Mr. Trinidad, Director of Operations, called me right back and once again brought up being overcharged on Closing X and demanded that I take their closing.  I told them that I definitely will not take their closing and ended the call.

Even More Desperate Measures???
About 5 minutes after this I received an email from Mr. Trinidad.  It stated that they somehow lost or didn't have any of my "notary credentials" and I needed to resend them.  The email also left a vague threat that if they didn't receive these items soon that they would not pay me for jobs I already conducted for them.  I found it interesting that 5 minutes earilier he was demanding that I take an assignment and now all my "notary credentials" have mysterious disappeared.

About 5 minutes later Mr. Trinidad sent me a 2nd email with copy and pasted "Terms and Conditions".  This seems to be another attempt to justify him saying he has Employer rights over notaries.  A little while later I received a 3rd email from FieldChoice.  This one had yet another "Terms and Conditions" and requesting that I take another quiz on behalf of their client.

One last thing, Mr. Trinidad was correct about Closing X.  I did charge more than I usually charge on that type of closing.   After further review I found that when I arrived at Closing X one of the borrowers was not able to appear due to work.  The other borrower was not comfortable signing alone.  I had to make 2 trips and print the documents out twice so I did charged more for the assignment.

Question
Is this an act of desperation or can signing companies like "FieldChoice" demand you take their assignments?    

What do you think?

How One Notary Built A Second Business Out Of Her Day Job | NNA

How One Notary Built A Second Business Out Of Her Day Job | NNA