22 Identifying Signers Practice Questions & Answers

1. 1. At a refinance signing only the wife of the two borrowers is present. She says her husband was called in to work and asks you to notarize his signature on the deed of trust now, because he 'will be back in twenty minutes and will sign then.' What is the correct action?

   • A.Notarize the husband's signature now and have the wife initial the margin confirming that he signed it.
   • B.Notarize the husband's signature now and enter the wife's credential information in the journal for that act.
   • C.Notarize the husband's signature now on the wife's sworn statement that the signature on the page is genuine.
   • D.Notarize the husband's signature after he returns and personally appears before you at the table.✓ Answer

   Personal appearance cannot be waived for convenience. SPW Code of Conduct 5.1 forbids notarizing the signature of a signer who does not personally appear, and NPCPR III-A-1 requires each principal to be present at the time of the notarization so the notary can judge identity, willingness and awareness and make the journal entry. A spouse's oath, an initial in the margin or a journal entry naming someone else cannot stand in for the absent signer.

   Source: SPW Notary Signing Agent Code of Conduct; NNA Notary Public Code of Professional ResponsibilityReport a problem with this question

2. 2. A title-only signer could not attend, so she signed her page at home and mailed it to the closing agent. At the appointment the closing agent asks you to notarize that mailed page along with the documents signed at the table. What is the correct response?

   • A.Ask the closing agent to arrange a separate appointment at which that signer appears before you.✓ Answer
   • B.Ask the closing agent for a written note for the file, and then notarize the mailed page with the rest.
   • C.Ask the borrower at the table to swear that the mailed signature is genuine, and then notarize it.
   • D.Ask the closing agent to email a copy of her credential, and then notarize the mailed page.

   A signature executed elsewhere and mailed in cannot be notarized, because the notary never saw the signer. SPW 5.1 bars notarizing for a signer who does not personally appear, and NPCPR III-A-1 requires presence at the time of the act; a third party's oath about someone else's signature is not one of the ways a signature is proved for a notarial certificate the signing agent completes.

   Source: SPW Notary Signing Agent Code of Conduct; NNA Notary Public Code of Professional ResponsibilityReport a problem with this question

3. 3. You arrive at a refinance signing and the borrower has already spread the documents across his dining table, eager to begin. When should you ask him for identification, and what do you do if he cannot produce any?

   • A.Ask for identification before presenting any document, and call the contracting company if he cannot produce it.✓ Answer
   • B.Ask for identification after the last document is signed, and note the delay on the shipping sheet you return.
   • C.Ask for identification when you reach the first notarized document, and check it against the loan application.
   • D.Ask for identification at the end of the appointment, and accept a mailed copy of it the following day.

   Identity is screened before documents are presented, because everything that follows depends on it. The SPW Signing Presentation Guidelines direct the signing agent to check identification at the start of the appointment and to call the contracting company for instructions if the borrower cannot provide it, and SPW 2.1 requires a high degree of care in verifying identity rather than a check made at the end for the file.

   Source: SPW Signing Presentation Guidelines; SPW Code of ConductReport a problem with this question

4. 4. Your state's notary law would let you identify a signer from a current employee identification card. The lender's closing instructions require a current government-issued photo credential for each borrower, and the employee card is all this borrower has. What is the correct handling?

   • A.Take the employee card as sufficient identification, since state notary law governs how a signer is identified.
   • B.Take a copy of the employee card into the package, and let the lender decide afterward whether to accept it.
   • C.Take the identification question to the contracting company, since the lender's stricter demand also applies.✓ Answer
   • D.Take the borrower's own signed statement of identity, and complete the notarial acts on the strength of it.

   Two standards apply at once and the stricter one governs: the credential must satisfy the notary's own state law and the lender's closing instructions. SPW 2.2 forbids accepting an unauthorized identification document to expedite a closing, and where the instructions cannot be met the signing agent takes the problem to the contracting company rather than substituting a self-declaration or deferring the question to the lender after the fact.

   Source: SPW Notary Signing Agent Code of Conduct; SPW Signing Presentation GuidelinesReport a problem with this question

5. 5. The only credential the borrower offers is a driver's license that expired four months ago. What determines whether the notarizations can go forward?

   • A.Whether the borrower has a renewal receipt from the motor vehicle agency to attach to the closing package.
   • B.Whether the state's notary law permits a recently expired credential and the instructions accept it.✓ Answer
   • C.Whether the borrower can recite the license number from memory and confirm the address printed on the card.
   • D.Whether the photograph on the expired license still closely resembles the borrower sitting in front of you.

   There is no flat national rule that an expired credential is always fatal. SPW 2.2 requires the signing agent to ensure the identification has not expired 'unless expressly authorized by law,' so the answer turns on what the commissioning state permits, and the lender's closing instructions must accept it as well; resemblance, a recited number or a renewal receipt do not make an expired document satisfactory evidence of identity.

   Source: SPW Notary Signing Agent Code of ConductReport a problem with this question

6. 6. A borrower who has lost his wallet offers his Social Security card, a bank debit card bearing his name and his birth certificate. What is the correct handling?

   • A.Ask the borrower for the birth certificate, because a government record of his birth establishes who he is.
   • B.Ask the borrower to hand over all three, because taken together they establish identity for a notarial act.
   • C.Ask the contracting company how to proceed, since none of those items is satisfactory identification.✓ Answer
   • D.Ask the borrower for the debit card alone, because a card issued in his name carries a signature to compare.

   Social Security cards, credit or debit cards and birth certificates are not satisfactory evidence of identity, because none of them is an identification credential bearing a photograph and physical description issued to the bearer (NPCPR IV-E-3 illustration). Stacking three inadequate documents does not cure the defect, so the signing agent takes the problem to the contracting company under the SPW guidance for a borrower who cannot provide identification.

   Source: NNA Notary Public Code of Professional Responsibility; SPW Signing Presentation GuidelinesReport a problem with this question

7. 7. The photograph on the license the borrower hands you sits slightly raised above the surface of the card and overlaps the state seal printed underneath it. What do you do?

   • A.Stop the appointment, hand the card back, and let the borrower find another notary the following day.
   • B.Stop the appointment for the notarized items, and finish the documents that require no notarial act.
   • C.Stop the appointment, photograph the card, and email the image to the borrower's loan officer for review.
   • D.Stop the appointment, describe the condition of the card in your journal, and report the credential to law enforcement.✓ Answer

   A photograph raised above the card surface and overlapping the security seal is physical evidence of tampering. NPCPR I-A-3 requires refusal where the notary has an articulable belief the act would be improper, and SPW 5.12 and 5.13 require the signing agent to act on evidence of tampering and to give prompt notice to lawful authority rather than passing the credential along or quietly completing the unnotarized pages.

   Source: NNA Notary Public Code of Professional Responsibility; SPW Code of ConductandReport a problem with this question

8. 8. The borrower has no credential. Your state permits identification by a credible identifying witness, and a neighbor who has known him for years is willing to help, but she is at home two blocks away and offers to confirm his identity by telephone. What do you do?

   • A.Have the neighbor's oath taken later at her home, once the borrower's documents have all been signed.
   • B.Have the neighbor send a signed text message, and keep a printed copy of it with your own records.
   • C.Have the neighbor confirm the borrower by telephone, and record her name and address in your journal entry.
   • D.Have the neighbor come to the table, because taking her oath is itself an act requiring appearance.✓ Answer

   Swearing in a credible identifying witness is itself a notarial act, so the witness is a person before the notary and must satisfy the same appearance rule as the signer. NPCPR III-A-1 requires each principal and each identifying witness to be physically present at the time of the notarization, and III-D-3 requires the witness to be screened for willingness and competence, which a telephone call or a text message does not allow.

   Source: NNA Notary Public Code of Professional Responsibility andReport a problem with this question

9. 9. Your state authorizes identification by a credible identifying witness, and a qualified witness is at the table with the borrower. The lender's closing instructions state that each borrower must be identified by a current government-issued photo credential. What do you do?

   • A.Use the credible witness for the deed of trust, and the photo credential rule for the remaining documents.
   • B.Use the credible witness and finish the package, because state notary law governs how a signer is identified.
   • C.Call the contracting company before any notarization, since the lender's instruction is the stricter one.✓ Answer
   • D.Call the borrower's loan officer for a verbal waiver, and note that waiver on the shipping sheet you return.

   State authority to use a credible witness settles only half the question; many lenders and title companies will not accept credible witnesses on a loan package, and the closing instructions are a separate condition the signing agent cannot waive. The escalation path under the SPW Code is the contracting company or closing agent, not the borrower's loan officer, and a verbal waiver noted on a shipping sheet is not authority to proceed.

   Source: SPW Notary Signing Agent Code of Conductand; SPW Signing Presentation GuidelinesReport a problem with this question

10. 10. An 88-year-old borrower produces a current driver's license, answers your questions clearly and explains that she is refinancing to lower her monthly payment. Her adult son tells you privately that he does not think a woman her age should be signing anything. What do you do?

    • A.Halt the appointment, because a borrower over 80 needs a physician's statement of capacity on file.
    • B.Halt the appointment, because a close relative's objection is itself an articulable ground for refusing.
    • C.Continue the appointment, because age alone is no ground to refuse and she is communicating coherently.✓ Answer
    • D.Continue the appointment once the son signs a written statement approving the transaction for his mother.

    Refusing a notarial act because of a signer's advanced age is improper under NPCPR I-A-4, and refusal without due cause is improper under I-A-1. The test in III-C-2 is an articulable reasonable belief that this signer lacks capacity, drawn from the notary's own observation; a lucid borrower who explains her own transaction does not meet it, and a relative's opinion or a medical certificate is not the standard.

    Source: NNA Notary Public Code of Professional Responsibility, andReport a problem with this question

11. 11. The deed of trust names 'Robert J. Callahan.' The passport the borrower hands you reads 'Robert James Callahan,' the photograph plainly matches him and the address agrees with the file. How should you treat the identification?

    • A.The identification is adequate, but every signature must then be written out with the full middle name shown.
    • B.The identification is adequate here, because the test is verifying the name on the document with reasonable certainty.✓ Answer
    • C.The identification is inadequate, because a passport cannot be used where a middle name has been abbreviated.
    • D.The identification is inadequate, because the credential must read exactly as the notarized document reads.

    SPW 2.3 sets the standard as verifying the name on the document with reasonable certainty from a written identification document or the oaths of credible witnesses; it does not require a character-for-character match. A credential naming the same person more fully than the document, with a matching photograph and address, meets that standard, and nothing in it dictates how the signature line must be written.

    Source: SPW Notary Signing Agent Code of ConductReport a problem with this question

12. 12. The package contains a Signature and Name Affidavit listing 'Maria L. Ruiz,' 'Maria Ruiz' and 'Maria Lopez Ruiz.' The only credential the borrower has reads 'Maria Lopez.' What do you do?

    • A.Take the mismatch to the contracting company, because that affidavit records name variations rather than proving identity.✓ Answer
    • B.Take the variation matching her credential as the only one she signs, and line through the other two.
    • C.Take her signature on each listed variation, because the affidavit satisfies the identification requirement for the package.
    • D.Take her signature on the affidavit first, and then rely on that signed page to identify her for the rest.

    A Signature and Name Affidavit documents the name variations the lender or title search turned up; it is signed evidence about names, not evidence of identity, and it cannot supply the satisfactory evidence SPW 2.3 requires before a signature is notarized. With the credential naming a person the documents do not name, the identification question goes to the contracting company before any notarial act.

    Source: SPW Notary Signing Agent Code of ConductReport a problem with this question

13. 13. The security instrument names 'Ellen Marie Vasquez.' Her only credential reads 'Ellen Marie Doran,' the name she took back after a recent divorce, and she says the title company already knows. What do you do?

    • A.Ask her to write both names on a sheet, and treat that handwriting sample as the record of the name change.
    • B.Ask her for another state-issued credential in the document name, and call the contracting company if she has none.✓ Answer
    • C.Ask her to sign the documents in her former married name, since her credential controls how she signs.
    • D.Ask her for the divorce decree, and keep a copy of it in the package as the written record behind the identification.

    SPW 2.3 requires that the name on the document be verified with reasonable certainty from a written identification document, and a credential in a different surname does not verify the name being notarized. The practical cure is a second state-authorized credential showing the document name; a decree, a handwriting sample or the title company's awareness is not satisfactory evidence of identity, so the question goes to the contracting company.

    Source: SPW Notary Signing Agent Code of ConductReport a problem with this question

14. 14. Halfway through the package the borrower sets the pen down, says she will not sign one of the riders and wants to think about the whole loan overnight. What do you do?

    • A.Stop the signing of that one rider, finish the remaining documents, and ship the package without that page.
    • B.Stop the signing, return the package as instructed, and report her decision to the contracting company.✓ Answer
    • C.Stop the signing, and tell her she may sign now because the cancellation period lets her reconsider later.
    • D.Stop the signing, and remind her that the loan cannot fund unless every page is signed tonight.

    Willingness is one of the three things personal appearance lets the notary screen, and an unwilling signer ends the appointment. The signing agent does not persuade, does not forecast funding consequences, and does not ship a package with a required document unsigned; SPW 3.6 forbids expressing any opinion about whether to sign and 3.7 specifically forbids using the rescission period to talk a hesitant borrower into signing now.

    Source: SPW Notary Signing Agent Code of Conductand; NNA CodeReport a problem with this question

15. 15. Your assignment confirmation says a son will sign for his mother under a power of attorney, and nothing in the file shows that anyone has approved that arrangement. What must happen before you start the appointment?

    • A.Get a copy of the power of attorney from the son, and review its wording at the table before starting.
    • B.Get the appointment underway, and raise the power of attorney when you reach the deed of trust.
    • C.Get the mother on the telephone during the appointment, and confirm that she authorizes her son to sign.
    • D.Get written approval from the lender's representative or the closing agent before you commence the appointment.✓ Answer

    SPW 5.5 makes advance approval a precondition to starting: the signing agent will not commence an appointment involving an attorney-in-fact signing for an absent principal unless the lender's representative or closing agent has specifically approved it beforehand. Reading the instrument at the table, telephoning the principal, or raising it partway through all treat the approval as a problem to solve during the signing rather than before it.

    Source: SPW Notary Signing Agent Code of ConductReport a problem with this question

16. 16. A long-standing client asks you to act as her attorney-in-fact under a power of attorney at her refinance, and also to handle the closing package as the assigned signing agent. What do you do?

    • A.Take the signing assignment, and have someone else serve as her attorney-in-fact for that closing.✓ Answer
    • B.Take both roles, provided the closing instructions do not expressly forbid one person doing so.
    • C.Take both roles, and disclose the arrangement on the shipping sheet you return with the completed package.
    • D.Take on both roles, but ask the borrower to initial a written disclosure of the dual capacity.

    SPW 3.3 states that a Notary Signing Agent must never act as signing agent and as attorney-in-fact for a principal in the same transaction, because the agent would then be a party with an interest in the very documents being notarized. Disclosure does not cure a disqualifying interest, and SPW 3.5 also requires avoiding even the appearance of a conflict.

    Source: SPW Notary Signing Agent Code of ConductandReport a problem with this question

17. 17. The note's signature block is typed 'Daniel Okafor, as Attorney-in-Fact for Grace Okafor.' Daniel, who holds the power of attorney and is at the table alone, asks how he should sign. What do you do?

    • A.Have him sign his own name alone, and record both Daniel and Grace as signers in the journal entry.
    • B.Have him sign Grace's name alone, and identify and journal Grace as the person named in the note.
    • C.Have him sign in whichever form he prefers, and note the wording he chose on the shipping sheet.
    • D.Have him sign as the typed block reads, and identify and journal Daniel as the person appearing.✓ Answer

    Representative-capacity wording is dictated by the lender's typed signature block and the closing instructions; the signing agent follows what is printed rather than inventing a format. Only the person who actually appears can be identified and journaled, so the entry names Daniel, the attorney-in-fact, and the absent principal is neither identified nor recorded as having appeared (SPW 5.1 and 2.6).

    Source: SPW Notary Signing Agent Code of ConductandReport a problem with this question

18. 18. As you present the note, the borrower says he thought he was signing a home-improvement contract and seems genuinely surprised that the papers are a mortgage refinance. What do you do?

    • A.Set the documents aside, and explain the general purpose of a refinance until he seems comfortable with it.
    • B.Set the documents in order and continue, since the lender disclosed the terms well before today.
    • C.Set the documents aside, and telephone the loan officer so he can describe the loan to the borrower.
    • D.Set the documents aside, and contact the contracting company about what the borrower has just told you.✓ Answer

    SPW 5.6 requires the signing agent to contact the contracting company immediately on a reasonable belief that the signer is unaware of the loan or of the significance of the transaction. Explaining the loan would cross into unauthorized advice under SPW 4.1 and 4.2, and routing the borrower to the loan officer bypasses the escalation path the Code sets.

    Source: SPW Notary Signing Agent Code of Conduct; SPWandReport a problem with this question

19. 19. The borrower hesitates over the deed of trust. Her adult son leans across the table, says 'just sign it,' and presses the pen into her hand. What do you do?

    • A.Stop the signing, and continue only with documents that require no notarial act from you today.
    • B.Stop the signing, and ask the borrower to state aloud that she is signing of her own free will.
    • C.Stop the signing, and tell the contracting company what you observed before any document is notarized.✓ Answer
    • D.Stop the signing, and ask the son to step outside so the borrower can finish the papers alone.

    NPCPR III-C-1 bars proceeding on an articulable reasonable belief that the signer is being coerced, intimidated or unduly influenced, and the illustration is exactly this: a relative putting the pen in the signer's hand. SPW 5.6 then requires immediate contact with the contracting company. Removing the third party and continuing, or having the signer recite willingness, does not undo what the notary already observed.

    Source: NNA Notary Public Code of Professional Responsibility; SPW Code of ConductReport a problem with this question

20. 20. The borrower asks you three times what day it is, cannot say which property is being financed, and trails off in the middle of his sentences. What do you do?

    • A.Continue with the appointment, since judging a signer's mental capacity falls outside your role.
    • B.Decline to proceed once a physician or an attorney has certified that the borrower lacks capacity.
    • C.Continue with the appointment, and write your concerns in the comments on the shipping sheet.
    • D.Decline to proceed on a reasonable belief you can articulate, and notify the contracting company.✓ Answer

    The standard in NPCPR III-C-2 is an articulable reasonable belief that the signer lacks the capacity to understand the transaction, and III-C-3 separately bars proceeding when the signer cannot communicate coherently with the notary at any point. That is an observation, not a diagnosis, so no medical certificate is needed and none is available at the table; SPW 5.6 then routes the matter to the contracting company.

    Source: NNA Notary Public Code of Professional Responsibility and; SPWReport a problem with this question

21. 21. The borrower speaks only Portuguese, which you do not speak, and his daughter offers to translate the documents and your questions for him. What do you do?

    • A.Continue with the daughter translating, and record her name and credential details in your journal.
    • B.Reschedule after the daughter signs a statement that her translation was complete and accurate.
    • C.Reschedule with a notary who speaks Portuguese, unless your state authorizes using a translator.✓ Answer
    • D.Continue with the daughter translating, since a family member has no financial interest in the loan.

    NPCPR III-C-4 bars proceeding when the signer cannot communicate directly with the notary in the same language, regardless of a third-party interpreter, unless the notary's state expressly authorizes translators; the notary who cannot speak with the signer cannot personally screen identity, willingness and awareness. The Code suggests referring the signer to a notary who speaks the language.

    Source: NNA Notary Public Code of Professional ResponsibilityReport a problem with this question

22. 22. Your journal has a thumbprint box. Your state does not require a thumbprint and the closing instructions do not mention one. The borrower, whom you have properly identified from a current credential, declines to give one. What do you do?

    • A.Perform the notarial acts as usual, since refusing over a step the law does not require would be improper.✓ Answer
    • B.Refuse the notarial acts, because a signing agent may set the identification practices used at the table.
    • C.Perform the notarial acts, then note the refusal as a possible sign of fraud on the shipping sheet.
    • D.Refuse the notarial acts, and tell the contracting company the borrower would not complete the journal.

    SPW 2.12 states that the signing agent will not refuse to perform a notarial act solely because a signer refuses to comply with a practice that is not a legal requirement for notarization in the agent's state, and NPCPR I-A-1 makes refusal without due cause improper. The borrower has already been identified by an acceptable credential, so nothing is missing that the law requires and the refusal is not itself evidence of fraud.

    Source: SPW Notary Signing Agent Code of Conduct; NNA CodeReport a problem with this question

Practice questions based on the Notary Signing Agent Code of Conduct and standard residential mortgage closing documents. This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Notary Association. IMPORTANT: the real certification exam also covers your own state's notary laws and procedures, and this bank deliberately does not — notary commissioning, fees, journal and seal requirements, acceptable identification and remote online notarization are set state by state and vary widely. Study your state's notary handbook alongside this, and see our Notary Public practice test for the notarial acts themselves. Being a certified signing agent does not by itself authorize you to notarize anywhere; your state commission does. About signing agent certification →