Last week’s forum activity centered on some practical advice for both new and experienced notaries. Members exchanged tips on assembling a first mobile notary kit, discussed the rising demand for remote online notary jobs, and considered the pros and cons of paid continuing education versus free, non-credit webinars. There was also a healthy conversation around challenges with Knowledge-Based Authentication (KBA) failures for remote online notarizations.
This Week’s Hot Topics
Weekly Notary Jobs: Remote Notary Jobs in Demand
Remote online notarization is seeing a surge in demand. Discover how you can tap into this growing market and what skills are in high demand. Read more here
Pay for auto‑reported CE or stick with noncredit webinars
A lively debate on whether to invest in formal CE credits or benefit from engaging in non-credit webinars. Each has its perks, and the community has strong opinions. Read more here
Ready to Witness? Guide to Becoming a Notary Public
For those considering the notary profession, this step-by-step guide covers everything you need to know to get started. Read more here
Anyone else getting sudden RON KBA fails today
Several notaries have reported unexpected KBA failures. This thread delves into potential causes and solutions for this frustrating issue. Read more here
First loan signing next week - last‑minute tips
Heading into your first loan signing? Check out these last-minute tips from seasoned notaries to ensure your appointment goes smoothly. Read more here
Looking forward to the conversations next week. Stay informed and connected!
Anyone else seeing KBA tank when the signer has a credit freeze or a VPN — KBA is allergic to nicknames too. I send a day-before prep note: “use legal name, exact old addresses, turn off VPN, and temporarily unfreeze credit for 24 hours,” and it’s saved a bunch of sessions. If I know the signer and my state allows personal knowledge for RON, that’s my backup; otherwise I share this overview so they know what to expect: Notary Bulletin | NNA.
Having signers use Chrome Guest (no autofill) has cut my KBA fails a ton. > KBA is allergic to nicknames. Exactly — Guest mode keeps saved nicknames from sneaking in, and if there’s a credit freeze I pause and have them thaw it before we try again.
Quick tip from last week’s refi: enter hyphenated or suffix names exactly as on the ID — “include the hyphen and Jr./III if it’s printed” — or the KBA can pull the wrong record set and choke like an airline kiosk. If the signer recently moved or changed names, I do a 2‑minute dry run the day before; if it still balks, I switch to a platform with a fallback Q&A path.
@dawa117 I’ve had KBA fail when the signer’s on work or hotel Wi‑Fi — switching to a phone hotspot (clean IP, no corporate routing) usually clears it; if it still balks, I ask them to “have every prior street address handy” and we retry.
KBA gets cranky when the signer’s behind a VPN or Apple’s ‘Private Relay’ — the provider can’t tie them to public records; toggling it off and relaunching the KBA usually fixes it. If they won’t, I resend the session link to a different device as a fallback, @lefo620.
Ran into two KBA fails that were security freezes on LexisNexis/Innovis — KBA can’t quiz a file it can’t see. Have the client temporarily lift the freeze (here’s the LN portal: Security Freeze - LexisNexis Risk Solutions Consumer Disclosure) and try again. @dawa117 your hotspot tip is solid, but if the data’s frozen, network changes won’t move the needle.