People keep telling me blue ink is always better lately because it proves it’s an original. Had a 7 pm refi this week where the borrower grabbed a bright blue gel pen and the scanbacks looked just light, kinda annoyed. Quick fix: I swapped in a black 0.7 Pilot G2 and the e-recording preview came out crisp. What actually works, at least for me, is using whatever the receiving party asks for, and when it’s silent, plain black ballpoint scans cleaner and passes OCR better. Notaries don’t decide the ink color. the lender or county recorder does, and blue has gotten me rescan requests while black usually sails through, idk.
Blue’s only “better” when the lender/title asks for it; it doesn’t magically prove anything once it’s scanned. Gel blues especially blow out, so I use a darker ballpoint blue when required and default to black otherwise.
Blue isn’t a magic ‘original’ — some lenders want blue, others require black, and plenty of counties prefer black for recording. Those bright blue gels get nuked by grayscale scanbacks, so I carry cheap blue ballpoints and swap them in, or switch to black if the instructions say so. Follow the package, not the myth.
I carry a navy blue ballpoint (Uni Jetstream 1.0) for “blue only” files and do a quick scan of the first page; if the blue looks washed in grayscale, we switch to black before we get too far.
When it’s silent, I do a 10-second test: snap a phone pic with the mono filter of the first signature to see how it grays out. If the blue looks thin, we switch to a black 0.7 (G2 or EnerGel) and it saves me from rescan headaches.
Had a lender that insisted on blue, my fix is carrying Uni-ball Signo 207 BLX blue-black - pigment ink shows as nearly black in grayscale and still looks “blue” in person. If scanbacks look thin, I nudge contrast +2 at 300 dpi grayscale and it tightens the lines without blowing out stamps.
I keep two pens clipped in the folder: Sharpie S-Gel 0.7 black for anything that might be scanned B/W, and Zebra Sarasa Clip blue-black when a lender wants blue - both stay bold at 300 dpi grayscale. Started doing that after a county kicked back a royal-blue gel set that looked washed out in their e-record preview.
Blue looks ‘original’ at the table but can wash out in scanbacks. I do a quick test scan of the first sig page before I leave; if grayscale at 300 dpi looks light, I switch them to a black 0.7 gel for the rest and the e-recording preview stays crisp.
I stopped letting borrowers use bright blue gels; if blue is requested, I hand them a Uni-ball 207 BLX blue‑black - it looks blue at the table but scans almost as dark as black at 300 dpi. For scanbacks, switching the scanner to Text/Grayscale and nudging contrast up a notch keeps signatures bold without blowing up the file size.
If the instructions say blue, I use a blue‑black (Zebra Sarasa Clip 0.7 in Blue‑Black) so it reads dark, and I set scanbacks to 300 dpi grayscale with a small contrast bump to keep gel ink from washing out. For e‑record counties near me, defaulting to black has kept rejections at zero.
When blue is requested, I hand over a Uni‑ball Signo 207 BLX in blue‑black and scan at 300 dpi grayscale with brightness -5 and contrast +10 on my Brother ADS‑1700W - keeps the sigs dark and the preview crisp. Haven’t had a recorder or lender complain since switching to that combo.
Blue-only requests get my Uni-ball Signo 207 in blue-black and I switch the scanner to 300 dpi grayscale with Text Enhance; otherwise I stick to a black G2. If a signer insists on their bright gel pen, I do a quick test scan and show the fade - nine times out of ten they swap without a fuss.
I keep a Pilot G2 0.7 in blue‑black just for “blue ink” files and set my Brother ADS to 300 dpi grayscale with Text Enhance; bright blue gel pens look fine on the table but scan pale. If the signer insists on their pen, I run a one‑page test scan and show them the difference - most will switch.
On blue requests, I hand them a blue‑black Uni‑ball 207 (0.7) and do a quick test scan of the first sig page at 300 dpi Text/Enhanced - if the strokes look thin, I bump contrast one notch. Bright cobalt gels look great on the table but I’ve had e‑recording previews flag them as faint, so blue‑black has been the quiet fix.
Blue gel gets chewed up by Background Removal - turn that off and, if blue is required, hand them a blue‑black Jetstream (oil‑based) instead of gel; it scans noticeably darker. I do a quick test of the first sig at 300 dpi grayscale with contrast bumped one notch to catch issues before running the set.
If blue is requested, I hand them a blue‑black Sarasa 1.0 and scan at 300 dpi grayscale with Background Removal off - reads almost as dark as black but still looks blue in person. Learned that after a county kicked back a deed once for “faint signatures” from a bright blue gel.