George,

I think you will find the signing agents a feistier group than the abstractors,,,less likely to let unpaid invoices go uncollected for months on end. They are more inclined to enforce their claims than the abstractors by whatever means is legally possible. Probably because they are paid more for a closing than abstractors are paid for a search.

Clients with poor payment histories are also listed and rated by the signing agents over on Notary Rotary. When a signing agent receives an order from an unknown company he generally checks this listing. If the company has a history of no pay/slow pay, the signing agents generally decline the order. These companies soon find it difficult to get work done.

There are also ways to assure timely payment. I generally have a client print both the amount of my fee and the payment date on the confirmation of order I receive. It makes it very difficult for them to come up with excuses for non-payment or late payment. If I find that they have recorded the mortgage or deed on the strength of my notarization...they have waived any objections, and payment is due.

Personally, I have had to go after a number of problem clients for payment. I have never lost.  For most people the court's jurisdiction seems to be a problem with the need to travel to the defendant's native state to enforce the claim. In Connecticut that is not a problem for signing agents or abstractors who receive their assignment via the internet and their computers.

Under Connecticut's Computer Crimes law the defendants submit themselves to the jurisdiction of the Connecticut court for civil and criminal prosecution when their orders are received and printed on a computer within Connecticut...in this case my computer. The defendants don't seem to want to have themselves and their clients dragged into a Connecticut court, and pay their bills grudgingly.