Is it legal, in Georgia, for a loan clerk to sign another's name and stamp it with a notary public's seal?

Question

I have a loan with a loan company, and I was behind in payments. They wanted me to come in and set up an alternative payment schedule than the original one. After the lady, Tammy, signed her name, she had me sign it. Then she signed another's name, Margie, her co-worker, who at the time was busy with another customer, and pulled out a notary public's stamp and stamped it. I had no idea that it was going to be stamped because if I had known, I never would have signed it. Is that legal?

Answer 1

If she signed another person's name, that forgery. If proven to have happened, that could be grounds to make null and void whatever document you signed.

The fact that she forged the document and then notarized it is worse, since a notary public attests that all documents are signed in her presense by the signors. So, she'd probably lose her notary license, and possibly face some sort of trouble at her job as well.

The only thing you'll have to provide is proof that these events took place.

Answer 2

You need to find out if it's legal. Usually it isn't. Who was the notary, Tammy or the other person? If the other person was, well..you can call the National Notary Association at 1-800-876-6827, or your Secretary of State's office who issues Notary certificates. You have to look that up on the web because I don't know where you live. Just do a search, "Georgia Secretary of State" and it will come up.

I used to be a Notary and this would be considered illegal in the state I live in. So it would be worth a contact and to report them. I would also follow it up with a letter naming the date, enclose a copy if possible of your document where the signature is, and send it to both places.

Answer 3

It is illegal and the notary can be subject to civil penalty under the state notary public law and legal liability for malpractice. Notaries are asking to see drivers licenses or other proofs of identification for people. My father-in-law brought suit against a notary and her bonding company, as well as a man and his mistress who was an impersonator of an absent wife. The man and his mistress sold land that had been owned by the man and his wife. The notary knew the man who signed the deed but she did not know his wife. She took for granted that it was his actual wife that signed the deed merely because she trusted the man when he said, this is my wife "Elisabeth." It wasn't his wife who signed the deed, and the property was fraudulently conveyed. The proper method for determining the identity of a person appearing before a notary under the amended Notary Public Law is that the "officer notarizing the instrument shall know through personal knowledge or have satisfactory evidence that the person appearing before the notary is the person described in and who is executing the instrument." "Personal knowledge" as defined in the amended Notary Public Law means having an acquaintance, derived from association with the individual in relation to other people and based upon a chain of circumstances surrounding the individual, which establishes the individual's identity. "Satisfactory evidence" means the reliance on the presentation of a current, government-issued identification card bearing a photograph or signature or physical description and serial or identification number or the oath or affirmation of a credible witness who is personally known to the notary and who personally knows the individual.

Answer 4

When one is entrusted with a Notary License and Seal, they must adhere to a code of ethics AND the Law. If a notary did what you described....they BROKE THE LAW.

Answer 5

That's illegal UNLESS she had Margie's permission to sign her name.