1.3 Eligibility, Pricing & Background Screening

The Active Commission Prerequisite

The single hard prerequisite for the NNA Notary Signing Agent certification is that you hold an active notary public commission in your state before you enroll. The certification is a specialization layer on top of your commission — it teaches the loan-signing role, not the underlying notary law. You are expected to already know your state's notarial acts, identification rules, journal requirements, and fee caps.

If your commission is in the application stage, wait until it is issued before starting the NNA course. The 9-month access window begins at enrollment, and you do not want to burn access time while waiting for your state to process your commission paperwork. If your commission is about to expire, renew it first — a lapsed commission voids your eligibility to act as an NSA even if the NNA certification itself is still current.

Background Screening

Both packages include a background screening, which is a standard vendor requirement in the signing industry. The screening is run by Backgrounds Online, follows the Signing Professionals Workgroup (SPW) background-screening standard, and searches 10 years of federal, state, and county records (some states limit the search to the last 7 years). Plan for results to return in 5–15 business days, though many come back faster.

What the Screening Covers

The NNA lists seven searches:

• Social Security number trace — builds the address history that drives the county searches
• County criminal court search — Kansas, Michigan, and New York are run as statewide searches
• Motor vehicle records — scored; unavailable in Washington and Pennsylvania
• National Sex Offender registry — automatic disqualification
• Nationwide criminal database — scored
• Federal district court search — scored
• USA PATRIOT Act / Terrorist Watch List — automatic disqualification

The Point Score: 24 vs. 25

The screening is not a simple felony/no-felony test. Each offense is assigned points under criteria set by the SPW, ranging from 2 points for a non-moving traffic violation up to 25 points for the most serious offenses such as robbery. The threshold is exact:

• 24 points or fewer — you pass and are eligible to work for lenders and title companies as an NSA.
• 25 points or more — you are disqualified from loan-signing work.

An attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation to commit a crime — or aiding and abetting one — is scored the same as the crime itself. Two automatic disqualifiers sit outside the point system entirely: a National Sex Offender registry hit and a USA PATRIOT Act / Terrorist Watch List match. If you have a record, request a copy of your background report proactively and prepare an honest explanation; signing services will ask, and a concealed conviction is worse than a disclosed one.

Timing tip: Because the screening can take up to 15 business days, start your enrollment and screening early. Do not schedule a signing until your screening is cleared and your SigningAgent.com profile is live.

Package Comparison: Standard vs. Professional

Both packages include the same core deliverables — the training, the certification exam, the background screening, and a SigningAgent.com profile listing. The Professional tier adds NNA Membership benefits that are useful if you plan to make signing a regular income stream.

Which Package Should You Choose?

• Choose Standard ($199) if you are testing the waters or already have a notary supply vendor and E&O coverage from another source.
• Choose Professional ($249) if this is your first notary business and you want the NNA Hotline (a compliance question line), member discounts on notary supplies, and NNA-provided certificate forms. The $50 difference is recouped quickly through member pricing on journals, stamps, and E&O policies.

Do not search for older "$299" or "Premier" tiers — those are stale and no longer sold.

The SigningAgent.com Listing

Both packages bundle a SigningAgent.com profile listing. SigningAgent.com is the NNA-operated directory that title companies, signing services, and lenders search when they need a certified NSA in a given ZIP code. Your profile displays your certification status, background screening status, E&O coverage, service area, and contact information.

A complete, accurate profile is one of your most valuable marketing assets — an out-of-date profile (wrong service area, expired E&O, missing phone number) costs you assignments. After you certify, log in and verify your profile details.

Attorney-Closing States

In a handful of states, real estate closings must be conducted by a licensed attorney, which restricts or changes the NSA's role. The specific list of attorney-closing states shifts over time and varies by transaction type (purchase vs. refinance), so this guide does not present an exhaustive roster — consult your state's bar or real estate commission for the current rule before accepting a signing in a state where you are unsure.

What this means in practice: in attorney-closing states, the NSA may still be hired to notarize specific documents or to print/deliver a package, but the borrower's legal questions and the closing's conduct remain with the attorney. The SPW Code's Principle 4 (Unauthorized Advice/Services) is especially important here — never step outside the notary role, and never advise a borrower on legal meaning.

Errors & Omissions (E&O) Insurance

The NNA does not require E&O insurance to take the certification exam, but the signing industry effectively requires it to be hired. The SPW Insurance Standard — one of the five published SPW standards — calls for a signing professional to show proof of a $25,000 notary E&O policy, and most signing services list this as a vendor-onboarding requirement. E&O insurance covers claims arising from errors you make in your signing-agent capacity — a missed signature, a misnotarized document, a late shipment that delays funding.

Key points:

• E&O is separate from your notary bond (which protects the public, not you)
• Higher limits ($50,000 or $100,000) are available and some lenders require them for high-value loans
• Policies are inexpensive and typically priced per term
• List your policy on your SigningAgent.com profile — it signals to hiring parties that you are properly insured

Prerequisites Checklist

Before you enroll, confirm you have:

• Active notary public commission in your state
• Commission expiration date far enough out to cover your planned signing activity
• Budget for $199 (Standard) or $249 (Professional)
• Time to complete ~20–35 hours of study over 2–6 weeks
• A record clean enough to score 24 points or fewer on the SPW-standard screening (10-year search)
• Plan to obtain at least the SPW-standard $25,000 E&O policy before your first assignment