Keeping your Notary seal and journal safe is very important. A fraudster could use a stolen Notary seal to commit document fraud. Your journal contains sensitive private information about your signers. How safe are your Notary tools from falling into the wrong hands? Take our quiz and find out.
ANSWERS:
1. What do you do with your Notary tools when you aren’t using them?
BEST ANSWER: A. When you are not using your Notary tools, the safest place to keep them is in a locked and secure storage area such as a locked desk drawer or a safe. That way, your tools are safe from unauthorized use and access by someone else. In fact, some states, such as California, have laws requiring Notary journals to be stored in a secured, locked area. Even if not required by law in your state, this is the best way to secure your Notary tools.
2. Do you ever let anyone else use your Notary seal?
BEST ANSWER: B. You are the only person authorized to possess and use your Notary seal. No one else, including your boss, co-workers, or family members should have access to it or be allowed to use it.
3. If someone asks to view entries in your Notary journal, what do you do?
BEST ANSWER: D. Journal entries often contain sensitive personal information about your signers. If someone asks to view an entry in your journal, you should not let them conduct “fishing expeditions” by flipping through the pages of your journal, because then they can see the private information of people unrelated to their request. Instead the best practice is for you to find the requested entry and cover other unrelated items on the page so the requester can see the information they need, but other unrelated entries. Answer C is not correct for the reason that when you provide a photocopy, you must only provide the specific entry requested, and no others on the page.
4. If you have your Notary tools with you in your car and have to stop and leave the car, what you do with your Notary tools?
BEST ANSWER: B. If you have to leave your Notary tools in your vehicle temporarily, don’t leave them in sight of passersby, even if you lock your car — many Notaries have reported having their car windows broken and Notary tools stolen from their vehicles after leaving their seal or journal on a seat. The best place to store them is a locked, out of sight location such as your car trunk or a lockable storage compartment in your vehicle, where they are both locked away and out of sight of would-be thieves. An even better practice is to keep your Notary tools in a locked bag or attaché and take it with you when you leave the car.
David Thun is the Assistant Managing Editor with the National Notary Association.