On-Call Notary Service at The VA Hospital in Palo Alto

This evening I received a call from the son of a veteran who is scheduled to have surgery tomorrow at 6AM at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Palo Alto, California. "Mr. Lee" wanted his durable power of attorney notarized before he went in for surgery and the window of opportunity was closing. They are from Monterey County and are unfamiliar with Palo Alto. They arrived in Palo Alto in the late afternoon and drove to a couple of notary public offices. Unfortunately, the first one went out of business and the second one did not a notary public onsite. Mr. Lee's son, "Randall" called me frantic at just before 7PM.

He was glad to have found a traveling notary public that could bring notary services to them at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto. Then, he was wondering how he was going to find an ATM to get cash to pay for the notary services. I told him that I accept debit and credit cards. Since he had his credit card, he didn't have to worry about driving around an unfamiliar city to find an ATM. He sighed with relief.

I arrived within a half an hour to notarize the power of attorney for Mr. Lee. Both he and Randall were at ease knowing it was notarized. Now, they could focus on the surgery and recovery.

If you find yourself in a pinch for a traveling notary, do you have a knowledgeable, professional one you can call?

Thank you for reading,

Cathy Wong
Mobile Notary Public and Certified Loan Signing Agent
Champion Mobile Notary
Phone 650-290-3550 or 408-355-3700
http://www.ChampionMobileNotary.com/

Have stamp and journal. Will travel.

Mobile Notary Service at Hospitals

I thought I would share about my mobile notary services to hospitals. This week, I provided mobile notary service to a patient and her family at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, Califorina. Other recent notary appointments have been at Lucille Packard's Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara and Stanford Hospital in Stanford, California. I provide notary service to the other hospitals in the counties of San Mateo and Santa Clara, California too.

Common documents that require notarization by hospital patients are power of attorneys and advanced health care directives. Once in a while the person has a refinance loan package or a seller signing package. Another common request is when they have been involved in a car or motorcycle accident and their car or motorcycle is impounded. Since they are in the hospital and the sole owner of the vehicle or bike, they need a notarized letter authorizing a family member or friend to pick up their car or bike from the impound yard.

As a notary, I have to gauge the competence and willingness of the signer as well as identify them. If they are taking pain killers or other medications causing grogginess, signing is better later in the medication cycle when they are more alert. If they aren't competent, I have to decline the notarization. If they do not have their current photo ID (driver's license, state ID card or passport), two credible witnesses are needed who do have their current photo ID's and testify to the signers identification.

Hospital stays can be stressful for the patient and their family and friends. I recognize this and work accordingly with them to make the notarizations as efficient and pain free as possible. An example, today when I just arrived, the physical therapists came in and wanted to work with the patient ("Mrs. Jones"). We asked them to return in a a few minutes. I quickly reviewed the patient's current photo ID to confirm her ID and signature. I reviewed the power of attorney requiring notarization. I asked about her hand strength to see if a felt tip pen would work better for Mrs. Jones than the ball point pen. While one of her sons worked with her to practice signing her signature. I worked with her other son to complete a couple of items on the power of attorney. Next, I asked her a couple of questions about the power of attorney that she needed to answer and asked her a couple of questions to confirm she understood what she was signing. I had her sign the document and my notary journal and then give her thumb print in my journal. Next, her son signed his portion of the document and he signed the journal and gave his thumb print in it too.

The physical therapists returned to the room and started working with Mrs. Jones while I completed notarizing the document and completing the journal. I wrote a receipt. They paid me. I was on my way and they had their much needed notarized power of attorney, so now her son can manage her finances while she is recovering in the hospital.

Thank you for reading,

Cathy Wong
Mobile Notary Public and Certified Loan Signing Agent
Champion Mobile Notary
Phone 650-290-3550
Phone 408-355-3700
http://www.ChampionMobileNotary.com/
Have stamp and journal. Will travel.

Podium for Womens Pro/1/2/3 Sugar CRM Memorial Day Crit

Champion Mobile Notary sponsored the women's Pro/1/2/3 SJBC Sugar CRM Memorial Day Crit bicycle race with cold cash and schwag. Here is a podium shot with four of the top five finishers and me.

The podium finishers:

1. Shelley Olds with Proman Women's Cycling Team

2. Ruth Corset with Jazz Apple Cycling Team

3. Mary Ellen Ash with Team Sugar CRM

4. Brooke Miller with Team TIBCO (not in photo, competing in the Men's Pro/1/2 race)

5. Starla Teddergreen with Team Sugar CRM

Additional prize winners (not in photo):

6. Melodie Metzger with Vanderkitten

7. MalinDills Maclean with Jazz Apple Cycling Team

8. Liza Rachetto with Team Sugar CRM

9. Stacy Marple with Colavita Sutter Home

10. Jane Robertson with MetroMint

To learn more about Proman Women's Cycling Team, visit: http://proman-paradigm.blogspot.com/ .

An interesting note, Jazz Apple Cycling Team is a New Zealand inspired women's cycling team based in North America. A majority of their members are from New Zealand. To learn more about them visit: http://www.jazzapple.com/riders.htm .

After the race, I talked with Marina of the Jazz Apple Cycling Team. She wants to start a business one day. I shared with her that with her bicycle racing and training, she has tools to be a successful entrepreneur. For me, the discipline, focus and problem-solving with bicycle racing help me a lot with launching and building my business.

Here a link to more photos from the race: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=81870&id=79209948391&saved .

Thank you for reading,

Cathy Wong

Mobile Notary Public and Certified Loan Signing Agent

Champion Mobile Notary

Phone 650-290-3550

Phone 408-355-3700

http://www.ChampionMobileNotary.com/

Have stamp and journal. Will travel.

A Client in New York?

Some people wonder how I can have clients who are out of state. "Sarah", who is in New York, called me to notarize a couple of documents with her father, "Mr. Jones". He is living at Palo Alto Commons, an assisted living place in Palo Alto, California. They needed trust documents notarized. She was a bit stressed on how to make this happen. Her father no longer drives, so he is unable to drive to a notary public's office. I talked with her to better understand what she needed. She couriered the documents to me. I scheduled the notary appointment with her father. After the notarizations were complete, I couriered the documents back to Sarah.

I was glad to be of service to Sarah and Mr. Jones and making the transaction as smooth and stressless as possible for them.

Thank you for reading,

Cathy Wong
Mobile Notary Public and Certified Loan Signing Agent
Champion Mobile Notary
Phone 650-290-3550
Phone 408-355-3700
http://www.ChampionMobileNotary.com/

Have stamp and journal. Will travel.

Sponsoring Local Womens Competitive Bicycle Races

I am excited to support women's local competitive bicycle racing.

Champion Mobile Notary is sponsoring the Women's 1/2/3 (categories) Sugar CRM Mt. Hamilton Classic Road Race (San Jose to Livermore), Sunday, May 24, 2009. For more information about the race visit this link: http://www.teamsanjose.org/memorialwknd/2009/mthamilton.php . There are other men's and women category races too.

Champion Mobile Notary is also sponsoring the Women's Pro/1/2/3 (categories) Sugar CRM Memorial Day Criterium in Morgan Hill, Monday, May 25, 2009. For more information about this race visit this link http://www.teamsanjose.org/memorialwknd/2009/criterium.php . She will be at the event to congratulate and give prizes to the winner and other top ten placing bicycle racers. There are other category men's, women's and junior races happening throughout day too.

I look forward to watching the race, connecting with my bicycle racing friends, congratulating and giving prizes to the top ten performing bicycle racers. (Prizes are ten deep).

I was a competitive road bicycle racer for several years. I retired in July 2007 as a category 3 to focus on my mobile notary business. I competed in road races, criteriums and stage races. I founded, managed and coached Le Peloton Feminin, a women's competitive bicycle racing team in 2004-2007. I co-coached Velo Girls bicycle racing team 2003-2004. I also helped mentor upcoming and beginner women road bicycle racers with the Valley Spokesmen Women's Racing Team during their No Drop rides in 2001-2002. To view a few of my bicycling photos visit: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?id=769076169&aid=27458 .

I look forward to meeting you at the race or if you are a road bicyclist, I look forward to meeting you on the road!

Thank you for reading,

Cathy Wong
Mobile Notary Public and Certified Loan Signing Agent
Champion Mobile Notary
Phone 650-290-3550
Phone 408-355-3700
http://www.ChampionMobileNotary.com/

Have stamp and journal. Will travel.

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Mobile Notary Service

Yesterday, I provided mobile notary public service for a patient at Santa Clara Valley Medical in San Jose, California. "Mr. Smith" was involved in an accident and he needed his wife, "Mrs. Smith" to manage their finances, so I notarized a power of attorney for him. He was unable to sign his name, so he signed by a mark which involved two people who witnessed him signing.

This brought peace of mind for Mrs. Smith, as with the power of attorney she is able to start moving on her To Do list.

I enjoy being able to help people such as the Smith's, as I know I can help ease their stress by delivering patient and efficient notary service.

Thank you for reading.

Cathy Wong
Mobile Notary Public and Certified Loan Signing Agent
Champion Mobile Notary
Phone 650-290-3550
Phone 408-355-3700
http://www.ChampionMobileNotary.com/

Have stamp and journal. Will travel.

Handling Sensitive Personal & Private Documents

Today, I received a call from "Jane" at the Stanford Hospital in Stanford, California. She and her sister, "Jill" are trustees who are responsible to sign the closing documents for the sale of their parents house. Jill, who is in Oregon, has the documents and planned to email them to me, so I could print them and meet with Jane at Stanford Hospital to execute and notarize them. Escrow needed the documents tomorrow morning to close escrow on time.

One of Jill's concerns was me handling such sensitive personal documents. I reassured her that I handle seller signings; residential purchases and home refinance loan document packages and estate planning documents, as well as many other types of private documents for businesses (such as patent applications and patent assignments) and individuals (such as estate planning documents). I have completed over several thousand notarizations and before being a notary public, I worked in the residential real estate industry for several years where I managed escrow files and disclosure packets.

Additional information for the credibility of California Notary Public’s is we are required every four years to pass an exam, pass a background check by the FBI and the Department of Justice of California. Also, our photos and all ten fingerprints are submitted to the California Secretary of State. I have additional Gramm-Leach Bliley Act training which involves handling and safeguarding nonpublic personal information electronically and in print. My laptop and external hard drive are password protected. My active journal is in my briefcase which is locked and secured in my car when I am on the road and not in a notary appointment. My inactive journals are locked in a secure filing cabinet. I have a firewall, anti-spyware and antivirus software on my laptop which is updated frequently. If I have extra copies of personal documents, such as when documents are redrawn and the first set are no longer needed, I shred them.

I hope this helps you better understand how I handle and protect nonpublic personal and private information with complete confidentiality.

Thank you for reading.

Cathy Wong
Mobile Notary Public and Certified Loan Signing Agent
Champion Mobile Notary
Phone 650-290-3550
Phone 408-355-3700
http://www.ChampionMobileNotary.com/

Have stamp and journal. Will travel.