Can Signing Agents Sign Post-Dated Loan Documents?

A signing agent is a person who has the duty of obtaining an officially recognized signature of a certain party in a document when making a contract. This signing agent is normally a neutral party and does not lie to one side as their main job is dealing with the signatures of the interested parties. Moreover, they cannot be legal advisors to any of the parties as the law prohibits them to do so since they are an impartial party in such situations. Therefore, if there is a legal problem with the documents, the aggrieved side is advised to seek the services of an advocate.

How signing agents work

They are in charge of signatures that are essential in loan documents since they are qualified to execute loan documents properly and have the experience due to working many years in this field. In a typical day, they identify the loan documents that need to be signed, approach the parties and get their signatures after which they return the documents to the person who is borrowing money. In doing this, though, they must ensure that they obey the laws of the state within their transactions.

Loan documents necessary

Before one can apply and process a loan, they need to have some loan documents that are used to clarify their real identity and capability of repaying the loan. However, these documents may differ depending on whether the borrower is salaried or self-employed.

Documents that are usually needed to process a loan would include:

• For both the salaried and the self-employed, proof of identity and a physical address is necessary to give all the personal details of the borrower. These documents can include national identification cards, driving licenses, voter’s card or a passport. Moreover, a passport size photograph may be necessary to be input into the system.
• For borrowers who receive a salary, a bank statement is necessary to show where the salary is generated while for the self-employed, the bank statement shows the income. Additionally, the bank may require proof of income such as latest salary slips for the salaried while the self-employed are required to show an audit of their income for the last two to three years.

How to handle post-dated loan documents

When preparing for the signing of these loan documents, the signing agent may notice that the documents have been dated for the future unlike the normal expectation that they are signed on the current date. The reason some documents may be post-dated is so that all parties have an opportunity to sign the document before the due date.

If only the date of the document is wrong, then normally it would be no problem for some authorities. However, the problem comes when the wrong date is associated with a signature of the party. In this instance, a signing agent cannot accept or process the document legally. 

The best way to handle this situation would be to change the date entered against the signature as one cannot sign in future. If the matter is complicated, then it is better to have the matter resolved by legal counsel and not a signing agent.

Conclusion

Signing agents cannot sign post-dated documents as these documents are not considered valid as per the law of the state. However, this should not worry you as there are remedies for this by fixing the date before it is too late.