Are you a Notary who uses ditto marks in your journal?

Most, if not all, Notaries I know use ditto marks in their journals to carry down duplicative information; i.e. if you have several signings at the same location, just put ditto marks under the first entry for each additional line, right? Same for signatures. Just draw a diagonal line from the top entry line to the bottom, and have the client sign once. Sounds reasonable and saves a lot of time.

But what happens if someone orders a copy of a specific line item? How do they fill in the blanks where the ditto marks appear?

They can't.

I recently spoke with a representative of the National Notary Association (http://www.nationalnotary.org) Hot Line. It turns out that the time-honored practice of using ditto marks is out, by order of the Secretary of State. I called and verified this, although the policy change doesn't seem to be in writing (?). The SOS agent was very clear: the Notary must record all required information on each line, along with a separate signature. No more cutting corners time-wise.

I'm glad that this subject came up in my conversation with the Hot Line, but it is not mentioned on the NNA web site under California news. It would be nice to have a "heads up" regarding policy changes when they become aware of them. My esp is not that fine-tuned.

A Stolen (?) Wallet

I lost my wallet this afternoon shortly after making a purchase at a local store. As soon as I realized it was missing, I did a thorough search, then called Amex. The agent confirmed that someone had used it about ten minutes after I lost it, so we canceled the card. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to remember what cards were in my wallet and calling various banks to cancel any debit cards that might possibly been in there. Because I was rattled, it took me longer than it should to round up all the phone and account numbers.

Then, around 4:00 PM, a very nice-looking man came to my door and handed me my wallet. He assured me that everything was still there, and apologized for having to go through it to find the address on my driver's license. And sure enough, my cards were there, long with a $5 bill. I thought, Is this the person who charged $76 worth of gas to my card? And why did he come to my door rather than leave it with the Lost and Found in the store? He seemed so nice and responsible, he made good eye contact, and the cash was still in the wallet. I just couldn't reconcile the conflicting facts.

I'm very grateful to have my driver's license back. And now I just might follow that tip I'd seen long ago - make a copy of the credit and debit cards you carry with you, as well as the customer service numbers on the back. Oh, and just carry the MINIMUM number of cards with you.