Whittaker said:cpaynter said:I ran into a problem with the FABT requirement, though; they wanted a notarized copy of my driver's license, and the Chase notary said he could not notarize a copy of anything. He could only notarize original documents.
He is being ridiculous. That is one of the services they are expected to provide, to affirm by their notification that a photocopy of an original document is indeed an unadulterated copy of the original.

That's what routinely happens with death certificates. You purchase one original, make a number of copies, take them and the original to a notary, who notarizes that they are copies of the original. Then you use the notarized copies for the life insurance, safety deposit box, bank account, etc.

If you had to have original death certificates for everything it would be extremely expensive.
It depends on the state. The notary at my bank (in Michigan) just refused to notarize a copy of my driver's license, so I looked on the Michigan Secretary of State website and found this:
A notary public cannot certify or notarize that a record is an original or a true copy of another record.
Violations are a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $5000 and/or one year inprisonment.

foxhopper said:It depends on the state. The notary at my bank (in Michigan) just refused to notarize a copy of my driver's license,

I'm from Michigan and wasn't aware of that. What are you going to do now?

Ok - I found a blog post by a notary in CA (which apparently has the same rule) who had to refuse to certify a copy of a driver's license which had what I hope is a viable solution. She linked to this Notary FAQ which suggests having the client (me in this case) sign a statement on the copy of the document certifying that it is a true copy, then notarizing that signature.

So, I typed up a statement, "I certify the above copies of ... to be true and correct copies of them same", went back to my bank, and convinced the notary that it is ok for him to notarize my signing of the document saying I am certifying the correctness of the copy.

jdmetz said:Whittaker said:cpaynter said:I ran into a problem with the FABT requirement, though; they wanted a notarized copy of my driver's license, and the Chase notary said he could not notarize a copy of anything. He could only notarize original documents.
He is being ridiculous. That is one of the services they are expected to provide, to affirm by their notification that a photocopy of an original document is indeed an unadulterated copy of the original.

That's what routinely happens with death certificates. You purchase one original, make a number of copies, take them and the original to a notary, who notarizes that they are copies of the original. Then you use the notarized copies for the life insurance, safety deposit box, bank account, etc.

If you had to have original death certificates for everything it would be extremely expensive.
It depends on the state. The notary at my bank (in Michigan) just refused to notarize a copy of my driver's license, so I looked on the Michigan Secretary of State website and found this:
A notary public cannot certify or notarize that a record is an original or a true copy of another record.
Violations are a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $5000 and/or one year inprisonment.
What should be permissible is for a notary to notarize a statement (on a separate sheet) like this:

I, glxpass, hereby swear or affirm that the attached reproduction of the Social Security card for glxpass is a true and correct photocopy of the document in my possession.

I signed my name, my address was filled in, and then followed:

State of California

County of (glxpass's county)

Subscribed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me on the XXth day of XXX. 2009 by glxpass, proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the person(s) who appeared before me.

The notary isn't the one saying that the document is a true copy of the original; I am. What's "proved to me [the notary]" is my identity, based on documents, such as driver's license, or a witness attesting to my identity. This approach has worked for FABT and many other FIs that required copies of documents proving my identity and notarization in order to open accounts with them. This isn't the same as the documents themselves (or copies of the documents) being notarized.

From Michigan Department of State - Notarization of Documents:

After you have received your commission, you are authorized to take acknowledgments, administer oaths or affirmations, and witness or attest to a signature. A notary public may act as a witness to and notarize the same instrument.

lokimoki said:Malvern Federal now at 2.00%/35K.

and goodbye Malvern!

Say it ain't so DavidScubadiver... Tell me more tales of SBoT..Don't leave us.