A Notary Public is an official of integrity appointed by state goverment-typically by the secretary of state-to serve the public as an impartial witness in performing a variety of official fraud-deterrent acts related to the signing of important documents. These official acts are called notarizations, or notarial acts. Notaries are publicly commissioned as "ministerial" officials, meaning that they are expected to follow written rules without the exercise of significant personal discretion, as would otherwise be the case with a "judicial" offcial.

A Notary signing agent is a Notary who is specially trained to handle and notarize loan documents. For lenders, Notary signing agents are the critical final link to complete the loan. A Notary signing agent is hired as an independent contractor to ensure that real estate loan documents are executed by the borrower, notarized, and returned for processing on time. Completing this critical part of the loan process enables the loan to be funded.