So when I began the process of applying for an Arizona Notary Public, the first thing I did was research what is necessary to become a notary public in Arizona. And the first thing I needed to do was purchase a $5000.00 surety bond which is a document the state of Arizona requires all Notaries to purchase for the duration of their 4-year commission. The Notary bond protects the public of Arizona against any financial loss due to improper conduct by an Arizona Notary. The cost of the surety bond is pretty cheap, like $25 for four years. I was able to purchase a surety bond from the American Association of Notaries.

After you fill out the application to purchase the surety bond, the surety bond folks will process your application and send you the result in an email. Attached to this email is a surety bond itself.

Now go to the Secretary of the State of Arizona website and fill out the online notary public application. In this application, you will be asked for the surety bond number that you received in the email.

After you have completed the online application, download and print it out.

Mail your signed notary application (printed from the state’s website), signed notarized notary bond, and application fees($43.00) to the state. The address should be on the application. Keep a copy of the bond and application for future references.

Don’t Make The Signature Mistake!

One thing I want to make sure that you understand is that your signature on the surety bond must be pretty close to the signature on the notary application. If those signatures do not look the same or are pretty close to the same, the state of Arizona will send the whole application back to you so you can redo the application. I made the mistake of my signatures not matching. They sent the application back. Now during a normal application process, it takes about 4 to 6 weeks. During Covid, it was like six to eight weeks. By the time they sent my application back to me, guess what. My bond had expired. You have only so much time from the bond issue date to apply it to your notary application. I had to get a new bond. The good news is that they sent me one at no cost.

After I completed the Arizona notary application for the second time, I sent the signed application with the signed bond application and a $43 application fee to the Secretary of State of Arizona.

Let me say this first, you must sign up with the National Notary Association. They are recognized as the de facto notary association. When you sign up to any of the Loan Signing Services as a loan signing agent, the majority of them ask if you are a member of the National Notary Association”? AS I had mentioned before, we will talk about becoming a Loan Signing Agent at a later date.

The National Notary Association, better known as the NNA, is a great resource for training, current notary news, laws, and more. They also offer a hotline just in case you might have any questions regarding a notary signing. For example, let’s say you’re at a notary signing and you have a question and you need the answer ASAP. You can call the NNA and tell him what your problem is, and they will help you. This is a great service!

So go ahead and sign up here with the NNA, and stay tuned for the next post when we talk about notary training.