The Cost of Nonpayment: What Notary Watch™ Reports Reveal About Unpaid Notary Assignments
September 5, 2026
An analysis of 272 published Notary Watch™ reports found $27,799 still owed on 180 assignments reported as completely unpaid.
Between March 17 and September 5, 2026, 272 published incident reports were submitted to Notary Watch™. Of those reports, 250 included a reported assignment fee.
Those 250 assignments represented $34,871 in reported fees.
In 180 reports, the notary reported receiving no payment at all. The agreed fees associated with those completely unpaid assignments totaled $27,799.
Put another way: approximately 8 out of every 10 dollars represented in fee-bearing Notary Watch reports remained owed on assignments reported as completely unpaid.
The data also reveals something important: reported nonpayment was not confined to low-fee assignments.
of reported fee dollars — $27,799 of $34,871 — were tied to assignments reported as completely unpaid.
Approximately 8 out of every 10 dollars represented in fee-bearing Notary Watch™ reports remained owed on assignments reported as completely unpaid. Figures describe reported incidents, not national rates.
What 272 Notary Watch™ Reports Show
- Published incident reports
- 272
- Reports including a fee amount
- 250
- Total fees reported
- $34,871
- Reported as not paid at all
- 180 (66%)
- Total owed on completely unpaid assignments
- $27,799
- Partial-payment reports
- 8
- Total job fees involved in partial-payment reports
- $520
- Fee changed after work was completed
- 15
- Net-30/45/60/90 payment terms
- 83 (31%)
- No payment problem reported
- 20 (7%)
The $27,799 represents agreed fees associated only with assignments reported as completely unpaid.
Partial-payment reports are tracked separately because Notary Watch captures the full reported job fee rather than consistently identifying the exact amount remaining after a partial payment.
For that reason, $27,799 represents a floor within this dataset, not necessarily the total amount still outstanding across every published report.
What Notaries Reported Being Offered
Among the 250 reports containing a fee amount, the median reported assignment fee was $90.
The average reported fee was $139. However, that average is affected by a small number of substantially higher-value assignments. The median therefore provides a clearer picture of the typical reported assignment fee within this dataset.
Reported fees ranged from $0 to $3,000.
The reports contained an average of 12.6 reported notarial acts per assignment.
The average is affected by a small number of substantially higher-value assignments, so the median gives a clearer picture of the typical reported assignment fee in this dataset.
Nonpayment Was Reported Across Every Fee Range
The largest concentration of fee-bearing reports fell between $75 and $99, with 69 reports.
But reports of complete nonpayment were not limited to low-fee assignments.
Complete nonpayment was reported across every fee range analyzed. These percentages describe reports submitted to Notary Watch™ and are not a national nonpayment rate.
Within the Notary Watch dataset, complete nonpayment was reported across every fee range analyzed.
That does not mean these percentages represent the national nonpayment rate for notary assignments. Notary Watch is an incident-reporting platform, and people generally submit reports because they experienced a problem.
What the data does establish is that among the incidents reported to Notary Watch, nonpayment is not confined to the lowest-paying assignments.
Where Notary Watch™ Is Seeing the Most Reports
Three states stand out by report volume in the current dataset: California, Texas, and Florida.
- Dollars owed
- $6,134
- Median reported fee
- $90
- Avg. days outstanding
- 214 days
- Longest outstanding
- 834 days
- Dollars owed
- $1,770
- Median reported fee
- $84
- Avg. days outstanding
- 310 days
- Longest outstanding
- 1,415 days
- Dollars owed
- $1,435
- Median reported fee
- $90
- Avg. days outstanding
- 243 days
- Longest outstanding
- 823 days
- Dollars owed
- $1,320
- Median reported fee
- $90
- Avg. days outstanding
- 191 days
- Longest outstanding
- 501 days
These figures describe reports submitted to Notary Watch™. They should not be interpreted as statewide nonpayment rates or as evidence that notaries in these states are inherently more likely to experience payment problems.
California represents the largest concentration, with 52 published reports. Texas follows with 31 and Florida with 28.
These figures describe reports submitted to Notary Watch™. They should not be interpreted as statewide nonpayment rates or as evidence that notaries working in these states are inherently more likely to experience payment problems.
California: The Largest Report Volume
California accounted for 52 published incident reports, the largest state-level concentration in the dataset.
Thirty-two California reports were identified as completely unpaid, representing $6,134 in reported outstanding fees.
The median reported assignment fee was $90, while completely unpaid assignments averaged 214 days outstanding. The longest reported outstanding California assignment had reached 834 days as of September 5, 2026.
Texas: The Longest Outstanding Assignment in the Dataset
Texas accounted for 31 published reports, including 19 reported as completely unpaid.
Those completely unpaid assignments represented $1,770 in reported outstanding fees.
Texas also contained the single longest-outstanding assignment in the dataset. Based on the signing date supplied in the report, that assignment had been outstanding for 1,415 days as of September 5, 2026 — nearly four years.
That represents one reported assignment and should not be interpreted as the typical experience of Texas notaries.
Florida: 28 Published Reports
Florida accounted for 28 published reports, including 15 reported as completely unpaid.
Those completely unpaid assignments represented $1,435 in reported outstanding fees.
The median reported assignment fee was $90, with completely unpaid assignments averaging 243 days outstanding.
A High-Dollar Outlier: Minnesota
Minnesota deserves separate mention for a different reason.
Only five Minnesota reports appear in this dataset, but those assignments represented $5,475 in reported unpaid fees.
The assignments involved higher-value work and produced a median reported fee of $525, substantially higher than the $90 median across the overall dataset.
Minnesota
Because the Minnesota sample consists of only five reports, NNC does not consider this sufficient to suggest a broader statewide payment pattern. Minnesota is identified here as a high-dollar outlier within the current Notary Watch™ dataset.
Because the Minnesota sample consists of only five reports, NNC does not consider this sufficient to suggest a broader statewide payment pattern.
Instead, Minnesota is identified here as a high-dollar outlier within the current Notary Watch dataset.
Payment Terms Are Part of the Story
Eighty-three published reports — approximately 31% of the dataset — identified net-30, net-45, net-60, or net-90 payment terms.
An extended payment term does not by itself establish a payment problem.
However, payment terms provide important context when examining when a notary expected payment and when an assignment became outstanding.
As additional reports are submitted, NNC can continue examining whether particular payment terms, assignment types, companies, or other factors appear repeatedly in reported payment incidents.
What “Paid” and “Owed” Mean in This Research
Paid
For purposes of this analysis, a clean paid assignment means the reported agreed fee was received and the report did not identify a payment problem.
Only 20 of the 272 published reports analyzed showed no reported payment problem.
That figure should not be interpreted as meaning only 7% of notaries nationwide are paid.
It means 20 reports within this incident-reporting dataset showed no payment problem.
Owed
“Owed” refers to the agreed assignment fee reported by the notary as still outstanding on reports specifically identified as “Not paid at all.”
The $27,799 total is calculated only from those completely unpaid assignments.
Partial payments are reported separately because Notary Watch captures the full reported job fee rather than consistently capturing the exact remaining unpaid balance after a partial payment.
What This Data Can — and Cannot — Tell Us
Notary Watch™ is an incident-reporting platform.
It is not a random or statistically representative sample of every notary assignment performed in the United States.
People generally submit reports to Notary Watch because they experienced an issue.
Therefore, this research does not establish that 66% of all notary assignments nationwide go unpaid.
It establishes that:
Among 272 published Notary Watch™ incident reports analyzed from March 17 through September 5, 2026, 180 were reported as completely unpaid.
The same limitation applies to state-level data.
California having 52 reports does not establish that California has the country's highest overall notary nonpayment rate. It establishes that California generated the largest number of published reports within this Notary Watch dataset during the analysis period.
That distinction matters.
From Reporting to Accountability
When the National Notary Coalition launched Notary Watch™ on March 17, 2026, the objective was not simply to create another place for notaries to complain.
It was to create data.
Individual reports can become aggregate patterns. Those patterns can then help NNC determine where additional research and outreach may be warranted.
When patterns warrant further attention, the National Notary Coalition may research publicly available business information and contact businesses or other parties identified in connection with reported transactions.
NNC's outreach process may include:
Outreach 1 → Outreach 2 → Final Outreach
NNC may then use aggregate Notary Watch data, documented outreach, responses received, public records, and authoritative sources to develop executive summaries, research, public reporting, education, and advocacy.
NNC will distinguish between what a notary reported, what aggregate data shows, what public records establish, what an organization says in response, and what remains unknown.
About This Research
Data source: Published, non-hidden Notary Watch™ incident reports.
Analysis period: March 17, 2026 through September 5, 2026.
Dataset: 272 published incident reports.
Fee analysis: 250 reports containing a reported fee amount.
Methodology: Fee amounts were taken from the total compensation reported for each assignment. Days outstanding were measured from the reported signing date through September 5, 2026. Completely unpaid assignments were calculated only from reports identified as “Not paid at all.”
Important limitation: Notary Watch reports contain information submitted by users. NNC has not independently verified every underlying incident. This research describes patterns within reports submitted to Notary Watch and should not be interpreted as establishing industry-wide rates or findings of wrongdoing by any individual company.
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