IBA Compliance Connection

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Can our loan officers notarize borrowers’ signatures on mortgages and deeds of trust? Our bank heard that a law was passed in Illinois prohibiting this, but we do not know if it has become effective.

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Disclaimer: The IBA has received information from the Office of the General Counsel for the Illinois Secretary of State that changes our guidance on this question. Please review this Q&A for our most recent guidance on this subject.

No, loan officers are not currently prohibited from notarizing borrowers’ signatures on mortgages and deeds of trust in Illinois. However, upcoming amendments to the Illinois Notary Public Act likely will limit this practice once the amendments go into effect.

A law enacted in 2021 substantially rewrote the Illinois Notary Public Act, including a new provision that prohibits notaries public from explaining, certifying, or verifying the contents of any documents they are notarizing. The law will take effect when the Illinois Secretary of State adopts implementing regulations, which it has proposed but not yet adopted. When this 2021 law goes into effect, a loan officer may be prohibited from notarizing mortgages and deeds of trust if they also are in the position of explaining the contents of the documents to the borrower.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

  • Illinois Notary Public Act, 5 ILCS 312/6-104(k), effective on adoption of final rules by the Secretary of State (“No notary public shall be authorized to explain, certify, or verify the contents of any document; however, this prohibition shall not prohibit an attorney, who is also a notary public, from performing notarial acts for any document prepared by that attorney.”)
  • Public Act 102-160, Section 99 (“Effective date. This Act takes effect on the later of: (1) January 1, 2022; or (2) the date on which the Office of the Secretary of State files with the Index Department of the Office of the Secretary of State a notice that the Office of the Secretary of State has adopted the rules necessary to implement this Act, and upon the filing of the notice, the Index Department shall provide a copy of the notice to the Legislative Reference Bureau; except that, the changes to Sections 1-106, 2-103, and 2-106 of the Illinois Notary Public Act take effect July 1, 2022.”)
  • Illinois Secretary of State, Notice of Proposed Amendments, Notary Public Records, 47 Ill. Reg. 2881, 2984 (March 3, 2023)