Notary Business In Silicon Valley Strong Despite Sour Economy
SAN JOSE (KCBS) - In this age of electronic this and digital that, you'd think notaries would be on the verge of being written off.
Not so, at least not in Silicon Valley, where the demand for notary publics seems to be growing.
The sour economy may actually be what's fueling this uptick in business, because that's exactly when crimes like fraud and identity theft soar. And, businesses and authorities tend to respond by requiring notarized signatures on things like financial and legal documents.
"More and more things are getting notarized now as compared to before, when things were mostly based on trust," confirmed Ashok Nigam, who has been in the notary business in San Jose for more than 30 years. "Because of the fact that people are going back on their signature, or fraud, so everybody who's accepting a document from somebody, they want the things to be notarized to make sure that it's the right person who signed the document."
"And," he continued, "so if the right person denies the signature, they cannot go back after it is notarized."
KCBS' Mike Colgan Reports:
Nigam estimates that the average adult needs something notarized at least once every five years.
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