I bought another house today and for the closing I had to sign my name almost 100 times. I have a condition which makes it very hard to write, so the closing took a long time and was very difficult. What I’m wondering is if I were to change my name, is there a minimum of letters I would need in the new name? Could my new name be L L? Also, what do people with more serious problems do ads far as signing their name?
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Depends on where you live, generally okay to do in the US.
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Change your signature? Bob Smith becomes “B— S—” where dashes represent half-assed swoops. Nothing says you have to represent every letter, or else I’ve been doing something very wrong. Otherwise it seems excessive to change your name for that one reason.
It is excessive, but I can’t think of any other idea. My attorney said that underwriting was going to check every signature to the one that’s on my driver’s license (which was signed before my MS has progressed to where it is now) is the same that’s on the paper work.
Ah, that. The reason why I was eyeballed as a criminal by the Biddys last time I tried to vote because my signature sufficiently changed in the last 7 years.
Could you get a new DL? You’d only have to change one piece of ID, instead of DL, passport, social security, etc.
I have signed my name the same way for several decades, yet I’ve had a novice bank teller criticize my penmanship, pointing out “omitted” letters. The manager had to come over and explain things to her.
I guess when you get your new license, sign it a new way. Then go to your bank, explain to the manager you want to make out new signature cards. On the other hand, do you think you’ll be closing on another house soon?
My signature is pretty much just a loop. It started out (20+ years ago) as my name, which turned into something less, which is now just sort of a long stretched out unrecognizable cursive J. At work I get handed stuff to sign all the time. I do it with my left hand, I do it upside down (because that’s how the paper is handed to me, I don’t even take it from them), I do it with sharpies, I could probably sign it with my foot). From time to time I just tell people “just scribble something, no one will notice”.
I’ll get a lot of “What are you…a doctor LOLOLOLOL” comments. I normally just roll my eyes, sometimes I’ll pull out my DL to show them that it really is my signature. From time to time if someone really does give me a hard time about my signature, like if it’s on a check and they think I’m messing with them (and if I’m in a pissy mood, keeping in mind I get this about my signature all day long) I’ll just say “Then don’t cash it, see what I care”.
Thats what I do: a stylized siggie. After years of signing charts by hand, I learned to do the “swoop” thing and everyone recognizes it as mine. As long as its distinctive, its still your siggie.
I process the cheques at work, so I see a lot of signatures. Some are completely legible, but many are just squiggles, as is mine - essentially a loopy B inside an S with a wavy line following, rather than a spelled out Brain Stall. One customer signed his cheques with what looked like a stretched out V. Wondered about it, but the bank cashed it and next month, same company, same minimalist signature on the cheque.
As others have said, far easier to modify the way you sign your name, rather than change your name to make signing it easier.
My general understanding is that signatures are not really considered a validation any more except as a formality. Like others above mine is a pretty meaningless squiggle.
In these electronic days there are better methods of checking an identity, which is why photo ID has become so important.
100 signatures? That’s taking the piss.
Have you ever bought a house? The number of forms is mind-boggling. It makes a tax return look like kindergarten homework.
When I was transacting business at a bank in college, a teller gave me some guff about how my signature didn’t match what was on my drivers license. I asked her if her signature looked the same way it did when she was 15.
My attorney said that if all of the signatures did not match, Ocwen might send the papers back and have me sign them all again. Also, some of the pages needed to be signed, while others I needed to print my names. I could do it once or twice, but eventually my hand writing changed drastically.
I knew a man whose name was 6 + 9 characters long. I saw his signature and it was essentially SEg (the first character of his first name, the first character of his last name, and the last character of his last name). The bank took it.
There must be some procedure for a person who can no longer sign his name. And are you saying that you cannot buy a house if you don’t have a driver’s license? I thought a driver’s license was needed only to vote.
if your name is L L then you would have to place a note near it stating “this is my name and not just initials” and then initial it. it would be more work.
Well - I have bought three over the years. As far as I can remember it took half a dozen signatures or less.
Signatures usually aren’t to check your identity. Signatures are usually meant to show agreement to the terms of a loan or a credit card charge or acknowledging that documents or information were received. Photo ID is often required as well, but it’s for two separate reasons- for example ,I have to sign the loan application for my credit union agreeing to the terms and have the signature notarized (which requires showing photo ID to the notary). The credit union seeing or even having a copy of my ID doesn’t prove that I agreed to those terms, and the signature alone proves that someone agreed but having my notarized signature or a copy of my photo ID with a matching signature proves that it was me who signed the agreement and not someone else
Easier than all of these: Sign once, get a stamp made. Explain that it’s the “reasonable accommodation” for your MS. I’m a little surprised your lawyer didn’t tell you that, honestly.
How do I transfer my signature to a stamp?
Go to an office supply store and tell them you want a signature stamp. They’ll either have you sign a card (the old-fashioned way) or a little electronic pad. Either way, they’ll do some sort of lithography process to get it onto a stamp. These are really common for business owners; in fact, my first business license came with a coupon for a free one.