A signature affidavit and name affirmation in a loan package exists to:

Loan packages accumulate name variations from many sources: the credit report, the title search, prior deeds, the application, and the borrower's own signature habits. A single person may appear as Robert J. Smith, Bob Smith, Robert James Smith and R. J. Smith across the file, and title and recording require certainty that all of those refer to one individual. The signature affidavit and name affirmation is the document that supplies it — the borrower affirms that the listed variations are all names by which they are or have been known and that they are one and the same person, and signs each variation as a specimen. For the notary the practical point is that this document commonly needs the borrower to sign in ways that differ from how they normally sign, so it should be pointed out and executed carefully. It creates no rights and waives none, which is what distinguishes it from the rescission notice and the note.

The affidavit establishes that the name variations appearing across the loan file all refer to the same individual, which title and recording require.

A signature affidavit and name affirmation lists the name variations appearing in a loan file and affirms they refer to one person, with specimen signatures for each variation, supporting title and recording requirements.

All These Names, One Person. Title needs that stated before it can insure the file.

Signing agents should check that every variation listed is actually signed. A missed specimen is one of the most common package errors.

• •Letting the borrower sign only their usual signature
• •Confusing it with the notice of right to cancel
• •Treating it as a document that alters loan terms