For most notarial work, the color ink a notary should sign in is blue or black, with blue being the safer everyday default. No federal rule picks the color for you, and most states leave the personal signature color open, so the choice comes down to what the document is and who will receive it.
Why Blue Is the Usual Default
Blue ink has one practical advantage that drives its popularity: it makes an original signature visually distinct from a black-and-white photocopy. A reviewer flipping through a stack of paperwork can tell at a glance which page carries the wet signature. That quick visual check matters more than it sounds, especially when a single transaction produces dozens of nearly identical pages.
Both blue and black produce clear, high-contrast marks that scan well and hold up over decades of storage. Where state law is silent on signature color, either one is acceptable.
When Black Ink Is Fine or Required
Black works for documents that will only exist electronically, and for any document where a specific state rule or signing instruction calls for it. A handful of states have at various times required black ink for the notary’s signature, so a five-minute look at your state’s notary handbook before settling on a default pen is worth doing.
Your Stamp Follows a Different Rule
Signature color and stamp color are two separate questions. Nearly every state requires that the notary stamp produce a photographically reproducible impression, meaning it has to show up clearly when the document is photocopied, scanned, or faxed. That reproducibility standard is why most states limit stamp ink to dark, permanent colors.
The specifics vary by state. Florida and Massachusetts require black ink for the stamp. Arkansas, Montana, and Wyoming allow blue or black. Utah requires purple. Tennessee goes the other direction and prohibits black and yellow, requiring an ink that appears black on a non-color copier. Texas requires “indelible ink” without naming a color. If you use an embosser rather than a rubber stamp, several states require you to also ink the impression, because an uninked embossment vanishes on a photocopy.
Loan Signings Almost Always Want Blue
If you handle mortgage closings or similar financial document signings, blue ink is effectively required. A typical residential mortgage closing generates 100 to 200 pages, many of them nearly identical, and the blue signature on a black-printed form is what tells the reviewer which page is the original.
Title companies and signing services routinely instruct notary signing agents to use blue unless the lender’s specific instructions say otherwise. Ignoring that instruction can delay funding, trigger a document rejection, or force a re-signing. Keeping a reliable blue pen as your default is the simplest way to avoid those problems.
Colors and Pens That Get Documents Rejected
Red, green, purple (outside Utah), and novelty ink colors have no place on notarized documents. Recording offices routinely reject documents signed or stamped in non-standard colors because those inks often fail to reproduce legibly when scanned into a county’s document management system. Pale ink causes the same problem: even an acceptable color like blue will be rejected if it photocopies as illegible.
Pencil and erasable ink are never acceptable. A notarization is meant to create a permanent, tamper-resistant record, and any instrument that can be erased defeats that purpose.
Your Journal Needs Permanent Ink Too
Use a permanent, non-erasable pen for every journal entry, in blue or black. Several states that require notary journals explicitly mandate permanent ink, and even where the law is silent, a journal written in pencil or erasable ink would be worthless as evidence if a notarization were ever challenged. The journal may need to be legible years or decades later.
Quick Checks Before You Sign
- Carry a quality blue pen and a quality black pen in your kit so you are never stuck without the right option.
- Stamp a blank sheet and photocopy it every so often. If any part of the seal is unreadable on the copy, replace the ink pad.
- Look up your state’s notary handbook for the exact rules on stamp and signature ink; a state-specific requirement overrides any general default.
- When a lender, title company, or agency specifies an ink color in the signing instructions, follow it exactly. Their requirement outranks your preference.
Absent any specific instruction, blue for your signature and black for your stamp is the combination least likely to cause problems anywhere in the country.