Posted on: 28th May, 2010 01:55 pm
I when through the Pre-approval process with BOA which included disclosing all my financial information and a credit check. A rate, term and down payment were locked for 45 days. Once we were pre-approved, we found a house and signed a contract. I submitted every document requested, pay stubs, tax returns, K-1s bank statements and the contract on the house i was selling. I explained that i was in a lease/purchase option and the house was not in my name. Two different people with BOA said that was not a problem. About 3 weeks before closing, i got a call from BOA and they said that we forgot to fill out a form that was in the GFE that the sent me. I asked if there was anything else we need to submit? They said no. They had everything that needed. 5 days before closing, i had not heard anything so i decided to go on line and check the status. It showed that there was 6 things that we needed to submit before final approval. All of the things listed were already submitted and i had specifically discussed with the processor each of those items. I called and was told that most of those items had been received and there was only one thing they could not find. My pay stubs were missing. I thought that was odd because we were now 4 days until closing and they did not even have my pay stubs. I thought that the first thing is to verify that someone can afford the loan. We sent them in and get a call saying that it was not adequate to verify income so they would need a VOE signed by my boss. We get that done and a day later they call(2days before closing) and said that there is a problem with my debt to income ratio and they would need me to pay off an auto loan. I agreed because we were planning on doing that anyway with the proceeds from our home sale. They said they would call the title company and arrange for the payoff. A few minutes later they call back and said that i was not the owner of the property that was being sold and that they could not arrange for the payoff. Then they tell me that since the title to that property was not in my name i could not use the proceeds to purchase my new home. I almost fell out of my chair. This was information that they already had and now the day before closing they have an issue. They said i could have the proceeds gifted to me but i would have to put down 20% instead of 10%. I called another guy with BOA and explained to him the situation. He told me to have the title company add me to the deed so that when we closed, the hud would have my name and the funds would be mine and verified. So the day of closing (for both homes) am was at the title companies door trying to get this done. I had to push both closings back to make this happen. The next day the title company calls me and says we are ready to close on the sale of my home. I am now officially on the deed. We close and i sent the hud to BOA. The next day i get a call and a BOA Underwriter says that i still can not use the funds to close (which are in the title companies escrow) because public records do not show me on the deed. I am now fixing to have a heart attack because my wife and i along with our 3 year old are now living in a 24ft travel trailer at my parents house and all our belongings are in storage. Now i am left with deciding to loose the house because the contract is up today, or accept the loan with 20% down and gifted funds for closing. Does BOA have some type of ethical standard they have to follow. I felt like they knew they had me in a bind and could tell me i would have to put 50% down to make this happen and i would do it. There has to be some kind of consumer protection for this.
You got stuck with a lemon when you spoke to the fool who told you to have the title company "add" you to the deed. That's not to say that BofA shouldn't have been more diligent in its oversight of what was happening. But clearly, you can't be a made an owner the night before the sale of a home that's been in process for a while. That knucklehead merely gave you a brief and unrealistic belief that you were set.
The other items you mentioned may or may not have been procedural errors. Pay stubs submitted certainly ought to have remained in the file, and the only way you'd have to submit new ones, ordinarily, is if they've become stale-dated. Of course, if your stubs didn't justify your claimed income, the written voe made sense.
Whoever was working your file (loan officer, processor, etc.) apparently miscalculated income and/or assets, or didn't understand the source of funds and your income. No, it should have not been last-minute. There's no excuse for the poor service we hear and read about over and over again. However, I don't believe you'll find yourself getting any relief at this point.
Presumably you're still trying to gather whatever you may need in order to get a closing done. If so, try to find someone else to guide you other than the clown who suggested that title fraud (and that's what it was).
The other items you mentioned may or may not have been procedural errors. Pay stubs submitted certainly ought to have remained in the file, and the only way you'd have to submit new ones, ordinarily, is if they've become stale-dated. Of course, if your stubs didn't justify your claimed income, the written voe made sense.
Whoever was working your file (loan officer, processor, etc.) apparently miscalculated income and/or assets, or didn't understand the source of funds and your income. No, it should have not been last-minute. There's no excuse for the poor service we hear and read about over and over again. However, I don't believe you'll find yourself getting any relief at this point.
Presumably you're still trying to gather whatever you may need in order to get a closing done. If so, try to find someone else to guide you other than the clown who suggested that title fraud (and that's what it was).
Hi Josh,
You may be better off switching to an FHA loan. In addition to allowing higher debt ratios FHA loans allow all of your down payment to be gifted and only requires 3.5% down.
You may be better off switching to an FHA loan. In addition to allowing higher debt ratios FHA loans allow all of your down payment to be gifted and only requires 3.5% down.
I went with bofa and after pushing my closing back 5 times (totalling 3 months) they said they couldn't approve me. They also asked for documentation time and time again within days of the set closing date. The pre-approval letter means NOTHING to them. I finally was able to switch banks and it has now been 4 months and I'm just now closing. BofA is your problem. Screw them.
Preapproving borrowers doesn't guarantee anything. Consider that job changes, sudden eruptions in people's credit reports, appraisal issues, guideline changes that are often not the lender's doing but that of an investor, misunderstanding between borrower, loan officer, processor, underwriter as to how something is to happen. There are lots of things that get in the way of a final approval. To damn BofA for its screwups while not criticizing the entire industry is short-sighted, I'm afraid.
All the companies make mistakes, and many of them are major. It's not that they try to mess with the lives of their borrowers; they just don't have the efficiencies they ought to have, and there are now so many new variables taken into consideration.
I'm not trying to apologize for them; simply trying to point out that there's a lot that goes into the approval and ultimate closing of a new mortgage loan, and we (the public) are generally unaware of the behind-the-scenes action.
All the companies make mistakes, and many of them are major. It's not that they try to mess with the lives of their borrowers; they just don't have the efficiencies they ought to have, and there are now so many new variables taken into consideration.
I'm not trying to apologize for them; simply trying to point out that there's a lot that goes into the approval and ultimate closing of a new mortgage loan, and we (the public) are generally unaware of the behind-the-scenes action.