Underwriting wait times

Lola, you need to light a fire under somebody, no doubt. You won't be closing on time, if you consider the rescission period, of course - or is it about your rate?

Your loan officer ought to be annoying the underwriter on your behalf; she ought to be as dependent on your loan closing as you are - after all, she wants to get paid. Four days isn't a lifetime, but if you were trying to close on Monday, the file ought to have been with the underwriter some time ago. What's their hangup, do you know?

Our file went to processing last Thursday (with all the information they requested, appraisal done). Monday afternoon the file went to underwriting and she said DAY 1 starts on Tuesday. So we are day 4. We are a difficult file as we're adding my mother in law on title and to be part of the loan. She went thru everything and said she discussed it all with the underwriters before we did the formal application (although she had all the paperwork when she discussed it). She said she didn't see a problem with it going thru, then this week, when it went to the underwriter, she said "IF ALL THE STARS ALLIGN< IT SHOULD CLOSE BY MONDAY"., I think she needs it to close on Monday, because of the 3 day thingy. My husband doesn't want us to "bug" her but a friend of mine said that she could have put a rush to it. Do you know how US BANK works? We have someone from American Equity saying they can do this for us, but since it's already in underwriting, we don't to stop it now. Our time line was:
March 30, she had all the paperwork and answers to see if the refinance would work
April 2 she said it looks good, that she'll go over it with her underwriters
April 7 ordered title/appraisal, etc
April 9 had appraisal
April 14 everything in
April 15 went to the processor
April 19, late afternoon, it went to underwriting
April 23, still waiting

You need to make arrangements TODAY to get your mortgage payment made before the end of the month. Although you were under the impression this loan was to close prior to the beginning of next month, you still are obligated to pay your mortgage on time every month. Even if this file comes out of underwritting today, the bank will probably require 48 hours notice in order to close. I hope this helps...

Agreed...48 hours is a reasonable amount of time for a lender to require in order to get documents ordered, prepared, and sent out. That's not to say they can't accommodate a same-day or next day closing, but it's not within their scope as a general rule.

If you don't want to bug the loan officer, then you won't get what you desire. By all means, you ought to be on the phone right now to try to find out what's happening. If all the parties involved knew that you were trying to close on Monday (save, perhaps, the underwriter), then there's no excuse for any additional delays.

You didn't make particular note whether it's an end-of-month need to close quickly, or if it's a rate consideration. That, of course, makes a difference, but if the delays are on their end, they ought to be able to eat the cost of a rate extension if necessary.

Call her...find out what's happening.

Thank you for all of your responses. We have paid April's mortgage, so that's not a problem. We want to close ASAP as we need the money out for business expenses. I just got off the phone with the LO and she said that we will have an answer for sure today. The underwriting manager was out yesterday, supposedly, and they were short on people. She said she did speak with them and said she needed an answer today. My husband doesn't want to rock the boat and didn't want me to keep calling her, but I did anyhow. I'm really hoping that it's a go, as we've put a lot of energy into this. If it goes beyond the end of the month, we're fine, we just needed an answer so we can plan. We're used to constant updates and this loan officer doesn't do that. Is that normal? Or are my expectations too high?

This mortgage business is up and down. Today, they'll respond and tomorrow they won't and it's anybody's guess what'll happen the day after that, and so on.

The loan officer promised that a decision would be made today and I would know by the end of the day. Low and behold no phonecall from her, nothing. I left her a choice message and I'm giving up. Why would she avoid me? I have such a feeling that she's lieing to me, but I cant' figure out why. Why tell me that they'll have a decision as she told them I needed to know by the weekend and then just not call. I want to call the bank tomorrow and speak with someone. Is it a waste of time to call on a Saturday? Or do I have to wait until Monday. We really need to know if this is dead deal so we can move forward. This waiting is not good.

Hi Allison,

I don't think it would a waste of your time. It is good to contact the bank and sort out the whole issue. Saturday may be a off day for the bank. So, it would be a better idea to call the bank on Monday.

Thanks

If the loan officer said "today" on Friday, then I would expect an answer on Friday. Waiting until Monday shouldn't be an option. It's a shame that the mortgage industry can't live up to what they promise to people.

On Monday, she said we'd hear by the end of the week. On Tuesday, she said 24-48 hours. On Friday, she said that she spoke with the underwriter and told them we had to find out today and that I would for sure hear by the end of the day. We never did hear. I have now spoken with someone at the bank and left a message for the bank manager to call. I told them that I no longer want to deal with our loan officer, as she is non-responsive and that she represents US BANK and that we need an answer. We have yet to pay for our appraisal and I know we need to pay it, as it was done, but if we have to go with another company because she's not getting back to us, I don't want to pay, as we'll have to pay the next company. Can I withhold payment? What is my legal obligation? Also, as an aside, when we received our GFE, the loan was listed for more and the appraisal fees were lower. She could never answer the differences...what's up with that?
A phonecall from her would have done wonders. The lack of phonecall from her has done wonders, in the wrong direction.
Thanks

Welcome Allison,

As the lender has already done the appraisal, you would be liable to pay the appraisal fee. It is true that if you go for another company, then you will have to pay them for the new appraisal. The lender may sue you for the non-payment of the appraisal fees.

We were denied our loan. The explanation is all kind of "off", as we think there were mistakes along the way and some yelling in this past week. She said we were denied because of one late payment, that should knew about from the get go. The GOOD news, is that we had another company come over last night, who already did a desktop approval for us prior, and said that because this is an FHA loan, our appraisal will transfer, no more money out of pocket. We'll see what happens. We're at our last straw. I'm just still so amazed about what a poor job our loan officer did and how she dropped the ball and got caught. By the by, we did talk to her sales manager who was equally as rude. After all of this, we'll go up the ladder and get something put in her file, if that even matters.

Unfortunately, Allison, I suspect that a disgruntled borrower, having been declined, is less likely to be given much credence than a happy borrower who ended up closing. Unless that loan officer is royally screwing up, it's not likely that your comment will get "in her file." Of course, that's not to say that you should hold back. If this LO has been criticized in the past, it might just be your criticism that will open the floodgates.

Obviously, it's your decision, and I can understand how annoying it is to be in the dark until the last minute and then to have to learn that they declined your application.

I hope this other lender works out in your favor.

Is it a law that states that we must get a denial letter? We never received one. Also, our file was never given an FHA case number. It took almost a week to get that taken care of, as the appraisal didn't have a case number on it, so it couldn't be transferred. We also found out that she told us that she got certain paperwork to complete our file, and never did. We're suspecting it was turned in as incomplete file. Just curious.

Yes, you are entitled to a letter stating the reasons for decline, under law. Call up and insist on it. Given that you've had other issues that you didn't mention earlier, then I will encourage you to fuss about the crummy service you received. If a loan officer is n.g., the company deserves to hear about it.