How Long Should it Take for a Mortgage Loan to Close?

[home n00b]

I'm in a similar situation...

I've been trying to refinance since the end of January, and still have not been able to close. I signed 53 pages of initial disclosures at the end of February, and had the appraisal done on March 5th. We are going from conventional to FHA, so I had been using that as part of the rationale on why it may be taking so long... however, my patience with our broker is getting thin.

Over the past few weeks I've been putting more pressure on my broker to no avail. He keeps saying they're working finishing the conditions for the 'clear to close'. Also, last week I got an excuse that their processor is out of the office for a family emergency, so hopefully I'll see something this week.

Anytime I try and ask for a timeline, he says "soon." I've also asked if I could lock into a rate, but he keeps skirting around the issue and stating they're working on getting it under 5.00%.

I've decided that by the end of this week, if I have no updates on when we can close, I'm going to let the broker know that I'm going to look elsewhere.

Is there any reason why the refi process should take over 2 1/2 months? I've been assuming that he's been trying to buy time in hopes of getting us better rates, but at this point, I just want to close.

[cybergoose]

Five Months and Waiting with Bank of America (nothing out of the ordinary except the wait)

I locked in a great rate for refinance back in late February 2009 with (at the time) Countrywide who is now Bank of America Home Loans. They asked for the normal paperwork (pay stubs, bank statements, etc.) and I sent them in with the preliminary loan docs as soon as I got them in the mail. They received them by the end of March.

I contacted the the guy I locked in with - with some questions but he didn't seem to want to take ownership of the loan; he just kept feeding me some BS about how there were so many people trying to refinance and that new government programs being rolled out just had the whole loan processing system backed up. He even told me that mine was considered an 'easy loan'; just some pencil pushing.

In late May I got an email from the loan processor who said they would begin looking at my loan on July 1. WTF!!! In early June I got a call from another BOA rep who said I needed to fax recent statements to them because the ones they had were too old -- well no sh*t!!

I called the manager of the guy I locked in with and let him know my frustrations with how long it's taking. His response was basically "We are Bank of America -- the largest lender in the world. We process more home loans than anybody in the fastest time." HELLO...??

Today is July 9 and I still don't when-TF my closing date is. I guess they're just milking the slightly higher rate I'm at now; 5.125% and going to 4.365%.

[Pfhtex]

Yep, it can be a frustrating thing. It's not like buying a car, or anything else for that matter. You're getting several hundred thousand dollars without ever meeting someone face-to-face, in most cases.

A LOT of this kind of thing happens when borrowers go with whomever promises the "lowest rate." Then, months later, they still don't realize that they should have asked more about who they are dealing with than what the "lowest rate" is that day.

There is no Mortgage Degree that can be verified, only licenses, which are kind of like a Defensive Driving course. So when borrowers go to Lending Tree, and THINK they are making the smartest choice because some inexperienced moron on the other end of the phone who is 3 weeks into the business and has about 22 years of facial hair shaved into a design on his face spits out a lie.

The largest companies in lending have laid off salaried employees, who are the ones that process and fund loans. The commissioned sales force is largely intact. Hence, bottleneck.

Always include your local bank, and a regional bank in your shopping, a place you can walk into and touch. A place where nobody can put you on hold if you walk in unannounced.

But whatever you do, stop making your first and only question "what's your rate?" That is like the mating call of a sorority girl: "God, I'm so drunk!"

Learn.