Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My bank missed our scheduled close on Friday due to the fact that they did not get my Certificate of Eligibility from the VA early enough. Because of this delay, I've had to put my family up in a hotel for 6 days and my dog in a kennel.
Can I go after the bank? Has anyone ever heard of doing this? If so, what strategy should I pursue (other than righteous indignation)?
Rule # 16 in real estate is never close on a Friday. If things go wrong you can't fix it till Monday.
Rule #17 is never close on a Friday before a 3 day weekend. Everyone wants to close then so they have the extra day to move. It's worse than rule #16 cause the lenders are all very busy and the employees all want to leave at 2pm to start their weekend.
Rule #18 is never line up your movers to show up the day you are scheduled to close. Murphy will have them sitting in the street for hours waiting to unload.
I've never heard of someone getting reimbursed. It's life & it doesn't always work the way we want.
Getting a lender to pay for your hotel is rare, the only time I have seen this done is when the lender was clearly at fault - a hard thing to prove. There are many reasons why obtaining the Certificate of Eligibility could be delayed, without knowing more, it's really not fair to answer. What happened to the original COE? Is this a 2nd (or more) time using it? Was another property ever attached to your COE in the past? Did you have any outstanding, unpaid GI loans? Did you not know a COE was required in the loan process? How long was your loan in process? Were you trying to close back to back VA loans?
There is so much more behind the reason the COE not being received in time, it's not fair to say one way or the other without knowing all of the facts.
The bank submitted the request for the COE on 1 Sep and didn't upload my DD214 until 3 Sep (verified by calling the VA). That seems like proof to me. They had the documents for weeks but didn't do what they said they were going to do. I would have done it if they hadn't said that it was easier for them to do it because they had access to a special program.
Rakin - I wish I had seen your list when we were writing the contract. It seems we violated all but rule 18, and almost that one too as we had the movers scheduled for the Saturday.
BTW - This was my third use of the COE, I had sold my previous house at the end of June, so the certificate was clear. I do not have any outstanding issues with the VA (unpaid loans, etc...)
To me, the bottom line is that they hoped to expedite the COE, planned poorly, and let me eat the additional costs.
Contrary to popular belief closings are not scheduled because the seller, buyer, or agents want to close on a particular day. Lenders do not schedule closings until your file has received final approval and is cleared to close. Any date set before that is nothing more than a target date.
Rule # 16 in real estate is never close on a Friday. If things go wrong you can't fix it till Monday.
Rule #17 is never close on a Friday before a 3 day weekend. Everyone wants to close then so they have the extra day to move. It's worse than rule #16 cause the lenders are all very busy and the employees all want to leave at 2pm to start their weekend.
Rule #18 is never line up your movers to show up the day you are scheduled to close. Murphy will have them sitting in the street for hours waiting to unload.
I've never heard of someone getting reimbursed. It's life & it doesn't always work the way we want.
Contrary to popular belief closings are not scheduled because the seller, buyer, or agents want to close on a particular day. Lenders do not schedule closings until your file has received final approval and is cleared to close. Any date set before that is nothing more than a target date.
That's an interesting take on business. If a company accepts an order to deliver, and fail, there are consequences. If I am supposed to show up for work at a certain time, and fail, there are consequences. If I submit all of the paperwork and information requested of me when it is requested, the bank commits to a date, and fails, there are no consequences!
Sounds like more of same bank arrogance that got us in all of this trouble. Banks are unaccountable.
I do business on a very large scale with major corporations for all kinds of goods and services. None of them would think this behavior is acceptable. But a bank employee thinks that commitments by banks are just mild suggestions of when they can be ready, or not.
Interesting. Luckily for banks they are too big to fail. The rest of us are not.
"The underwriter reserves the right to add conditions based on new documentation provided" is always the right of the bank. The bank, never, ever EVER implies that it will, without a doubt, be able to close on the day that you need them to. You will NEVER get a bank to put that in writing, and without something in writing, there is no agreement for them to close on that date. Now does that mean they have the right to treat people with disrespect and not try to meet that closing date? No, it doesn't. But it doesn't mean that just because you enter a contract with a specified closing date, and every party in the transaction is aware of that date, that you will close on that date. Things happen, human error, bad weather, underwriter gets sick, amongst dozens of outside variables.
That's an interesting take on business. If a company accepts an order to deliver, and fail, there are consequences. If I am supposed to show up for work at a certain time, and fail, there are consequences. If I submit all of the paperwork and information requested of me when it is requested, the bank commits to a date, and fails, there are no consequences!
Sounds like more of same bank arrogance that got us in all of this trouble. Banks are unaccountable.
I do business on a very large scale with major corporations for all kinds of goods and services. None of them would think this behavior is acceptable. But a bank employee thinks that commitments by banks are just mild suggestions of when they can be ready, or not.
Interesting. Luckily for banks they are too big to fail. The rest of us are not.
That is the misconception- the bank does not commit to a date until the loan has received final approval. They do everything they can to meet this date but no guarantees. Commitments to lend are just that- we have commited to lend you this money but does not spell out a time frame beyond whenever you submit all required documentation.
This may be the 1st time your hearing this but it is nothing new. By the way I am not a bank employee.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Rules of Real Estate
