Lender Keeps pushing closing dates

[Ebrima Drammeh]

Hello All, 

I am pretty new and I am about to close on my first property but my lender keeps pushing the closing dates. They have pushed it for different reasons and the latest reason they gave me is that the process is now with underwriter and they gave me a closing date again but I don't know how to trust them anymore. they have pushed up to 3X and its now almost 3months.

Is this normal? should I be wary or just go look for another lender. I have sign a vacate notice at my current place and I have to move out of my apartment in 3weeks. Is there a way I can get them to provide me with temporarily lodging if they pushed passed the date I am supposed to move out of my current apartment until they finalized the closing date?since they are the ones delaying the whole process. 

Thanks your advise will greatly be appreciated. 

[Paul Defngin]

Ebrima Drammeh your buying a place and your lender has moved your closing 3 times now? First sorry to hear that.

That is just crazy. Sounds like a) your lender did not do their job upfront and manage your expectation or b) your LO never reviewed all your info upfront or worse he/she reviewed them but did not know what they were doing. I can understand delaying once-sometimes it happens. 3 times is ridiculous and if I were you I would have pulled the plug at 2nd delay and gone a different direction.

I hope all works out in your favor. Good luck.

[Ebrima Drammeh]

Thanks for you input Paul. Thats exactly what I am planning to do(go different direction) if they delay again. 

[Manolo D.]

Ebrima Drammeh It's time to give your lender a deadline, it's a two way street, now it's time for you to push it forward. Some lenders approve you 2 days. 3 months? Really?

[Ebrima Drammeh]

They have actually approved me for the mortgage already. The hardest part is to get them to the closing table. 

[Michael Mullins]

Can you find another Leander that will do the deal?

[Shaun Weekes]

@Ebrima Drammeh

Have you paid for an appraisal yet? Do you have a home selected?  

What stage are you Sir?

[Matt Turbitt]

Assuming this is a normal, conventional loan you need to weigh if the will eventually close. If you switch it will add minimum 30 to 45 days plus you won't get any fees you've paid back. 

They also will not help you with your living expenses, it'd be nice but that's just life, they are a bank.

If I were in your shoes I'd be keeping in endless contact with the current lender. Email or call them everyday to see where things stand, ask what you can do to speed things along, when they realistically expect to be ready, ask if you should be cc'ing someone in underwriting on your daily emails (they won't want you doing this one but you get the point.) Don't let them put you on the back burner or drag their feet.

[Stephanie Medellin]

@Ebrima Drammeh  It's really hard to say if it's normal or not without knowing the reason for the delays.  What's more important is if there is really a delay due to the lender taking a long time or is something wrong?  If something is wrong does that mean your loan won't end up being approved?  They may have told you it was approved, but a loan is never really 100% approved until it funds.  If it's still being looked at by the underwriter, then they are still reviewing your paperwork.  Try to get a little more information so you know exactly what is going on and if there are any problems.  

They will not pay for your housing while in the process.  Unfortunately you're just applying for a loan with them, but that doesn't make them responsible for your expenses in the meantime regardless of how long it takes.  As I said before a loan is not 100% approved until it funds, so they really don't have any obligation to you before that happens.  It could be delayed due to something out of their control.  I'm not trying to stick up for them, as I realize this is very important, I'm just trying to explain it from a different perspective.

[Ebrima Drammeh]

Thanks everyone! The reason they give is that the process is with an underwriter. I have done the appraisal and paid some service fees immediately after they told me. @Matt Turbot, the point you made is really the actual reason why I did not pull the plug is if I do then I am looking at another month or so either way my lease will be up. But its really frustrating that they cannot give a date and stick with it. 

I truly appreciate all your comments here.

[Manolo D.]

@Stephanie Medellin I do not think it will take 2 months to review a loan, let's say the borrower has delays on submitting paperwork, a week per round for 4 rounds of additional paperwork, 2 months will push my buttons. This is me as borrower, time is money, and every month I am paying my lease is a month towards my mortgage. I deal with contracts all the time, I expect every business to hold up a contract, doesn't matter what type of business.

[Stephanie Medellin]

The thing is, banks don't usually agree to closing dates, especially not in a contract.  Closing dates may be set by the real estate contract, but the lender is not a party to the real estate contact so they aren't bound by those dates.  Closings usually happen when the loan is ready to fund.  Lenders can (and should) aim to close by the buyer's desired closing date, and they should be able to set realistic expectations for everyone upfront, but they typically aren't under any contractual obligation to do so. 

[Chris Mason]

Originally posted by @Ebrima Drammeh:

Thanks everyone! The reason they give is that the process is with an underwriter. I have done the appraisal and paid some service fees immediately after they told me. @Matt Turbot, the point you made is really the actual reason why I did not pull the plug is if I do then I am looking at another month or so either way my lease will be up. But its really frustrating that they cannot give a date and stick with it. 

I truly appreciate all your comments here.

 Ultimately I'd suggest keeping in mind that you picked the lender. 

You selected that combination of timeliness, reliability, rate, transparency, fees, experience, knowledge, competent appraising, competent underwriting, efficient processes, etc, that you felt was the best deal for you. 

You as a consumer, realistically, have no way to directly evaluate most of that list above. 

But you as a consumer can evaluate the specific loan originator you are speaking with. 

Do you think that she has the wisdom and knowledge to have picked the best combination of timeliness, reliability, rate, knowledge, competent appraising, fees, competent underwriting, efficient processes, available in your local market? No one shops lenders harder than industry insiders do, and the above is basically what we're always shopping for.

[Mike McCarthy]

Having been through this with one of the large banks when buying my home, I completely understand the frustration.  There was never enough communication between the underwriter, loan officer, and myself.  So the underwriter was not agreeing because of missing paperwork, each cycle would take a couple days to get from the underwriter to the loan officer to me, requesting some additional paperwork.  They requested the same paperwork 4x, leaving outs bits of pertinent information.

The solution is to call them daily, give them your story, and get them to help you.  There's no way around underwriting, but if you find the right person, they should be able to help move the process along.

Good luck!

[Steven Torrez]

I was just in your situation with one of my local banks. Closed a month behind schedule. I think there was miscommunication. Loan officer would say they had everything from me but would then be asking two days later for something else.  Best thing you can do now is stick with it and call every day. Will your apartment let you have another week or two? They might not have someone lined up yet and would love another 2 weeks of rent. 

Best of luck 

[Ebrima Drammeh]

Thanks so much guys! I told them I have to move out of my apartment by the 30th and they said we will close way before that. So I am hoping they will come through. 

[Diana DeVille]

I've had a similar issue.  I moved from Los Angeles to Nashville recently and am working with a private money lender, as I had some credit issues and no job.  The lender told me we could close quickly, in 7-10  days.  The appraisal took forever and only moved forward when I called local appraisers here and got it moving.  Then they said 5 days once they received the appraisal.  That blew by.  I finally signed the loan docs, and they said it will take 5 days from then. So that has now come and gone, and the only information I can get is that it is "in review" with the intake team.  But they won't give me an estimate of when they'll be reaching out to my escrow person.  All in All, this 7-10 day loan has now gone past the 30 day mark.  I'm stuck in an Airbnb with all my stuff back in Los Angeles on the moving truck and now I'm being charged for storage.  Can I at least deduct the moving storage and future rentals from their fees because they are dragging their feet?