I'll try to keep it to the short, less emotional version ...
I applied for 6 refinance mortgages for my investment properties last May. The local loan officer only had paperwork ready for 4 of them when we went in to sign. IT took him 6 WEEKS to fill out the other two so we can sign them. Rates went up in the meantime and I had to pay $2,500 for the privilege of his delays or he said I could walk away.
Now my mortgages are much more complicated than most, but it took them more than 10 MONTHS to be ready to close - and I assure you this is not due to delays on my part. Yes, 10 months, I'm not exaggerating and all the delays were on their end . The closing paperwork was rushed and when I finally got it to review the night before (!) there were all sorts of problems and extra fees. The regional Mortgage manager, Jill, took a few weeks to figure out what everything was and get back to me with an update. They were no longer going to charge me for having to re-appraise my houses because they took so long (very nice of them), but I would have to pay the extra $10,000 in points due to higher rates - because they took so long. When I pointed out that rates had actually come down recently and they were charging lower rates than that now to their other customers, she acknowledged they were charging me extra because it was their policy not to let someone benefit from lower rates after a rate lock expired. This was their "sorry for taking 10 months to do your mortgage" present. Of Course Jill is also the one who described her job as tracking the pipeline of mortgages in process to make sure they are moving forward... Hmmm, didn't do a good job of that.
I have heard from a few people in their business that mind blowing closing times are not that unusual for Citizens mortgages. ~Chris
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atm