I thought it would be a good idea to start a dedicated thread since there are a lot of people who have applied for a mortgage or refinance and are having issues. This keeps the other thread clean.
Please update the Quick Summary with your latest issues!
Here's my timeline:
Dec 17. Locked 4.625 with 0.325 rebate points for a conforming jumbo with an LTV < 50% (SF Bay Area) Dec 18. All docs sent. Dec 19. eDisclosures received. Dec 20. Appraiser called. Dec 22. House appraised - nice guy, haven't received anything back yet. Dec 23. GFE received after multiple requests with a loan amount about $7000 higher than requested. - Closing costs about $2800. - Sent email off to loan agent, and he said the discount points aren't factored in yet, and that the principle will change. Dec 31. IndyMac receives my appraisal. Jan 8. Mortgage note provided. Jan 14. Estimated closing statement ordered. Jan 20. Notary came over. All paperwork in order. Successfully signed! Funding on Friday. Jan. 25. Funding day passes, and I get a call saying that I need to sign some more paperwork. Annoyed. Paperwork signed and sent back. Jan 29. Officially funded. Awaiting final settlement paperwork. Jan 30. Received check from title company for difference in interest payments. Feb 2. Original BofA mortgage is off my online account. Guess the refi went through! Feb 20. Received my first statement. Loan number on invoice doesn't match my original loan application. Registered online using the new number. I did submit a payment through BofA using my original loan number and that was reflected online. Mar 29. IndyMac charges my AMEX for mortgage payment even after I withdrew from the program and never paid a fee. Go figure.
-- Rebate paid for the closing costs except the Origination of $495. -- Never paid the $290 lock/application fee. -- Just had to pay the interest and origination. -- My Loan Consultant was JO and my Loan Processor was KC, in Irvine, CA. -- Both were super responsive via email. -- Overall very satisfied.
Message edited by: innuen6o on 2009-03-31 17:03:19 CDT
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LC=Loan Consultant
Issue 1. Lack of transparency in rebate points. - The GFE tend to be correct except with regard to the points and rebates agreed too in the initial call - LO said the GFE is not representative and can 'change' greatly. "Don't worry about it". - Everyone that has closed has stated points and discount correct at closing
Issue 2. Lack of response from LC - Email seems to get best response. Make sure to put loan number in the subject line - After appraisal expect a period of time without response - Phones have callerID, if they aren't taking your calls try a different phone
Issue 3. Lock is about to expire - LC seems to be able to extend the lock for free if you e-mail shortly before it expires, no one has reported having their lock expire and not getting the rate
Issue 4. Confusing float down option - Float down option is only available if rates are .5 lower - Some discrepeancey of cost, some report .25 some .5 in points - one LC said "if rates
Issue 5. Credit pull - They won;t give you a quote on the phone until you OK a hard credit pull - The rates quoted online are accurate provided you have good credit
Issue 6. Using your own closing agent / title company - You need to mention you want to use your own closing agent (or title comapny / Closing attorney) at the initial phone call stage - Sometime soon after the eDisclosures come (these are there mechanism for sending you documents) they start working with the title compeny and they make it difficult to use your own
Issue 7. Inconsistency in discounting of "junk" lender fees - Some have reported getting "exisitng customer" discounts, others "new custome discounts." - LC seem to have some control over origination fee, $500 discount seems standard - Some have reported unwilliness to lower other fees, but a willingness to increast rebate or decrease discount points lowing your closing costs. Some LC say they have to "get approval from their manager to give this much of a discount on the points"
Issue 8. LC are generally very busy and can be unresonsive and sometimes seem rude - Make sure you follow their instructions and the advice of the poeple in this thread - Send emails with descriptive subject lines. Treat them the same way you would someone who is really busy at work - If you feel like you aren't getting the service you expect, every LC has a manager, try getting ahold of the manager (although some have said "good luck" as the managers are also very busy
Other notes: no need to sign and mail in eDisclosures you may save some money on closing costs by shopping around for a chepaer closing agent make sure you get at least a $500 discount on origination fee breakevens
Message edited by: kinggofg on 2009-01-21 17:18:04 CST
Good thread. Where are the people getting these rates? I've been checking the site for three weeks now and the best refinance rate I've seen is 4.75 with .5 additional points (not rebate). Do you get better rates when you call? Is it also driven by the property location?
Great idea for a thread so we don't have to keep cluttering up the "Best rates from reputable lenders" thread.
Here's my timeline so far:
12/17 Called and gave verbal application (income, SSN, property info, etc.) to loan agent #1. Asked to lock at that time (4.625% with approx. 0.75 point rebate). She said I could not lock until she got my info entered into the system and she would call me back within two hours. I did not hear back from her and could not get through when I called back (endless wait).
12/18 Left VM with loan agent #1 early AM. Did not get a call back (again), meanwhile rates went up in the morning. I called the main number again and after being on hold awhile, I talked to loan agent #2. Explained that I had already applied the day before...but he was unable to find any record of my application in their system. Loan agent #1 never entered it. Asked loan agent #2 if he could honor the rates from the day before since #1 had dropped the ball. No dice. I told him I wanted to apply again right then. He quoted 4.75% with a 0.68 rebate. The rebate was about $200 less than the QuickPricer on their website showed. Loan agent said that the website pricer was unreliable. He emailed me a screen shot of the GFE while we were on the phone; the lender fees were a little higher than the QuickPricer had shown, too. (Instead of just being a $995 origination fee as shown on the QuickPricer, there was a $495 origination fee, a $395 loan processing fee, and a $290 application fee). Still the deal was acceptable so I locked my rate. He scheduled my appraisal for 12/22 and emailed me a lock confirmation. I asked about a 45 day lock and he said that would cost extra, and we should be able to get everything done in 30 days anyway. I faxed the personal asset information he said they would need. (To this day, loan agent #1 has never called me back.)
12/21 The eDisclosures were emailed to me. The lock expiration date is 1/17 but the loan close date is shown as 2/1. The appraiser called to schedule a time the next morning.
12/22 The appraiser spent about 45 minutes measuring the property. I called my loan agent to confirm that the appraiser had been there. I asked him why the rebate did not show on the GFE in the eDisclosures, he said that would be updated at a later time after they received the appraisal. He said it showed in their system so there was no problem. (I had this same issue with PenFed which all worked out fine so I am not overly concerned...yet.) I reminded him that we only had a 30 day lock on the rate and wanted to make sure we were on track to close by 1/17. He said as long as they received the appraisal on time everything was still good. I emailed him the contact info for my choice of title company.
12/23 I signed and faxed a few of the documents in the eDisclosures that my agent asked for. Called him to confirm receipt. He said he would be on vacation the rest of the week, but to call him on his mobile phone if I needed anything.
12/29 I faxed signed copies of the remaining documents in the eDisclosures. The agent indicated they were not really necessary, but I didn't want it being an excuse later that they were waiting on documentation from me.
12/30 Left a VM with loan agent to make sure they had received the appraisal. He called me back and said they had received the appraisal; it was actually a little higher than I expected so I am at less than 70% LTV. He said he is waiting for underwriting to sign off on the appraisal and if I do not hear back from him by next Monday to give him a call back.
Message edited by: SnoopDoug on 2008-12-30 14:00:06 CST
First all...great thanks to OP for starting this thread and sharing the experiences of others!
I got fees as well such as App Fee $290. However the rebate is credited by "eliminating" some of the fees. FYI..My Loan Agent also said that Web QuickPricer is unreliable but my rebate came very close to QuickPricer.
Here's my timeline:
12/26 Got Quote for 4.875 with .25 rebate OR 4.75 with .5 point (almost $4400 cost) 12/29 Called again and had Agent rerun numbers and verbal locked at 4.875 with .5 rebate 12/30 Faxed in Details waiting for next step.
Also, how will the sale of IndyMac affect our loan processing and closing? Any thoughts...
Just a guess, but the sale of IndyMac will probably not take place (close) for several months, so those of you whose loans are in the pipeline now will probably be OK.
12/31: Applied and reviewed points, rate and closing fees. Did not lock loan. 12/31: Received borrower's release of information and a couple of other documents by email.
12/24 Called and locked at 4.875 with 0 points - worth noting that he waived the origination fee entirely, received eDisclosures and confirmation in email of the origination fee waive
12/28 Faxed all requested documents
12/30 Appraiser called and made appointment for 01/02
12/31 Received GFE - origination fee showed up as $495, emailed and got it removed and new GFE received, total closing costs $1831
01/02 Appraisal done
01/07 Indymac emailed me the appraised value and it was good enough to move ahead. Rep says close by end of next week. I also asked for a copy of the appraisal since it was below my tax assessed value. L.O. said he would give me a copy at closing.
01/26 Notary came over, I signed all the paper
02/02 All done! Total closing costs was reduced to just over $1400 - GFE was a little high.
Overall, I've received very prompt service - keeping my fingers crossed that it goes through problem free.
Message edited by: rezzor on 2009-03-02 12:18:36 CST
What are the rules regarding PMI, as my home has lost value I can no longer qualify for <80% LTV.
Do you have to pay PMI until the loan reaches 80% of the original appraised value? Is it possible that in a few years when prices go up (hopefully) you can have the house reappraised and if current level of the mortgage is less than 80% of the appraised value then you can have PMI dropped?
So why would the lender ever want to let you drop PMI? What's the benefit to the lender? It seems to only benefit the borrower and increase the risk to the lender.
Just curious innuen6o-I am having the same problem with the rebate not showing up on the eDiscosure. Did you sign and send the docs with the wrong numbers on them? I've been assured that the numbers will be changed on the docs as it gets closer to closing, and I also want to send the docs to them by the date it says on them so it's not an excuse later, but the wrong numbers are on them. Should I sign but change numbers first? Locked a 4.625 with rebate to cover all costs on Dec. 17th AM.
mlga said:Just curious innuen6o-I am having the same problem with the rebate not showing up on the eDiscosure. Did you sign and send the docs with the wrong numbers on them? I've been assured that the numbers will be changed on
I received all the docs that you mentioned, but haven't signed or returned anything except the Authorization to Release Information. Things seem to be proceeding forward, and no one has called me to say I needed to submit this additional paperwork.
I imagine that if I needed to sign something, they would ask for it specifically. When that happens, I'm going to want *firm* numbers.
Message edited by: innuen6o on 2009-01-02 02:02:32 CST
12/17: Applied for 4.625 with .378% rebate. Received GFE via email. Fields 803, 804, 810, 811, 824, 1101, 1108 zeroed by rebate. 12/18: Received eDisclosure. Origination reduced by $500, 803, 804, 810, 824 has shown back up on borrower's side. No AMEX payment line. 12/19: Emailed agent regarding discrepency. Agent sent updated GFE with 803, 811, 1101, 1108 removed but 804, 810, 824 still on (~$15). 12/23: Appraiser came
Current: - Waiting for appraisal results - Waiting for AMEX to be listed - Waiting for confirmation of discount points, fully updated GFE, etc.
I'm not sweating it since the GFE difference is so small now. Figure I'll clear everything up after the appraisal's done and they get back to work on Monday. I will NOT sign any eDisclosure until I'm sure of the terms, especially the eDisclosure GFE.
I am considering pulling the trigger this week with Indymac. Do I just ask them to waive/reduce the Origination fee and they will do it? I see that some people have gotten it reduced and others waived. Of course I prefer the latter. BTW: What is the total Origination fee? Can someone tell me with a 30 day lock period.. what is the float down option (if there is one) and how much does it cost?
Things have been dragging with my Indy refi so I asked my loan consultant if my rate lock would be extended if necessary and he replied that it would. He said things are moving slowly because they are swamped.
Wed 12/17 Applied/Locked (4.5% w/ 0.328pts, conforming jumbo, 80% LTV)
Thu 12/18 Sent in all requested documents
Thu 12/18 Requested & rec'd $500 off orig fee
Fri 12/19 Rec'd eDisclosures, GFE looked good (missing AMEX)
Sun 12/21 Appraisal
Sun 12/21 Assigned Loan Processor
Wed 12/31 Rec'd Appraisal Results
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