Why it Takes So Long to Close Loans

Not only are lenders 'dinging' consumers with all sorts of 'loan level price adjustments' but it appears a somewhat quiet problem is affecting the nation's megabanks: their inability to close loans quickly. A retail loan officer for a top five lender told me this week that he has one refinancing deal that has been in the works since May. He's not quite sure why the client has stuck with his bank for so long but he has. “It's a refi,” he explained, asking that his identity and that of his company not be published. Two weeks ago National Mortgage News broke a story about Bank of America losing one of its top LOs, Kevin Budde. One of Budde's complaints centered around all of the “re” underwriting involved in getting a mortgage done at B of A. (We've heard this complaint from others at the bank as well.) Of course, as B of A told us last week: it no longer cares about its overall industry market share. It just wants to capture as many B of A clients as possible. But why can't it do both?