How Long to Refinance?
I began a refinance adventure more than 4 months with Wells Fargo (they have my current mortgage as well). We have 50% equity in the house. WF did an appraisal and it came back at higher than we paid. Anyway, I have been receiving the run around for months now. I dont understand why this…
I began a refinance adventure more than 4 months with Wells Fargo (they have my current mortgage as well). We have 50% equity in the house. WF did an appraisal and it came back at higher than we paid. Anyway, I have been receiving the run around for months now. I dont understand why this is taking so long. I feel like they are delaying in the hopes that I give up. We locekd in at 4.875% (no points), and I think they want is to just go away. Is it normal for a refinance today to take so long????
Thanks
We recently refinanced two properties: our primary residence and an investment property. We originally tried to refinance the primary through Chase, the current lender, but they were PAINFULLY SLOW. We simultaneously worked with a broker on the investment, since that’s a little tricky. That investment deal closed in 6 weeks!! Chase was still trying to gather paperwork.
Alas, we went with the same broker for the primary residence–he got us a better deal, closed in 4 weeks.
Of course, you may have guessed by now that the investment loan was SOLD BACK TO BofA, and the primary residence loan was SOLD BACK TO CHASE.
Love it… sometimes I think these big banks couldn’t find their asses with both hands.
Bottom line, it pays to use a mortgage broker.
Good luck!
hi ben levin. ironically, i tried to refi directly through Wells at the end of 2008. i called the bank and was told they’d call me back in a couple of days. a couple of days later, a sales manager in queens contacted me. this was one of the least intelligent, least competent people i have ever dealt with. she couldn’t even get my name right, calling me “Lisa” on my good faith estimate. she also couldn’t explain the closing costs/good faith estimate to me. she didn’t seem to have any idea how the most basic numbers/concepts work in a refi (payoff amount, interest charges, timing for last payment under the existing mortgage, etc.), or any idea what was happening with rates in the market. i was also told i would have to pay points for a lock, which didn’t happen when i used a mortgage broker. everything was so much more difficult and the process seemed so unnecessarily convoluted that i eventually just gave up (until March when i used a mortgage broker). i think it’s funny you’re on brownstoner doing damage control for Wells.
hello all,
i have been reading all the comments about refinancing and wanted to add some input here.
firstly to all those who believe that a mortgage broker who works on the wholesale side is better than working with someone who works on the retail side directly for the bank, i hate to differ but their access is very limited and there are almost no more banks who do business with the brokers anymore.
secondly – i work for wells, and my name comes up here from time to time and im glad to say that its only come up for good reasons, therefore i want to explain some of this process to all at least on the wells retail side.
a refi will always take longer then purchases as purchases have timelines that must be adhered to, and at wells we ahve our closing gaurantee as well. a refi can take up to 90 days these day but not much longer, the refi boom has died down a bit and the banks are seeing less volume, today a refi should be not more then 60 days, even with the rates back down to the low 5’s and the 5/1 arm rates in the mid 4’s, coops are more complex dont get me wrong but if the person you work for knows the guidelines upfront then you should be set, condo’s have their own set of guidelines but yet again if the person your working for knows what they are doing and knows what needs to be done and gets all the correct information upfront , then you will be golden.
i know there is much confusion and frustration out there, but you need to make sure the person you are working with is competent, im reading here how people are working with people from Minneapolis,im presuming its out of a call center, why would you want to work with someone from out there, when you should be working with a ny person who knows his stuff.
extensions should be paid by the lender if its the lenders delay, but a broker usually cannot cover that cost where as the bank sales guys like me can have the bank cover it without you ever knowing that there was any cost to begin with.
im always available for questions email me at benjamin.levin@wellsfargo.com
Wow.
Its pervasive. Our refi started in April, still hasn’t closed. They are now asking about saftey repairs and are requesting documentation about exterior work that is not yet completed.
Its Citibank, the lock expired a month ago and they have agreed to cover the extension.
I swear they want to see us walk away because of a low rate/no points situation.
butter that is just nuts
No, a refi of 225K on a 30 year fixed on an assessed value of 1.1M. Even with all paperwork done in February, it still took forever.
You guys must have conforming loans?
We had a very long closing process. Began in February with a mortgage broker and Chase, and when the original deadline passed in May, they kept the lock-in at 4.8 and started the process again. Finally closed in mid-July, after much waiting. We were told by the broker and the settlement folks that they were simply swamped with the backlog.
Good luck and keep calling them. It will happen.