Are you looking to start a mortgage refinance? If you are, then you may have a little difficulty getting anyone on the phone. This is mainly because loan officer telephones are ringing off the hook and they’re having a hard time keeping up with refinance requests.
This is reasonable in that any business that is inundated with calls and customers all at once cannot process every request simultaneously. Everyone has to wait their turn. At the same time, it can be easy for some tasks to be put off to the side so they can be dealt with later. You definitely don’t want your application to be one of those because it can then take much longer than you need for your mortgage refinance to be processed.
Fortunately, there are ways you can speed up the refinancing process so that your application is not placed on the backburner.
Be A Good Applicant
You want to make sure you file all of the right documentation and do so quickly. This may also allow you to lock in a lower rate if the time is right. Chances are, you are refinancing because you want a lower interest rate, so make sure your paperwork is in fast so you can be guaranteed a specific rate even if the rate goes up before your application is processed.
This paperwork that you are going to include is bank account information, recent paystubs, and your federal and state tax returns. If the lender asks for any follow-up information, ensure they receive it as fast as possible. When providing statements, make sure you provide copies of every page even if there is a page that seems pointless to include.
If the lender has any reason to have to chase you down for information, they are going to put your application off to the side until they have time to do the chasing. They are going to process the easiest applications first.
Have Good Credit
Having good credit means it is going to be an easy loan to get. An applicant with good credit is one that is going to be processed faster because of the probability that the application will be approved.
If an applicant has refinanced within the past six months, the approval process is also simple because of the fact the appraised value of the home has not changed much. In other words, the longer it has been since the home was purchased or last refinanced is going to cause the application to take a little longer to be processed than a home that was refinanced more recently. Factor in good credit and the chances of faster approval increase significantly either way.
Don’t Let Yourself Get Pushed Around
Yes, you are probably noticing that loan officers are choosing the cream of the crop to process first. Basically, these officers are able to make more money in a shorter period of time the faster they can get the applications approved.
If you have an application that teeters on the edge, you are not going to get the attention that you need. This is especially true if a loan officer has a good reputation. One that may be working to establish themselves in their business may be more likely to process applications as they receive them or they may know to go ahead and process the easy ones first so that they are more efficient in their job. There is just no way to know for sure how a particular officer works when you submit your application.
But no matter what is happening in the process, you can’t let yourself get pushed around just because your application may not be the best one in the pile. You have to contact the loan officer and tell them you are waiting for an answer because you don’t want the rates to go up before your application is processed, especially if there is a chance the current low rate is not locked in. Let the loan officer know that they do not want to lose you.
If you have to, call around to different lenders and see who can take your application right now. In order to make sure the accepting lender takes your application quickly, you have to be armed with all of the necessary documentation. Make sure you ask the lender what their application turnaround times are so that you have an idea of how long it will take for the application to be on file and reach the underwriting process. This is information that you can use to compare lenders before submitting your application.
Look Around Online
You may also want to consider a lender online rather than one in your community. Not everyone likes this approach due to potential security breaches, but this is how your application can be processed sooner. It is a risk to take.
When taking the online approach, it is possible for the lender to call you within a matter of hours after the application has been submitted. There is also the fact that you do enter the information yourself, which means the loan officer who receives your application doesn’t have to do it. This saves them a lot of time and gets your loan on the roll much faster.
Don’t Let The Lender Forget About You
If you haven’t heard back from the lender in a while (typically a week), you want to call them. If they have forgotten about your application, this reminds them that it is there and makes them look it up in their system or retrieve the actual application so you can be given some kind of status update. To ensure that this application is looked at and you’re not given some kind of generic response, ask the loan officer how long your rate lock is good for. If there is not much time left on the rate lock, ask them if the rate will still be good if the rate lock period expires. Chances are they will tell you that the rate will still be honored if the loan does not close before the rate increases. When given this information over the phone, ask if you could receive the promise in writing. Even this little request can make the lender think,
It may be better if I just take care of this now.
Work With the Appraiser
When your application is being processed, you will receive a call from the appraiser regarding your appointment. Make sure this appointment is made as soon as possible. That way the information is given to your lender quickly so that your application can be completed. Many appraisers that work for financial institutions are in a geographic area for a short period of time. It can be 10 days to two weeks before they are in the area again, so you want to make sure you schedule them to be at your home the next time they are able to be in your area.
In the end, exercising one, two, three, or all of these steps will help the processing time of your mortgage refinance. You do not want to pay more on your current mortgage for longer than you have to just because your application is hanging out in the pile of applications that may take more effort to process. By ensuring that the loan officer doesn’t forget about your application and making sure you do everything right on your end will help resolve any issues before they happen.