Re-fi Efforts See Closure

For those of you left hanging about my previously blogged refinance, heres the latest report from the "Re-fi Diva."

In the earlier blog I expressed frustration regarding more than three months of negotiations with the bank, including almost daily phone calls, e-mails, scans and faxes. I was approved for the loan in February, but a series of events kept us hanging. They made some blunders, such as getting credit card and account numbers wrong, asking about credit cards I have never had and in one instance copied down our home phone number wrong.

After a heightened flurry of e-mails this week, each bringing its own drama, which made me wonder if the loan would go through at all, out of the blue I received an e-mail yesterday morning asking if I was available to close that night. They would send a notary to our home at 8:00 p.m., where we would sign all the papers.

The notary arrived at 9:00 p.m. and we were finished by 10:00. Over and done with,and I got a very good rate.

The only downside? My new BFFs from the bank, the helpful and cheerful Gary and Jennifer, will move on. Ill miss their daily e-mails, faxes and scanning of documents. In fact, they were our link to the underwriters, the voice of reason and they fought for our case.

Happily, the closing is behind me now, but I cant help wonder how long its taking for others and to what lengths they are going. Ive gone through several closings before, but this one was truly unique.Just to be clear, Im not complaining here, Im reporting from my vewpoint.

This episode reminded me of stories from risk managers about the reams of information required of them by underwriters. In other words, its a lot different when you're the party under scrutiny.