Hurry Up & Wait

Written By: John Hoxsey
Certified Master Loan Processor (CMLP)

I have had several “bad-attitude” situations arise over the past several months. Most of the FHA lenders, I have been dealing with, have been extremely backed up, especially the fallout FHA lenders who do loans that look more like sub-prime. This has sparked a slew of interesting situations that have made tempers flair from borrowers to loan officers to underwriters.

The loan officer excitedly brings in a new deal, quickly docs the client, gathers the docs, and turns them in, only to wait more than half a month for an underwriter to look at their file.


As my grandfather use to say, “Hurry up and wait”.

No one likes to wait in line, especially when it stretches from here to China. Over the past few months many of the big FHA lenders have been on a wait as long as 18 days just to assign a file to an underwriter.

There are several things we can do to prepare to make the long wait a little more bearable. I like to pre-underwrite the file and anticipate what the underwriter may ask for. If the file is scrubbed properly I can generally have most of the conditions in my hands before the underwriter even sends me stips.

Some things cannot be accounted for, such as, most appraisal conditions, but things like missing disclosures, compliance dating, VOE’s, VOM’s, etc., can be done up-front.

Usually, by the time I receive the underwriter’s conditions, if I have done as much leg-work as I could up-front, then I can get the loan to the table in a matter of days.

Make sure your loan officers are watching their locks. I send out a gentle reminder every few days so that it is constantly in their awareness. It is not fun for any of us to lose a loan because pricing plummets due to an unstable market. I have seen many angry loan officers due to locks expiring.

I have had a few situations recently where the loan officer became upset with the lender because their lock expired. They were so upset that they called the lender and screamed. I do not have any tolerance for this behavior. You should never become upset and yell at someone when you are the one in control of the lock.

Borrower’s that are trying to obtain an FHA loan should also be prepared by the loan officer that the process could take some time. I have loan officers that call me two days after I receive a file saying that the borrower is getting frustrated that it is taking so long. Obviously, in cases like that, there is a back-story that we have not been involved in, and the line of communication needs to be fixed so that the borrower does not get frustrated.

In essence, all we can do is continue to do our due diligence up-front, pre-underwrite the file, and be prepared. Eventually this market will iron itself out, and we will be back to business as usual. In the mean time, conventional loans are moving very quickly, but right now FHA is king.

Remember - Your reputation is your business.

Happy Processing!!!

About the Writer. As one of NAMP's volunteer writers, John Hoxsey is currently a NAMP member in good standing and is a NAMP Certified Master Loan Processor (CMLP). If you would like to become a volunteer writer for NAMP, please email us at: blog@mortgageprocessor.org.