Question:
“[Bank name] is ridiculous! I just refinanced and they asked me for the stupidest things to verify things that shouldn’t even matter and frankly isn’t really any of their business. I will never use them again…”
Answer:
I don’t blame you for being angry. And frankly, I get mad and frustrated with lenders too.
But the odds are that all the hassle and absurd things you had to provide were not driven by the bank.
A little history…
In the mid-2000s, loan qualifying got so loose that if you could fog a mirror, you could get a home loan. And we all know that led to the mortgage meltdown and millions of foreclosures all over the U.S.
So of course, regulators overreacted and the pendulum swung way too far the other way. Lenders are now forced to verify everything to the point of silliness.
And lenders who sell loans (which is most of them) are forced to repurchase loans that go bad. And there are many other bad things that can happen to them if they have too many foreclosures.
So that’s why people getting a loan often have to deal with a lot of nonsensical and even bizarre requirements.
I even suggested to my preferred lender to tell all his borrowers in advance to expect to deal with some nonsense. So when it comes up, he can point back to that conversation and remind them that he told them in advance.
