Posted by Hugh Nations Signing Agents of Austin on 11/28/06 1:46am
Msg #162446

Cancellations

I had two closings for home equity loans scheduled for today; both cancelled. The first, which was originally assigned in mid-month, cancelled a couple of days after the assignment. The second, assigned about 14 days ago, also was cancelled a day or so afterward, though I never received notice until 20 minutes before I was due at the closing. Both loans originated with the lender out of state.

The reason for the cancellation in each instance was that the lender, a national bank, decided to let its branch staff handle the closing (in Texas, most home equity loans have to be closed in the office of an attorney, a title company, or the lender). Now, I don't object to the lender using its own local staff to close; it has never made sense to me why a third party would be sent into to close one of their loans in one of their branches, with their own qualified lending staff standing around.

However, the lender knew the loan was to close in one of its branches. The lender also knew that the branch had staff qualified to close the loan. Despite that foreknowledge, the lender elected to hire a signing agent. It seems to me that for a lender to hire a signing agent, then later decide they can get the job done cheaper with in-house talent, is essentially no different from hiring one notary, then cancelling and giving the job to a cheaper notary. Nor is it much different from me accepting an assignment, then cancelling it because I have accepted one that pays more.

I close most of the out of state HE loans for this lender in my area. I don't really want to lose the title company that reps the lender. However, I do want to convey to them that I believe such a practice to be unfair. Has anyone else encountered this problem, and, if so, did you do anything about it?

Reply by Susan Fischer on 11/28/06 2:22am
Msg #162448

What an interesting question, Hugh. Perhaps a conversation

with the scheduler would help. Come to think about it, if they are just casually scheduling a 'back-up,' there might be a 'stand-by' fee, to help make up for taking up a time slot? The idea being, not to burn a bridge, but communicate a time-sensitive issue - stand-by, which equals a another risk. In our business, the risks grow daily, from weather and traffic to regulatory compliance and insurances, to timely receivables and collections. Risks can be profitable if they are shared, but must first be identified and analyzed. Thank you for articulating this potential risk so well.

Reply by ReneeK_MI on 11/28/06 4:23am
Msg #162452

Hey, Hugh =)

Could it be that the title co assumed from the get-go that they'd be arranging the closings - and that the lender never intended they would be? Perhaps it wasn't until the last minute that the error of assumption became known? I'm thinking that when title was working the final Hud, they'd be working directly with lender on that, and that's precisely when it would come up in conversation - by title asking where's the pkg, or saying something about getting final Hud out to the closer.

Reply by Hugh Nations Signing Agents of Austin on 11/28/06 8:20am
Msg #162464

Reneek MI queries:

>>Could it be that the title co assumed from the get-go that they'd be arranging the closings - and that the lender never intended they would be?<<

I've handled closings for this lender for years; there was no assumption by the lender that their branch staff would be doing the signing. What happened was, the closings were scheduled in branches where the branch called national and said, "Hey, why aren't we doing this closing?"