Posted by Terrie Sliger on 11/6/09 8:12pm
Msg #310144

initials on the mortgage

I have a question I did a closing recently and I realized when the borrower initialed mortgage they only used there first initial and last initial they did not but their middle initial. Does that make a big difference when it comes to lenders.

Reply by GA/Atty on 11/6/09 8:14pm
Msg #310145

Usually no - but best practice to have their initials

correspond to the way they are signing.

Reply by Terrie Sliger on 11/6/09 8:17pm
Msg #310146

Re: Usually no - but best practice to have their initials

ok thank you

Reply by Terrie Sliger on 11/6/09 8:17pm
Msg #310147

Re: Usually no - but best practice to have their initials

ok thank you

Reply by Claudine Osborne on 11/6/09 8:55pm
Msg #310150

Re: Usually no - but best practice to have their initials

Terrie there was a discussion on this board about this, this past week..very informative as usual!

Reply by Jim/AL on 11/6/09 10:38pm
Msg #310158

Re: Usually no - but best practice to have their initials

To sum up recent post. Best practice is to use initials to match what are signed John H Doe initials JHD and Jane Doe initials JD.

Most lenders are okay if Jane Doe uses 3 initials but the post was because a lender kicked back a file because initials were not equal to signature, so again best practice (not law that I remember) states to make initials equal to signature.

Not mentioned in last post, but if someone is signing with POA like Jane R Doe, for John H Doe as Attorney in fact. Then I have them initial JRD for JHD as AIF.

These are only examples of my opinion, not a lawyer blah, blah.

Reply by CopperheadVA on 11/7/09 6:15am
Msg #310168

To add on to that...

I have found that I must say something like "Mr. Borrower, you'll need to initial using J-H-D, and Mrs. Borrower, you'll need to initial using J-M-D." If you don't spell it out in baby talk, they JUST DON"T GET IT!!!

Reply by MW/VA on 11/7/09 8:43am
Msg #310185

Re: Usually no - but best practice to have their initials

Also to add, I always have them do a "Jr." or "Sr." w/the initials.

Reply by Jan_In on 11/7/09 10:12am
Msg #310195

I told a client to initial with 3 initials. I looked over in time to see him adding his initials 3 times!!

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 11/7/09 10:18am
Msg #310196

Re: initials on the mortgage...how about this one?

Me: "I need you to sign above your names on page one and initial at the bottom of page two"...

Page two has four small lines for initials - his initials are JJJ and he puts one initial on each line and is stumped when he has a line left over...doc is signed in triplicate so he catches on when he sees how his wife initialled (correctly)...

And they reproduce!!

Reply by MikeC/NY on 11/7/09 7:09pm
Msg #310243

Re: initials on the mortgage...how about this one?

There is no such thing as a "fool-proof system", because fools have an incredible capacity for ingenuity...

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 11/7/09 7:20pm
Msg #310245

LOL Mike!! n/m

Reply by JanetK_CA on 11/8/09 2:42pm
Msg #310265

Re: initials on the mortgage...how about this one?

Yep, that cracks me up. I've seen that quite a few times, too - mostly with single seniors...

I have to remind myself that we deal with this stuff daily and we're used to "paperwork". That's not the case for some borrowers. On top of that, those who seldom deal with anything even remotely related to what we do may also be a bit nervous.

I love Mike's comment, too... Borrowers' ability to come up with creative ways to mess up simple things knows no bounds!

Reply by Joann Willis on 11/8/09 2:20pm
Msg #310264

jan - i've had that happen several times where the inital 3 times on the docs. . . UGH>>