Bank Promised 2 Days To Approve a HELOC Loan ... it's been 20 ... Can I Sue?

Question

I am about to lose a house that I put an offer on, because I am unprepared to write a check. I was "promised" by my bank that it would take 2 Days to approve a HELOC Loan (this loan is NOT being taken out against the house that we are selling). This is a bank that I have been using for 25 years. It appears, after what I've witnessed the past few weeks, they are completely incompetent. I have had a past mortgage with them (that I paid off) and all seemed fine. We call them daily for updates, and they always seem confused, unsure of who we should speak to, and (on more than one occasion) they have asked for the same documentation 2 & 3 times. The craziest part is, we were told (by our Mortgage Rep) that we could be "approved" for a loan 3 x the amount that we actually asked for. So there is truly NO reason why this is dragging out. Do I have a defense? Or do I just lose the house, say "Oh Well" and move on? ... WITH A DIFFERENT BANK!

Answer 1

Talk to the bank and your realtor. Could you put in a request to extend the offer contract on the house you are trying to buy? Are there backup offers on the property you are buying? The sellers may be willing to extend the period of time if you get a letter from the bank explaining why they are taking longer to get the HELOC approved.



If you get the sellers to realize that if they are patient for and additional week or two, that they will have the house sold, rather than pulling out of the deal and for them to have to start over looking for a new buyer.



If they have backup offers waiting, it will probably take them at least a month to get to closing even if they accepted one of them. If they don't have backups and they don't want to extend your time, then you could always make another offer in a couple of weeks when the bank finally gets done.



Good Luck

Answer 2

Another case of the ill informed thinking that the "Bank" is the best place to get the deal done "fair and square"!

Truth is the bank has little cajonas to get things done in the current economic climate we're in right now and the person working on your loan probably worked at the local burger joint before he was hired to the job title "Loan Officer" at $12.00 an hour.

Go see a Broker that you get from the recommendation of a friend or relative... consider this a lesson learned, oh, and no you cannot "sue".

Answer 3

Ask to speak with the supervisor of the banks rep.

Ask them what have they done on your loan. If they say nothing has been done go on to the next bank. Really not a lot can be done. They may not have funding for you at this time. They may be in financial trouble like a lot of the lenders out there.

Answer 4

You can sue, but you won't get anywhere. Lenders ALWAYS reserve the right to change their minds, based upon changing situations in your financial reports. Something as simple as running up a credit card higher than they like is enough reason for them to pull underwriting. Most lenders will run a 'last minute' credit check on your file to see if anything has changed from the time they originally ran the check.

Answer 5

i dont think u can sue them just because they "promised" a loan to you. i would go into the bank and talk to the mortgage officer again. or just go to a diff bank???

Answer 6

more than likely the bank you use just up and stopped doing HELOCS. Its commonplace in this market.

Answer 7

Talk to the president of the bank. See what he can do.