When You Need Wet Signatures from Overseas... Fedex in Afghanistan!

When You Need Wet Signatures from Overseas... Fedex in Afghanistan!

So a document needs to be received from overseas for the loan to close, that is, the lender is requiring "wet" signatures, that is, an original of a document and not a faxed or emailed copy.  We just went through this and I wrote a post about Power of Attorney Rules for Loans. 

When we knew we would have to wait for a POA to be mailed from Afghanistan, and the borrower's spouse on this end was receiving mail 2+ weeks after it was mailed, we hunkered down to wait for the new POA.  Thank goodness we had asked the borrower to send a second original in a separate package, and possibly check (again) if there were some method faster than USPS.  The borrower had told us originally that there was no kind of express or Fedex service out there.  Nonetheless, our overseas borrower asked around some more on their end and - BAM - we received a Fedex of the second original within five days of its sending.  The mailed copy is going on 18 days and still a no-show.

As for cost, it's very expensive: $140 for that one package.  BUT, we received it on a Wednesday and were able to close two days later (yesterday, on the Friday), and still the mailed copy is a no-show.

Lessons for getting documents from overseas borrowers:

1. Get an emailed or faxed copy of the original before they mail the original, and have that copy approved in format by the relevant person (underwriter, title representative, etc.).  If it's not right in format, have them correct it and email or fax again; repeat until the format is approved.
2. When you absolutely need an original to close, have the sender make two "original" copies (print out the form twice and have both the borrower and the notary fill out both in ink).
3. Send each of the two originals in its own separate package. 
4. Have the sender keep exploring to find the quickest way a package can travel from their location.  Is there Fedex?  Even when it's a $140 cost, it was priceless in getting this deal to be able to close and not have the seller finally put his foot down after waiting an extra three weeks when the first POA that arrived in the mail did not follow the Power of Attorney Rules for Loans and we had to wait for a new original.
5. If military, have the borrower check into having someone who is flying back to the US handcarry an original and then overnight it once he/she reaches the continental US.  We had our borrower, once, find a friend who was flying home Space-Available from Okinawa hand carry docs, and I met the friend at the airport in San Diego.  Careful: in this post-9/11 world, it is not allowed to ask a complete stranger to carry a package for you.