Why do some Loan Officers give out estimates with incorrect fees?
This could be the million dollar question. Even with the new GFE that took effect on January 1, 2010, I have still seen very inaccurate estimates from time to time. I recently saw one where several fees that were inaccurate.
Last spring, the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance increased the GA Residential Mortgage per loan fee from $6.50 to $10.00. Nearly a year later, this loan officer is still disclosing $6.50. I guess they missed the memos and announcements on this.
The estimate also had the Georgia Intangible Tax and the GA Transfer Tax listed incorrectly. Since those fees are both set by the State of Georgia, there should be no variance in either of those fees. In addition, the GFE has no tolerance for these fees to increase from what was disclosed to the borrower.
They also did not include fee for a Title Insurance Binder or the Lender's Title covera
ge. Both are always charged in GA when the buyer is obtaining a mortgage.
With basic mistakes like these, you have to wonder how they successfully close transactions on time. Accuracy upfront is critical to start out the mortgage approval process. Without that, it's going to be a bumpy ride for all of those involved.
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