Bank Of America/Equator... The New Short Process

Hi, I'm from the government (lender) and we are here to help. Bwa-ha-ha-ha

It's not new. We've been using it for 3 months now. It's faster than the old school way. What scares me is that they are asking for buyer agent and buyer info. My fear is that they will bypass me (the listing broker) and go directly with the buyer and buyer's agent.

You can always provide YOUR phone number (instead of the buyer's) or the Selling Agent. Some questions are very intrusive. For instance why do they need to knwo the first 5 digits of the buyer's SSN?

The problem with this is that once you enter the info and it goes for the Negotiator to look at it... you never hear from them again...

One thing is for sure, banks have no motivation to resolve short sales and even less motivation to do loan modifications... the one losing here is the investor. Problem is, many investors don't know they are investring in Mortgage-Backed Securities.

At your service,

Luis Salas

Great information...I'm currently working a deal with BOA the old fashioned way (since Nov. 09) and have not been asked to enter equator.  My deal has been reasigned to a new negotiator, so I'm wondering if I should go ahead and try to stick it in the equator system?  Any thoughts? 

I've used Equator, and don't like how much information they want about the buyer & buyer's agent.  It was hard getting the buyer's agent to give me the first 5 digits of his clients ss#

I have B of A short sales in process as a listing agent, one with an offer over 60 days old through Titanium Solutions, and have now been informed we must go through Equator. I have submitted offers for buyers and the listing agents are going through Equator, having to supply buyers information that is pointless to the sale, SO at this point I can't find anything favorable to say about Equator or B of A and this process to conduct short sales. The retroactive effect will make in-progress sales take longer than ANY other short sales I'm currently working on. At a time when this process should be streamlined both in tasks and pace, B of A comes up with this. Sellers are already at the top of their frustration levels, some ready to just walk away, and now 'requiring' them to perform 'tasks'. Buyers aren't to thrilled about throwing out information that is completely irrelevant to submitting a Purchase & Sale Agreement, either. So much for holding down the foreclosure rate. I've never cared for B of A because of the way they conduct business and they are reaffirming my conclusion.

Just closed two short sales, one through equator and one through reo prep. Both took about 3.5 months however they both had to run through two different buyers.

Brandon,

Any update on BOA Equator?  Once a negotiator is assigned, your notes above say that they are the best contact.  Is the Equator front-end of any value or use after assignment to a first or second level negotiator?

That approach sounds bogus to me!!!  Please take a minute and read the wiki entry on Social Security Numbers as I think you'll find that it explains a lot about how social security numbers work (especially see the section "Structure").

While it may be important for any bank to ascertain fraud in short-sale transactions, using parts of social security numbers and parts of birth dates is not likely to help rout out fraud.  It's more likely that at the time you go to settlement, the bank will ask you to sign a document under penalty of perjury that you are not related to the seller in anyway.  The seller will be asked to do the same thing.

I think I'd be more concerned about providing the "first five" since those along with the "last four" equal the whole of your SSN.  Add to it your birthday and you're ripe for identity theft.  I think I'd exercise caution about this whole thing.  It just doesn't sound right.