Oh, they are still on the gravy train. How else is CW/BofA offering competitive rates but with TARP cash subsidizing their terms. Same with WF. As for paperwork, there used to be a time when all you needed was a SSI number and a signature on a loan application - the notorious "no-doc" loans. Those were the days

With 95% of all loans being insured or subsidized by Uncle Sam, don't expect paperwork to be reduced anytime soon.

Thanks for reading,

LoansbyJW

  I got a mortgage recently  through Countrywide (and therefore BofA). There was a tremendous amount of paperwork. They were documenting EVERYTHING. I couldn't imagine a loan being 5X as much paperwork as that.

  However, a BofA pre-approval was disconcertingly easy. It was as easy as 15 minutes at a BofA bank location and telling somebody verbally all of my information without verification.

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JustSomeGuy wrote:

 

  However, a BofA pre-approval was disconcertingly easy. It was as easy as 15 minutes at a BofA bank location and telling somebody verbally all of my information without verification.

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I don't know if they still do, but they were letting you print out a pre-qual letter just by entering info on-line. I had the feeling those were pretty worthless. To get an actual pre-approval was quite a bit more rigorous.

Most of us have a roll of those pre-approvals in the bathroom - only that paper is more useful . They are treated as such by most Realtors.

A good pre-approval should be specific to the property and the listing Agent. It must contain your FICO scores, confirmation of down payment funds, and review of documented income by either an underwriter or via an automated underwriting system. Without these items, it's merely a pre-qualification based on a friendly chat. That's not substantive enough for most Agents.

Thanks for reading,

LoansbyJW