US mortgage woes...
 

Anyone try to get a mortgage before they got to the States? We have, and the paper trail is forensic. Is this normal?
The purchase of our US house should have completed last week, and it has been delayed with the mortgage company wanting more & more information daily (after supplying a significant amount of detailed financial info over the past 6 weeks).
Hoping someone can tell me, 'It's crazy, but it will be alright...'!

Re: US mortgage woes...
 

We did....but it was 16 years ago! :blink: I do remember that we had to provide 18 months of bank statements from our Lloyds (IoM) offshore current account and our UOB current account in Singapore, where we had lived for 5 years prior to our relocation to the US. We also had both banks write a letter stating that we were in good standing with them (they charged us for these).

These days banks need to be satisfied that the funds have not been laundered; this even happens when a property has been purchased in the UK whether by cash or with a mortgage.

What is the US mortgage company asking you to provide?

Are you going on a Green Card or say, an L1 visa? I guess they don't want you to skip the country after granting you a mortgage and being left with a property that they would need to get rid of (perhaps at a loss).

Re: US mortgage woes...
 

Yes the paper work is a bit horrendous. They want multitude of bank statements at the beginning and then right just before closing. It's like they double and triple check things are still in place. It drives me nuts. There were some legislation changes last August I believe.
My HELOC has taken 8 weeks so far, supplied 1/2 ream of paperwork and only now has it gone for appraisal. I was hoping to have used the money to buy another house within 6 weeks , I'm glad I didn't get into that contract.

Re: US mortgage woes...
 

I'm American, and relocating back to the States (to Indiana, though I'm from New England) with my English husband. I've got a job waiting for me in the States, but have been here for 15 years, so really trying to establish my credit as if from scratch. We thought if we could manage it, it would be great to have the house waiting for us when we arrive in July. Best laid plans...!

Paperwork- nothing horrifically unusual- reams of bank statements, as above, tax docs, FBAR, letters to state our down-payment money in our US account is a 'gift' (bridging loan from in-laws whilst we wait for completion of the sale of our UK property). The most bizarre thing to date has been, 'Write a letter to us explaining why you rented a property in 2001'. My letter simply said, 'I rented a property in Portsmouth, NH, to live with a friend after I graduated from college.'

My anxiety comes from being given a closing date, and then having it cancelled 3 times in a row. I've had to arrange Power of Attorney with a new colleague so that she could be at the signing, and it's embarrassing (at the very least) to have to reschedule her so many times. I think I'll just arrange it through an attorney now that it doesn't seem so straightforward.

Perhaps the issue is a lack of communication from the finance company who is brokering for us, but a comprehensive list at the beginning of the process, such as, 'We need you to provide evidence of the following 22 million things...' would shed some light on whether final approval will ever be granted. Our realtor contacts us with: 'Looking positive. I'm going to reschedule for x time,' then emails again later the same day, 'Sorry- they want something else now...' It would be a shame to lose the house sale now, when the finance company led us to think everything would be fine.

mrken30, your statement re lots of paperwork 'just before closing' gives me a little hope. Maybe they're just dotting i's and crossing t's?

Re: US mortgage woes...
 

Yup excessive paperwork for mortgages seems pretty normal here. Wait until you get to closing. Bring a cold compress for your wrist after signing 20,000 separate pieces of paper.

Re: US mortgage woes...
 

Docusign makes the pre closing process a lot easier

Re: US mortgage woes...
 

The other thing against you is that you are starting a "new" job. This for me hasn't been too big of a hurdle, they normally phrase the question how long have you been in this type of job.
Things get trickier if you are borrowing the deposit money as they have to verify the source of the money.
I'm sure things will work out fine, there is just a lot of paper work.
Also sometimes its prudent to keep in touch with the title company and the insurance company directly.

Re: US mortgage woes...
 

To agree with the others, yes it's totally normal. Thank the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 which massively ramped-up the emphasis put on combatting money laundering*, and the increasing regulations on the banks after the great recession of 2008-2009. The banks are more accountable, and rightly so, for the quality of the mortgages they sell, which translates into the borrower having to provide much more documentation on their income and source funds. The old adage about a borrower needing to prove why he/she doesn't need the money in order to be approved for a loan has never been more true. :lol:

* FWIW I got bitten by the same problem, twice :rolleyes:, when selling my house in London in 2001-2002 when British banks wouldn't close mortgages for firstly an Iranian, then a South African, because they couldn't provide adequate documentation for the source of the funds for the deposit. A house that should have sold in five-six weeks, eventually took over eight months to close! :blink: If it helps the banks stop laundering money for all manner of crooks then I consider it a small price to pay. :)

Re: US mortgage woes...
 

Yes.

Good luck!

Definitely don't go withdrawing a chunk of change for whatever reason such as for using it as deposits or to buy things and then deposit it back into the bank as you'll have to start from scratch on the history of that money. Neighbours did that, was going to get a cash discount on a bunch of appliances so they withdrew the cash. In the end they didn't buy from that place as the delivery date was going to be a bit far out and deposited the money again. So they had to start from scratch on the history of the money. Irony being, once they got it all squared away, they might as well have just bought the stuff :lol:

Welcome to BE :)

Re: US mortgage woes...
 

Thanks, all. Reassured- ish. Like everyone else, I'm also glad that it's seemingly difficult for actual money laundering. It just seems OTT for a teacher trying to buy an ordinary house. Fingers crossed we inch ever closer. Who knew it would be so difficult to get back into the country?!

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Bob- good advice! I wouldn't touch that money with a barge pole right now. Sometimes I like to log onto the account just to look longingly at it, though. Where in MA are you? My family live there.

Re: US mortgage woes...
 

This, this, THIS! :nod:

Drawing and depositing substantial amounts of cash in rapid succession, can ring all sorts of alarm bells, especially if it's not at the same branch, or worse not in the same state.

Honestly, if you want a calm, low stress, relationship with your bank, use cards and checks (personal or cashiers) for as much of everything as absolutely possible. Until I started having to fund pocket money for little Miss P (partially from Mrs P and me, and partially as paying agent for Mrs P senior, who deposits GBP into my UK account and I deliver in USD :thumbsup:), I was only drawing $20 cash every couple of months or so.

Re: US mortgage woes...
 

The metrowest area of the burbs :)

Re: US mortgage woes...
 

Yep. I got to the point where I told my mortgage guy I was going to start charging him for all the time I needed to take off of work to deal with all the stupid shit. And then everyone was whining and bitching at closing because I actually read the 20,000 bits of paper.

Re: US mortgage woes...
 

Same thing happened to me and they said no one ever reads it. I found some errors in the contract I signed.