My Loan Was Denied Due To A Missed Checkbox?

Another good example of how utterly complicated the mortgage business is right now is what I call the story of the missed checkbox. There was a loan application that, when we submitted it to the bank for loan approval, came back rejected. They had rejected my client’s loan. Of course, I was very concerned and I couldn’t tell what the problem was. There was good credit. There was a good down payment. There was a high credit score. I couldn’t quite figure it out on my own. I called the underwriter and the underwriting said, “On the good faith estimate, you missed a checkbox,” and I was confused.

It turns out that the underwriter was correct. There was a question on the good faith estimate that pertains to escrows for property taxes and homeowners insurance and does the consumer accept escrows on this loan, yes or no? Well, that checkbox was missed and they rejected the loan for a simple checkbox for which you think they would just say, “Could you have your client check this box and initial it? They missed it, sorry.” They rejected the loan for a missed checkbox. That’s how bad it is right now, a missed checkbox.