Bank of America announced that they will no longer be working with mortgage brokers. They are leaving the wholesale part of the loan business. They will no longer be working with mortgage brokers to do loans. They say that the broker part of their business was only 4% in the first 6 months of this year.
President of Bank of America Loans- Barbara Desoer made this comment: ” By exiting the first mortgage wholesale channel, we can redirect critical operational resources to further enhance our capabilities in direct- to -consumer channels.”
Hmmm, let’s see. I wonder if that will be any consolation to the buyers they let hang out to dry due to their lack of customer care and service.
We had one of our short sale listings under contract. The buyer that wanted to buy this listing was represented by another agent. This buyer walked into her Bank of America branch office because that is where she banks. They took her application and told her no problem. She got us her pre- approval letter and then she got us her approval letter. The buyer’s agent even set up the closing date based on what BofA statements about the buyer getting her loan. The buyers had all their belongings in a moving van. The day before the closing our title company began to worry. Tina felt like BofA was stringing her along. They ordered the survey, the appraisal was done and the buyer had paid these outside of closing.
The day of closing came and an hour before closing, BofA tells the buyer they were declining her loan.
This of course was something that should have been decided months before the closing. There was nothing that had changed in this buyers application to warrant a change of decision.
But in our experience this had been par for the course when it comes to buyers who walk into branch offices of Bank of America.
We always cringe when we hear that the buyers just go into a branch office of a bank to get a loan for a house. Who is that loan employee of Bank of America working for? There is only a customer relationship not a client relationship. It is just the same reason you as a buyer need a buyers’ agent to represent you when you buy a home for a builder. The sales reps in the builder’s office are not working for you. They are working for the builder.
This is just another step towards controlling the entire real estate transaction. You think they went away quietly after being defeated with trying to get into the real estate brokerage business? Yes, NAR was able to get a nice swift kick over the line- but they are not running off with their tails between their legs. They may have lost the fight but they plan to win the war.
Interesting article by Nestor & Katerina Gasset Wellington, FL
