Q: I found your recent article describing your latest loan closing experience to be helpful to borrowers, as many are unaware of how different obtaining a mortgage is today compared to several years ago.

I do however have a few comments:

I would advise that those seeking a mortgage should in fact expect that the documents are 100 percent correct. Names spelled wrong and numbers not matching the good faith estimate are not acceptable (unless the fees on the HUD-1 are less than previously disclosed).

I’m a mortgage banker and for all of my closings, I review the closing docs before the client is met and if there is some mistake then I will have the mistake corrected before the client ever sees the documents. Furthermore, all my clients receive an updated Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and “Loan Summary Worksheet” many days, if not more than a week, before the closing. Nothing should ever change between that time.

I simply feel it is important that people do not think that it is acceptable to expect “some wrong numbers” or “some (other) information to be incorrect”

A: In a perfect world, all of the mortgage documents would be exactly right. However, my experience in closing loans is that something is always incorrect – though I admit I’m a “civilian” and haven’t done as many closings in my life as you probably do in a week or two.

Still, I haven’t yet had a closing where I didn’t catch a typo, or find a wrong number or an incorrect interest rate listed on the documents.

And while you should expect everything to be correct, you need to be prepared to thoroughly look over the documents in case it isn’t correct. There’s no substitution for having “eagle eyes.”

Finally, while obtaining the closing figures well in advance of a closing, I’ve heard from many of my readers and people in the industry that the closing figures frequently arrive at the closing agent’s office the evening before or even the day of the closing. When the closing figures get there that late, it’s unlikely that the buyer or borrower will get to see those closing figures well in advance of the closing.

While lenders can and are supposed to get the loan figures to the closing agents well in advance of the closing, some do, but many don’t. And when the figures get there late, it’s possible that the closing agents rush to complete the documents and typos and errors are made.

Thanks for your comment.