I had to get an attorney involved with this deal because it’s getting sticky. The seller has a mortgage and a HELOC on the property, both with the same lender. However, the lender is requiring that the shortsale for each loan be handled in different departments. That’s right, same lender, two loans, two departments. Just to be sure, I’ve called negotiators at both departments multiple times to confirm they are working together, but they are not. They each confirmed that neither knows what the other is doing.

But that’s not the worst part: they’re email communications are even worse. Instead of just sending an email with a message in the body, they send an email with an attachment. The attachment has a special link I have to click to access the message on the lender’s website. Then I have to enter a username and password to read and respond to messages. And yes, each department is using this method to send messages, and neither knows what messages the other is sending.

Thankfully, my client is understanding of how inefficient this lender is, and has been very patient so far. Now if only our lawmakers would read this blog (and many others like it), they’d understand why there’s such a foreclosure crisis. Banks are not interested in being efficient at disposing of bad mortgages. Based on their behavior and systems, it seems their only interest is to waste time.