So it seems to be a growing trend now that a buyers lender is demanding to see the lenders full blown short sale approval letter, not just the cover page with all the terms. In the past i have always taken the approval letter and removed the SS# and Loan# for obvious reasons. I got a call yesterday from a buyers lender demanding to see all the pages of the approval letter, that clearly have no information that they would need. They told me that they are getting bombarded with Realtors who are faking short sale approval letters to keep buyers around or maybe to buy themselves some time until they get a real approval.
I'm calling our legal hotline tomorrow when its open, but i wanted to see if anyone had ran into problems with this lately? I would hope the NAR would weigh in on the issue. Seems as though we as Realtors are opening ourselves up to all kinds of legal problems if we start giving out anything a buyers lender demands just because we have scumbags ruining it for the rest of us.
Thanks!
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Hey Bryant, the one i got this week that started this thread had all their information on it (small local bank). I call foul on the lender for doing so.....since it was a raw .pdf i simply took out the SS# and Loan#.
Personally I'm going to get a signed release from now on. Utah is known for the fraud capital of the world so i wouldnt doubt the FBI is watching. Hell they probably have two offices set up now from all the past cases!
Same here in CA - Short Sale Addendum signed by both Seller and Buyer specifically states that the Short Sale Lenders' approval letter must be provided to the Buyer within a certain period of time - both from when the PA was signed and from when the Seller received the approval. If not, the Buyer can cancel.
Quite frankly, since the Seller agreed via the Addendum, provide it to the Buyer's agent (for the Buyer) and they can deliver it to the Buyer and the Buyer's lender!
Bryant, I agree with you, I have not seen any Short Sale Approval Letters include the Seller's SSN. Loan #, yes to which I redact the middle 4 digits - no one has resisted that.
Thom
Bryant Tutas said:
Travis. You know I have rarely seen a short sale approval letter with a SSN on it. Have you? They usually just have a loan number, sellers name and mailing address. I just checked Chase, Suntrust, BofA, Nationstar and Wells Fargo and none of these have the seller's SSN on them. So what personal information are we really providing?
By the way the Florida Far/Bar Short sale addendum to the purchase contract has a clause requiring the release of the short sale approval letter. Buyer and seller sign this addendum at time of contract.
Now having said that, IF the short sale approval letter had the seller's SSN on it I would white it out. But from the letters I've seen that is not an issue.
I think what we have learned here thus far is:
Anything else?
The voice of reason (Bryant T.) has arrived. Thank goodness :)
If the seller is getting $20,000 back from the sale, is'nt that a proceed? The buyers I have worked with balk at having to pay anything additional over the asking price even after explaining the short sale process I can't imagine what they would do seeing that!
I just completed a short sale representing a buyer on a Wells Fargo condo short sale in which the approval letter contained pages for the seller and separate pages for the buyer which required them to sign. It stated that the buyer understood the seller was not making any money from the sale, neither party was related in any way, the lender was 1099'ing the seller, and included the sale price. It did have the original loan #'s but no ss# or private seller information. WF would not move forward until this document was signed by both parties. This was a cash deal so no other lender was involved.
With all that is out there it seems to be another defense to help against possible fraud.
Have a fantastic Independance Day!
Agreed. In Florida or any where I would remove the ss# and then have buyers sign.
Thanks Bryant.
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