Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Steele V. Propp on March 20, 2010 at 7:17am

It might be part of their auditing system or it may also happen when there is a trigger item.

Remember that a prequal letter is largely meaningless. One can throw that together in minutes. Even a preapproval letter can be faked by a loan officer easily enough.

I think that they do have a right to check that this buyer can afford it.

My opinion, of course.

Permalink Reply by Brenda Mull on March 20, 2010 at 7:23am

Thank you - Sorry, it was a "PreApproval letter" issued from a SunTrust, not a pre-qual - my mistake.

Steele V. Propp said:

It might be part of their auditing system or it may also happen when there is a trigger item.

Remember that a prequal letter is largely meaningless. One can throw that together in minutes. Even a preapproval letter can be faked by a loan officer easily enough.

I think that they do have a right to check that this buyer can afford it.

My opinion, of course.

Permalink Reply by Emily S. Knell on March 20, 2010 at 8:06am

So far I've had no buyer object to giving SS # (first 5) & DOB except for one, which was an all cash buyer for a little condo, she flat out said " No way, I'm not giving them that info!" I think a Cash buyer shouldn't have to give that info, what's there to qualify if they're paying cash.

I told my client that they ask for this ONLY to somehow check & see if the buyer & current owner are related. I do not know, but would like to know the extent to which BofA investigates the relationship of buyer & current owner and what they're going to check into even with a "soft credit pull".

There have got to be some privacy laws that protect a buyer from putting this information over the internet, I don't care how "secure" the Equator site may / may not be. Hackers are out there stealing identities.

Permalink Reply by Steele V. Propp on March 20, 2010 at 9:07am

With an all cash buyer you should be providing proof of funds every time. If they are looking at affordability of the buyer this should suffice. Remember that anyone can "claim" to be a cash buyer. The banks have had problems with this in the past. Especially with the rookie investor types.

Emily S. Knell said:

So far I've had no buyer object to giving SS # (first 5) & DOB except for one, which was an all cash buyer for a little condo, she flat out said " No way, I'm not giving them that info!" I think a Cash buyer shouldn't have to give that info, what's there to qualify if they're paying cash.

I told my client that they ask for this ONLY to somehow check & see if the buyer & current owner are related. I do not know, but would like to know the extent to which BofA investigates the relationship of buyer & current owner and what they're going to check into even with a "soft credit pull".

There have got to be some privacy laws that protect a buyer from putting this information over the internet, I don't care how "secure" the Equator site may / may not be. Hackers are out there stealing identities.

Permalink Reply by Keji Ogunleye on March 20, 2010 at 9:42am

I'm concerned that BoA will be pulling buyer's credit without their consent? Did they approve the short sale already? That is really not fair on the part of the buyer... In some of the Indy Mac short sale the buyer has to provide SS # but not DOB and I have not had any problem with that...

Permalink Reply by Brenda Mull on March 20, 2010 at 10:04am

Keji - No, short sale is not approved yet, it is still in the valuation stages, with BPO just done this past week. What I am not familiar with, is the term "soft credit pull" maybe to see if buyers name and ss match up, not sure. I just felt it was worth mentioning the BoA is doing it. If anyone knows the meaning, it is worth discussing. As said, buyer has pre-approval with lender. They ask for lender information, I get it if they contact the lender - but what is a "soft credit pull" As far as cash offers with Equator, it is still a required filed to enter the buyers dob and first 5 social security numbers before you even get to load the proof of funds document.

Keji Iuyomade said:

I'm concerned that BoA will be pulling buyer's credit without their consent? Did they approve the short sale already? That is really not fair on the part of the buyer... In some of the Indy Mac short sale the buyer has to provide SS # but not DOB and I have not had any problem with that...

Permalink Reply by Juan Reyes on March 20, 2010 at 1:28pm

I was told on one of my short sales that the "soft check" was on the seller, and that it was because the bank wanted to see if the seller was in true financial hardship by seeing if they have fallen behind on other debt like credit cards etc.

I guess it was to see if they would want to do a promissory note on the seller.

Permalink Reply by Theresa Jordon on March 20, 2010 at 4:27pm

I am doing a shortsale with BofA and I am the buyer. Last week they told me they were doing a credit check on me too. My offer is a cash offer and i even sent proof of funding (bank statement). My status is still in evaluations....and my negotiator has no tasks and neither does the seller or buyer. Just waiting!!!!!!!! I started equator 2-22-2-10. Hopefully we get news soon