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How to document cash applied toward earnest money?

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jbrv
Established Member

How to document cash applied toward earnest money?

My husband and I are going for a VA loan.  We were pre-approved, submitted 2 years worth of W-2, tax returns, all investment accounts, 60 days of bank statements plus printouts from the bank for the time since the last statement closed - current....also provided retirement fund statements, and wrote  LOE's for inquiries, a couple reimbursement check deposits (my husband coaches sports and pays for things up front then is reimbursed) and also an LOE because an old, old retirement account of mine that I nearly forgot I had is still under my maiden name - attached copy of marriage license, etc. to prove the name change.  Credit scores are good, DTI is low, closing cash is in the bank and LO anticipates no problems.  A week has gone by since we filled out the application, and our realtor even e-mailed on Friday that she talked to the LO and he said things looked great and we'd likely be clear to close by month's end.

 

BUT....here's where things get crazy:

 

Got a call from LO today stating that it is too hard to discern where the escrow and VA appraisal fee checks are on the checking account statement that I provided (we are in between official statements right now so the bank printed them out for us).  The issue is, we used certified bank checks for both of these.  The bank we are going through for the loan is not the bank we have checking/savings at.  The bank charges $10 per bank check, so the $350 appraisal fee check appears as a $360.00 withdrawal from checking.  Apparently there is an issue with this with the bank we are going through for the mortgage.  Luckily I was able to find the receipt that the teller gave me that itemized the $10 fee.  Not so lucky with the earnest money check though.  First off, we paid for part of the $2000 earnest money check, in cash that we had at home.  We had been throwing in a couple bucks here and there for over a year toward a vacation, but decided to put it toward the house.  My husband took $400 from that vacation fun cash that we had at home, and applied that toward the $2000 earnest money check.  The teller didn't do a deposit of that money, but rather just took it from him then withdrew the remaining $1600, plus a $10 check fee, for a total of $1610.  So our $2000 earnest money check is shown on our bank statement as a $1610 withdrawal.  My husband is the one who got the earnest check and claims they did not give him a receipt for the fee (he had never gotten a bank check before, so he didn't know).  I called the bank, who said they couldn't duplicate or print a copy of the receipt.  Further, how on earth do we document the cash we'd been saving here and there for over a year?  

 

While I understand that lenders have tightened up their belts for lots of good reasons, I have no idea how to document the earnest money check.  I wrote LOE's for both of these items but frankly for the $2000 check they more or less have to take my word for it on the cash (it was ours and not loaned or borrowed) and I don't have the itemized receipt for the fee.  All the bank manager could do was tell me that the mortgage lender can call her if they have questions about the $10 check fee.  Any advice or other avenues that I haven't thought of yet?    This is the single most stressful process I have ever been through, and we haven't even made it to underwriting yet!!!  

Message 1 of 6
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TimeToRecover
Established Contributor

Re: How to document cash applied toward earnest money?

I don't know how to document the cash but has the earnest money check been cashed yet.  If not can you go get it back and write them a check from an account where it can be documented.  


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Message 2 of 6
ShanetheMortgageMan
Super Contributor

Re: How to document cash applied toward earnest money?

You should be able to get the bank to print something for the $2,000 check - it's tough to believe they'd have absolutely no way of producing a record for that transaction, even having the bank mananger write a letter on bank letterhead should suffice.  If the bank manager is only willing to field a phone call from the loan officer, they are an idiot.  If you are a customer of this bank (sounds like you are) then I'd threaten them with closing the account as the bank manager should be willing to write something as documentation.  I'd get that + your LOE's and ask your loan officer to submit it to underwriting.  Sometimes loan officers are a bit cautious and want everything to be as perfect as possible for the underwriter, but the underwriter may be OK with what you can actually produce.

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Message 3 of 6
jbrv
Established Member

Re: How to document cash applied toward earnest money?

Following up....I spoke with a manager at our bank over the phone, and told them what I needed.  She said she'd print something off for us, so I had my husband run over and pick it up after he woke up (he's on 3rd shift, so home during the day).   He got there just before the bank closed.  Turns out all it was, was a printout of our bank statement with the $1610 withdrawal highlighted (nothing itemized in the transaction at all!), and the manager's business card stapled to it!  Gah.  Definitely going to change banking institutions after this.....

 

Anyhow, in the interest of time, I ended up just writing a LOE explaining the breakdown of the cash/bank withdrawal/fee and including that statement w/ bank business card in the PDF.  I e-mailed it to our LO that night.  He e-mailed me back the next day, told me that what I had provided should be completely fine, and that our file had since been shipped to underwriting.

 

Fingers crossed that uw is ok with it...if not, I'll have to go over to the bank and stand over the manager's shoulder and dictate to her exactly what we need!

Message 4 of 6
FSFdoppleganger
New Contributor

Re: How to document cash applied toward earnest money?

 


@jbrv wrote:

Following up....I spoke with a manager at our bank over the phone, and told them what I needed.  She said she'd print something off for us, so I had my husband run over and pick it up after he woke up (he's on 3rd shift, so home during the day).   He got there just before the bank closed.  Turns out all it was, was a printout of our bank statement with the $1610 withdrawal highlighted (nothing itemized in the transaction at all!), and the manager's business card stapled to it!  Gah.  Definitely going to change banking institutions after this.....

 

Anyhow, in the interest of time, I ended up just writing a LOE explaining the breakdown of the cash/bank withdrawal/fee and including that statement w/ bank business card in the PDF.  I e-mailed it to our LO that night.  He e-mailed me back the next day, told me that what I had provided should be completely fine, and that our file had since been shipped to underwriting.

 

Fingers crossed that uw is ok with it...if not, I'll have to go over to the bank and stand over the manager's shoulder and dictate to her exactly what we need!


I'm not sure if this is feasible, but can't the title company where ultimately the money was received, provide a receipt or acknowledgement of escrow deposit?

I hope your UW accept your LOE, but I totall agree with Shane, I would definitely switch bank.

This process is very stressful and full of surprises...Good luck



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Message 5 of 6
jbrv
Established Member

Re: How to document cash applied toward earnest money?

I provided the carbon copy portion for both bank checks as well as that it's documented right on the contract ("received escrow check of $2000 on 7/7/14" and initialed by the person at realtors office who accepted it).

We went into uw on Tuesday morning and haven't heard anything yet...trying to be patient as I know these things take time. LO says we should hear back by early next week. It's nerve-wracking though! Good thing is our home inspection on the new house is today, and we get to accompany the inspector, so looking forward to seeing the house!
Message 6 of 6
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