Recieved a phone call from Settlement Company

[sunnyday]

So after a very long wait for my refinance to go through, I come home from work and there is a voicemail from a settlement company telling me that they can't insure my loan at this time. I tried to call them back and of course they are gone for the day so I call my loan officer to ask him what is going on. He said there are some problems with the title because there are 2 liens on the home. Mean while, he knows that originally the deed was in both my name and my ex husbands name, 1st and 2nd mortgage is still currently in ex husbands name, went through a divorce, ex husband signed a quit claim deed and I received a new deed, titled This Indenture in my name only. In my divorce papers, it states that I receive home and must refinance it in my name, which is exactly what I'm doing. Now, they are telling me that they can't insure my loan because there are 2 liens on it with Countrywide/Bank of America which is exactly the same company I'm trying to refinance both loans into 1 with.  They have all of this information already so I do not understand what the problem is.  I'm going crazy because I can't talk to anyone tonight to find out what happened.  Does any mortgage experts out there know what could have happened with all of this?

[sunnyday]

So here is the update. I talked to the settlement company. It turns out that when we first bought the home back in 2000, the guy we bought it off of did  not sign the title correctly. He did not include his middle name with his signature. Now what the strange thing is about this, ex-hubby(hubby at the time) and me were able to get the first loan and then refi back in 2002 with none of this ever coming up with the original sale of the home and the whole title issue. We did not due FHA back then so maybe this is why? I'm not sure. I went through all of my old records of the original sale and found a copy of Lawyers Title Insurance Policy. I faxed it to them, she emailed council and then said that was enough to insure go ahead and insure my loan.  There is one more problem that I have to take care of. The first deed to the home was in my full name and the need deed that is in my name now, due to divorce and quit claim, only has my middle initial. I have to get a new deed with my full name and have ex-hubby sign it again.  I had no idea that something like a middle initial instead of a middle name can screw everything up with a deed and trying to refinance.  I just wanted to let everyone know about this and be careful that you are signing correctly so your loan does not get held up. 

[Anonymous]

wow that was pain. glad you got it figured out now sunny!!!

[Anonymous]

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@sunnyday wrote:
  I had no idea that something like a middle initial instead of a middle name can screw everything up with a deed and trying to refinance.  I just wanted to let everyone know about this and be careful that you are signing correctly so your loan does not get held up. 

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Absolutely right about that.  Anything that has even the slightest deviation in your name can create a problem.  My dad owns 2 properties, his house and the empty land next to it.  He wants to combine them into just one property, but he can't.  The reason: 

The deed to the house property is signed "first name, middle initial, last name"

The deed to the empty land is signed "first name, last name"  

Because of that he'd have to do a quit claim deed, get a lawyer, etc, etc.  All of which is not worth it just so he can have one tax bill.

Message Edited by woopah on 05-23-2009 06:10 PM

[Watchmann]

The authorities can be very picky.  When my wife had to sign some papers to sell her father's condo after he passed away the title company sent them to us and specifically told us it had to be signed in BLUE ink and the notaries stamp could not touch any of the printed words on the page or else the recorder of deeds would reject the document.  You can't fight city hall.

[MattH]

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@Watchmann wrote:
The authorities can be very picky.  When my wife had to sign some papers to sell her father's condo after he passed away the title company sent them to us and specifically told us it had to be signed in BLUE ink and the notaries stamp could not touch any of the printed words on the page or else the recorder of deeds would reject the document.  You can't fight city hall.

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Blue ink is a common requirement so that originals can easily be distinguished from black-and-white photocopies.  Some of the forms at my work specify blue for the same reason.