USDA loan final approval

[Anonymous]

I'm in Washington state, southwest portion. Our loan has been approved by the lender and was sent off to USDA for final approval. This was September 11, 2009, we're still waiting to hear back. Is this normal? What exactly is the hold up?

[Anonymous]

USDA is just really backed up in some areas. Depending on where you live, this step can take anywhere from 24 hours to three weeks.

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

I was talking to USDA in Oregon earlier this month, they were reviewing loans delivered to them on July 29th, over a month.

[Anonymous]

I just got word from USDA that they are one month behind. I would have never used the USDA program had I known. It was recommended to me by our LO but I would never do it again. The worst part is that if you want information about anything you may as well forget it and if you do get someone on the phone no one is even remotely pleasant.

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

If you are going through a lender then your point of contact should be your loan officer/processor.  Definitely something people need to consider when doing a USDA loan, make sure you know how long the review by USDA will take and plan accordingly.

[WannaHouse]

I can say without a doubt that it is because of the timing. We went with USDA as well, and had NO PROBLEMS whatsoever.

I called our local office and also emailed them and they were very pleasant. All of our paperwork and approvals were with a few days. 

Please do not be so hard on them based on one person's experience. I know you are frustrated, but this is STILL a great program.