The financing process of my buying process was by far the biggest headache I encountered.
The lender I worked with was U.S. Trust, which is a subsidiary of Bank of America.
For starters, before I committed to U.S. Trust, a 30-day close was "no problem". Then a few days in, we're asking for extensions due to "Dodd Frank regulations", which I must point out were already signed into law well before I committed to them for my business. Ultimately, we were notified about halfway into the process that due to Dodd-Frank we couldn't possibly close on time and needed an extension. This was a hassle to work out with the seller, but turned out fine in the end and was really the least of our problems. I just wish they would've been more honest upfront about realistic closing times in the wake of modern banking regulations. Saying 30 days was doable is either dishonest or incompetent, either was isn't great. :)
The real issues happened about nine days before the scheduled close date: apparently there was something in the master insurance policy that violated US Trust condo guidelines (pooled insurance with other HoAs). We were told that if we didn't get an exception from the senior underwriter, they would deny the loan. So there I was nine days from close about to get my financing ripped out from under me.
I'm upset that this wasn't examined earlier. All of the HoA insurance information was in the disclosures, this should've been flagged much sooner than it was.
Second, we asked them repeatedly what our options were, and we were told that there was nothing we could do aside from getting an exception after the HoA filled out their "questionnaire" and they audited the budget. Getting these things done cost and extra $200 to the HoA in terms of fees. They also wouldn't except the HoA standard questionnaire and needed their special one filled out, which would've delayed the process even more. So this was really annoying.
Ultimately, my agent and I asked them if additional downpayment would change the situation. Turns out this was the magic words. No underwriting exception was needed and we were able to go ahead and close. When I ask the lender "what are our options" I expect this to be understood and offered to me by a financial professional. The fact that this wasn't even looked at until we offered the suggestion is completely unacceptable. I could've lost the condo if we hadn't thought of this at the last minute. Just really really bad.
So given the bad experiences, why a five? Their interest rate was a quarter point lower than the lowest of the other two offers I had on the table. This is important to me, so all things considered, would I make the decision to go with U.S. Trust again? Probably. Expenses are really important to me. But I'd be prepared for issues along the way and make sure I understand more about the process and their requirements going in. And if you don't have an iron stomach and don't mind paying extra interest in order to de-risk the process, I would not recommend U.S. Trust.
Hopefully folks read this review and understand what they are potentially getting themselves into.