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Guaranteed Rate is the latest lender to make the most of technology that can automate property valuations and verification of borrower income and assets to offer a “Same Day Mortgage.”
As is the case with Better’s “One Day Mortgage,” announced in January, some fine print can stand in the way of getting a loan approved in 24 hours.
But Guaranteed Rate says 72 percent of the conforming loans it handles will qualify for its new Same Day Mortgage program which can help borrowers compete with all-cash buyers this spring. Homebuyers who qualify for Same Day Mortgage can close in as little as 10 days, Guaranteed Rate says.
“This program first rolled out to a select group of customers in 2022, resulting in $1.1 billion in closed loan volume,” Guaranteed Rate announced Tuesday. “Today, Same Day Mortgage launches nationwide with a much larger portfolio of loan types and offerings including purchase and refinance.”
To qualify, properties must be eligible for an appraisal waiver, and borrowers must opt-in to AccountChek for automated income and asset verification. That rules out self-employed borrowers.
After locking their rates, borrowers have 8 hours to sign their borrower documentation and intent to proceed if they want to receive a “Clear to Close” loan commitment within one business day. Documents provided after 1 p.m. or on a weekend will be considered as having been submitted on the next business day. As an incentive, Guaranteed Rate borrowers who provide the requested documents within 8 hours will receive a $250 lender credit.
“Customers expect services to be fast and easy,” Guaranteed Rate CEO Victor Ciardelli said in a statement. “Same Day Mortgage delivers exactly that with cutting-edge technology and a totally efficient process.”
Guaranteed Rate says it reserves the right to revoke a Clear to Close loan commitment if there’s a change in the borrower’s finances or credit history, and the commitment is subject to underwriting conditions, including clear title and no loss of appraisal waiver.
Fannie Mae now allows appraisal waivers (which it calls “value acceptance“) in many cases if it already has an appraisal for a property in its database of more than 61 million appraisal reports. It can then use that appraisal as the basis for an updated valuation using proprietary analytics from its Collateral Underwriter system. Freddie Mac has a similar policy for conducting “automated collateral evaluations.”
In most cases, Fannie and Freddie will require that homebuyers make a 20 percent down payment to qualify for an appraisal waiver, although Fannie Mae will OK loans in high-needs rural locations with as little as 3 percent down without an appraisal.
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