How long will it take to close on a USDA loan?

Should mortgage company legally charge me for cancellation a refinance loan after 45 days?

• I signed a loan application on 1/10/09 for a refinancing loan and paid $300 to lock the interest rate. The loan officer say that we will closing the loan by the end of January, one day before the closing, he call and said that the under writer didn't get into my file because my loan was small and because the term of the loan. I told the loan officer that as long as we can close the loan by the middle of February. By the middle of February, there was no sign of a closing date, I've wrote a letter to cancel the loan. Within that day, they replied back and promise to closing the loan on Friday, February 27 at 12:00 noon. I show up for the closing and discover that the paperwork didn't get complete and they have move the closing to the following week. At that point, I told the loan office that the dealt is off and I want my appraisal to be forward to me. The officer (mortgage company) replied that I will have to pay $300 for the processing fee and will not get the appraisal as well as the $300 I have paid to lock the interest rate. Is this legal for them to do that. I want to take this company to court. I already wrote them a letter demanding them to return the appraisal as well as the $300. What is my chance of winning this case? Thank you.

• Answer:

  While they typically have to return an "application" fee if you cancel the refi within 3 days "after" closing, a rate lock fee is non-refundable, and you are not entitled to a copy of the appraisal without either paying for it or going ahead with the loan. If you go elsewhere, that lender would require their own appraisal anyway. I hope you were not misled into stopping your existing mortgage payments during the refi process, because that just hurts your credit and/or could result in higher interest rate for that or any other refi. Don't stop payments until your refi is a done deal (closed).