That does seem to be a long time and my buyers sit down with the lender to get approved quickly. Have you spoken to them recently to ask why? I might check out another option. If you are a first time buyer and want to use the $8,000 first time buyer's tax credit - you might run out of time before it expires the end of November.

Diane, your concern reflect your doubt that your bank's mortgage professional will deliver the right mortgage solution to help you. I will assume you have provided ALL information to your bank's mortgage professional. Typically, an experience mortgage professional can provide a preapproval from initial review of your financial information (credit, income, liabilities and etc). This can be accomplished within 24 hours. Additionally, an experienced mortgage professional can run a automated underwriting analysis to confirm the required details for a loan commitment to help you finance your purchase.

If you are ready for a change or a second opinion, I welcome the opportunity to introduce myself.

I would still move on (which it sounds like you plan on doing.) I just had some clients switch from Chase to Wells Fargo this week. I have never liked or referred business to Chase. I don't know what it is with them but at least they are consistent. Good luck with everything!!

After I threatened to take my money elsewhere (we have three accounts at Chase) she finally called my husband, not me that the letter was ready. I have no idea when we can pick it up because she has bank hours..I do not want to work with her in the future and we plan to complain.

I really appreciate all the advice! Also, we do have a real estate agent lined up.

Diane;
As a former mortgage person who managed a team of loan officers,waiting a month is to long and you should complain to the office's manager. I am assuming this is a formal pre-approval with an address to be determined vs. a simple pre-qualification (pre-qual's should be done in one day or quicker). As long as you have given your loan officer ALL the documents he has asked for this process should be fairly quick- 1 day to 5 days maximum for most lending institutions.
As a realtor now, I carry with me several cards of mortgage professionals who I know personally can do a good job for you. If you need a name of one or more in DuPage county, please give me a call.
Mark Karambelas
Real Estate Advisor -Team Karambelas
847-989-2710
Baird and Warner

I will add a few more thoughts....here is my lender that I've been using over the years. He's local and with Wells Fargo. My clients love him.

Tom Long
Wells Fargo
630-753-9319

Also, I'm guessing you're not working with a buyers agent as any agent worth their pay check would have been helping you out with this process. If you ever have questions feel free to call or email. I won't sell you on myself and tell you that you have to use me to buy. It just sounds like you need someone to point you in the right direction and I'd rather see you out there buying up some of this inventory then worrying about picking you up as a client. If you're looking for end of May you have some time but really need to get the process started. My website has a great MLS search if you'd like to start on your own.

Hi Diane. Nothing to add as I think you got some good advice from the others. I just want to know who it is so I don't use them. I've seen entire deals close in a month....that's pre-approval to home purchase to full approval to closing table. Do move on. If this is how they are working during the pre-approval I'd hate to see what they do when you bring them a contract with a deadline on it.

Good Luck!!

We typically have pre-approvals done in 24 hours

If you aren't comfortable/happy with them you should work with someone else! If they won't your return calls or get your pre-approval done now, can you trust them when it coes time to close? You're only going to get dinged a couple points for another inquiry. (I think it is all inquiries within a 14 day span count as one). Preapproval should NOT take a month! You should check with a few other lenders to see who can give you the best loan too.

Here's a few lenders I've worked with that can get you a pre-approved quickly:
Andy O'Brien (Midwest Home Funding) - 630.599.3108
Frank Maritote (Countrywide) - 630.513.4817
Pat Prescott (Compass Mortgage) - 630.836.2521

I've also included a link to some articles on my website about finding the right lender.

And of course if you aren't already working with a Realtor I'd be happy to help you! I even lived in Downers Grove for a few years. :)

Hi Diane,

YES! You are DONE with those boneheads. You also need a note from them on their letterhead that you can use to protect your credit - they ran it a month ago and still haven't done anything with it - so the inquiry should be officially pulled from your history. Otherwise, when you go to other banks, since it's outside of 14 days since your last run - you might take a small hit on your credit.

Call up Wells Fargo and they'll take care of you. You'll probably be done while you are on the phone with them. Also get hooked up with a good mortgage broker at the same time in case he can find something that Wells can't. Your buyers agent should be able to recommend one that has lots of banks to shop you out to - and that works quickly and hard to find a good rate.

Good luck!

Give me a call and we can go over your pre-approval. We are a nationwide direct lender and i can give you a pre-approval within 24 hours. Call me 415-962-1523

The loan officer does not return our calls. I stopped in the bank today and was told I would hear from her by the end of the day and no call. I have no idea what's going on and wondering if we should start the whole process over or will that mess everything up? Our lease is up at the end of May and we have no where to live...

Pre-approvals can be done in 24-48 hours. Have you spoken to your Loan Officer. It should not be taking this long unless there are problems with obtaining the approval