13 minutes.
That's how long a former official at Countrywide — now at Fannie Mae — alleges it took the former lender to approve loans in the industry-infamous "High Speed Swim Lane."
Of course, Countrywide's business practices, and the loans they spawned, are now a problem Bank of America (BAC) gets to deal with.
Which I'm sure they're just thrilled about over there these days.
Per Bloomberg, which reported on the testimony in the ongoing case between the U.S. government and Bank of America:
… in mid-2007, some Countrywide officials became concerned after a “loan processor” employee at the lender’s NCA unit concluded the “cleared-to-close” approval process of reviewing and approving paperwork for a home loan in just 13 minutes.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jaimie Nawaday showed jurors an e-mail that indicating that the review process began at 3:53 p.m. and the loan was “cleared-to-close” at 4:06 p.m.
“It would not be enough time,” O’Donnell said, listing the raft of paperwork an employee would have to review including title searches, deeds, taxes, a review of the credit and employment history of the borrower, a determination of whether the home was located in a flood zone, property appraisals and a comparison with similar properties.
The below reaction from a Twitter user named Shnaps, whose Twitter bio says s/he is in a "love/hate relationship with the mortgage banking industry," pretty much says it all.
S/he rattled off a rapid-fire series of tweets on the topic of whether a 13-minute close made any sense or not.
And the best part is that s/he did it over the course of — what else — just a few short minutes.
'Let's just look at this applic…APPROVED! #HSSL
— Shnaps (@Shnaps) September 27, 2013
'The system is still down, can I get a manual review of th…APPROVED! #HSSL
— Shnaps (@Shnaps) September 27, 2013
'What do you know? Another friend of Angelo …?APPROVED! #HSSL
— Shnaps (@Shnaps) September 27, 2013
'Do you think artisanal pickle makers really earn…APPROVED! #HSSL
— Shnaps (@Shnaps) September 27, 2013
'I just ate a grape and I…APPROVED! #HSSL
— Shnaps (@Shnaps) September 27, 2013
