At Box Home Loans, we get this type of comment often: “The 30 day rate lock seems like a very short time, especially since you allow a few days buffer for final documents. A standard of at least 45 days seems much more reasonable”.

So why do we continue to offer 30 Day Locks?

We actually monitor our lock periods very closely. We are pleased that we can offer a 30-day lock and have the technology and capacity to do so. There are times when loan volumes spike unexpectedly. It takes us some time to react and catch up to the volume (that’s what happened Spring of 2012, for example, as all the experts had predicted that rates would rise throughout the year when suddenly the economy tanked a little, particularly in Europe, which sent rates soaring down, and overnight our loan volumes shot up 400%). It took us a few months to catch up, and we were forced to go to 45-day locks (and even 60-day for a very short period of time). We staffed up to handle the volume back then. Now, we are able to continue to make enhancements to our proprietary loan processing software. All of which makes it possible to offer 30-day locks even in a high volume market like today.

Ultimately, whether a lender will admit to its customer or not, 45-day locks results in a higher price to the consumer (as the market simply demands more money for the longer lock period). One of our core principles is to offer our customer the best price possible. So, we constantly strive to keep our locks down to 30 days, which means it costs less to you. Then you can get on with your life sooner! As long as you remain responsive to our requests during the process, we will meet our lock expiration. If we don’t — due to delays caused by us — then we cover any cost associated with extending your loan.

By: Shelley Stoddard
Loan Officer Manager, Box Home Loans