Robert,

My company, Statewide Settlement, Inc., closes hundreds of loans every month within every county throughout the state and as of March, 14, every state throughout the country. 

I tell you this to inform you that getting to the table on time is only 1/2 the battle.  The other 1/2 is weather or not the borrower's have been informed of the terms and conditions of the loan that they are about the take responsibility of for the next, say, 30 years?!?!

What we try to do at SWS is provide the borrowers (on behalf of their broker), what we call "Pre-Closing Disclosure Services".  This pushes us to request the HUD-1 closing instructions ahead of the package, contact the borrower directly to review their terms and conditions and inform them that once the HUD-1 is processed and approved by the lender and mortgage broker (when applicable), we will contact them one last time with the monetary breakdown of their loan.

Normally, if your service is efficient and you break some of the communication barriers that exist between, as Kevin stated, the 5 or 6 parties involved, you can spark some interest with the lenders.

This service alone has saved us a lot of money and time.  Usually, once the settlement agent arrives at the table, the borrowers knows more about the loan than the "closer".

Of course, as stated above, if your documents are arriving late, then all of this is pointless.  My only suggestion is inform your client base and/or the lender that unless they meet your "Service Requirements" and the requirements of RESPA, you will NOT take part in the settlement.  I realize this sort of cuts your throat, however, if we all join together and take a stand, we may just put the pressure back on the underwriters, mortgage brokers and/or internal closers  located at the lending institutions.  Furthermore, we have walked away from many closings in order to not compromise our service, ethics or integrity.  It does hurt the bottom line, however, you sleep well and sooner or later, as I have suggested at least ten million times before, "your service will speak for itself"....have a great weekend...best of luck and thanks again for this website..JT...PS:

If I have not made any sense in this thread I apologize....I am "tired boss, dog tired".......John Coffey, The Green Mile