Dear FHA, Can You Please Sign Off?

Dear, David H. Stevens, Margaret Burns, and Bonnie McCloskey,

Nothing is more infuriating than a policy within a company that cannot be explained other than “that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

Digital signatures save everyone time.  A VERY LARGE AMOUNT OF TIME.  But in a world where a vast majority of the buyers are going FHA, with a policy that doesn’t allow digital signatures, many lenders are slowing us all down by requiring pen to paper.

Here’s why pen to paper is a stupid idea.  PHOTOSHOP.  I can extract your signature and drop it into any document I want and pass it off as genuine and it instantly becomes legitimate.  Not only can I do this, but I have done this, but only after receiving written permission to do so from my client.  No funny business here.

It’s been my only solution to FHA’s antiquated practice of requiring pen to paper.

Digital signatures have been part of the business world since 2000 and they’re perfectly legal.  There’s no reason we should be chasing people down, inconveniencing them, to acquire handwritten, less-than-secure forms of authentication.  It’s just ludicrous.

So, FHA, please stop this horribly annoying practice and bring yourselves up to speed.  We’re tired of the whole world moving faster than you, and you’re just getting further and further behind.  Drop the dead weight.  Loose the anchor.  Run like the wind and allow services like @Docusign to usher us into a world that should have existed 9 years ago.

Sincerely,

Other articles of interest:

• January 13, 2012 -- Short Sale Cash Contributions at Closing
• February 24, 2011 -- Loan Status Report Replaced by Pre-Qualification Form
• September 23, 2009 -- The Debate Continues: One User’s Opinion on Renting vs. Buying
• January 15, 2011 -- Loan Modifications are a Scam
• September 18, 2008 -- Leveraging Your Money to Get Rich Part I