I posted this in the "Moving on" section too, hopefully I get responses somewhere.
Any advice or direction would be greatly appreciated, I'm in a tight spot.
I've been battling it out with the underwriter for about 2 weeks now, I was supposed to close on my house June 13. I'm stationed in Connecticut. My LES says I'm a Texas resident. From what I understand, the Service Member Relief Act states that my legal residence stays in the place where I enlisted, the term for it is Legal Domiscile. Domiscile is the area I intend on returning to when I am done serving. Texas would be that area. The underwriter says I'm trying to avoid paying Connecticut state income taxes, and I should have switched my residency to CT when I moved here.
I have 2 good friends I work with up here, both home owners in CT. One has Virginia on his LES, and the other has New York. Neither of them ran into this issue.
The VA underwriter doesn't seem to comprehend that I'm in the military active duty and that eventually, I will transfer. Basically, its like "You're in the Coast Guard, and your a Texas resident, so no, we wont give you a loan." You would think that a VA underwriter would know what the hell is going on.
I need legal reference, other than the Service member relief act, that will explain why I dont need to change my Legal Domiscile to CT. Aparently, the Service member relief act isn't good enough for this particular underwriter.
Originally posted by EMC_: Have you asked him to show you what he is using to base his decision? Also you might try to speak to someone higher than him.
Yes, I've asked. The underwriter has a "I just know you cant do that" attitude, but wont provide any references for me. I think we're making some progress. My mortgage broker went above the underwriter's head, and spoke to a supervisor. Our last conversation was optimistic, thanks for all your suggestions.
So he spoke to a supervisor, and the supervisor said "get me a copy of his orders". Got the copy of the orders, and I'm expecting approval tomorow. Best advise I can give to anybody from this experience is to interview EVERYBODY before you hire them. I'm glad I hired a competant Mortgage Broker. He asked for the info, I got it, and he went to war with the underwriter. His assertiveness got him through to a supervisor who knew what he was talking about.
I'm still a bit suprised I ran into this issue with a VA underwriter. You'd think they know these things.
VA doesn't actually underwrite your loan, your lender does, so the underwriter works for the bank. Underwriters are reviewing applications and loan information pretty zealously these days but I'm surprised your domicile and tax withholdings interested him/her.
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) is the proper answer. It's the federal law that allows servicemembers to maintain domicile in a state other than where they reside under orders. A letter from your servicing Legal Assistance office (D1 or the Academy) could have explained your rights under the law and likely would have appeased the underwriter. Glad it worked out for you.
akozar, one clarification. You indicated that "From what I understand, the Service Member Relief Act states that my legal residence stays in the place where I enlisted, the term for it is Legal Domiscile. Domiscile is the area I intend on returning to when I am done serving." That's not 100% accurate. During the course of your military career, you can change your home of record to a location where you are PCS. Obviously you need to meet certain requirements like getting a state driver license, regiter to vote, live at that state for 6 consecutive months, etc. Many states don't even require you to own property before changing your residency to their state (e.g. Florida).
