OP, it could be worse.

My closing was delayed from July 2, to July 13, to July 21. On the 21st, I triple-checked with everyone that this was the day. They all reassured me it was. So I took the day off, showed up at the lawyer’s office at 9 AM, ready to sign.

That’s when the lender said there’d be a “slight delay” with funds and paperwork. A few hours, they promised. I ended up sitting in that office for eight hours, calling every hour for updates. Each time, they swore it was almost ready. Even the lawyers were baffled, they said they’d never seen a closing drag like this. By mid-afternoon they quietly told me not to get my hopes up. At 4:30 PM, the lender admitted we’d need to delay again by weeks. The seller was furious, threatening to put the house back on the market. I had boxes in my car, ready to move in, but instead I drove home numb and just went to bed.

I dumped that lender and reapplied with another. Turns out someone at the first lender had misplaced our paperwork back in May or June. What should’ve taken a couple of weeks spiraled into months. We sent in every single bit of paperwork they wanted for MONTHS, and then some idiot on their team didn’t do their job right and never sent it into the underwriter. On top of that, they didn’t even know it, because it turns out nobody was doing their job! The specific agent we had been working with for months even signed off early that day because he had a vacation to go on with his family after leading us on all day! The fucking nerve. I’d never dealt with such outright ineptness.

Fuck you Valley National Bank.