Your Loan Estimate's 10-Business-Day Clock

Buyers collect Loan Estimates from two or three lenders, then sit on them while they decide. That’s normal, but the clock on those numbers doesn’t wait for you to finish comparing.

The intent to proceed deadline

Once a lender provides a Loan Estimate, federal rule lets it issue a revised one with different numbers if you don’t indicate your intent to proceed within 10 business days of that disclosure, or a longer window if the lender states one upfront. The CFPB is direct about what counts: you have to tell the lender you want to move forward. It can’t treat your silence as a yes.

Getting the estimate isn’t the same as getting approved

A Loan Estimate shows the terms a lender expects to offer if you move forward. It doesn’t mean the lender has approved or denied your application yet. That comes later, after you’ve indicated intent to proceed and the file moves into underwriting.

When the clock actually starts

The ten-business-day count starts on the day the lender delivers the Loan Estimate or drops it in the mail. It runs from that date whether you open the envelope right away or a week later.

The clock running before all of this

A different clock applies before any of this. The lender has to get you that first Loan Estimate within three business days of receiving your application, regardless of how the loan eventually turns out.

Comparing more than one lender’s numbers

If you’re collecting Loan Estimates from a few lenders before you decide, give yourself a system for tracking each one’s ten-business-day window so you don’t lose track while you compare. Send me the estimates you’re comparing and I’ll walk through what’s likely to hold and what’s more likely to move. I’m Diana Kim, REALTOR with eXp Realty, working with buyers across Greater Boston in English and Korean. This is general information, not legal advice.