text: do you work for a mortgage company and if so is your office currently swamped with foreclosures? i have been trying to close on a house for close to a month and a half. the date keeps getting changed because we need a payoff document from ca and they say they are to swamped to send it to us. i can't help but wonder if something fishy is going on or if mortgage companies are really just backed up due to the hurricane (which is what they have said) is this a sub-prime lender?  sounds like it is to me.  no one is that swamped, this is a relatively simple thing to do.  sounds to me like your current lender is ameriquest (which recently agreed to a 200m settlement for predatory lending and can't do business in the entire state of ca anymore).  sub-prime lenders can be notorious about getting a payoff out, because, once they loose the loan, they aren't getting paid anymore.  just realize, that they have nothing to benefit by releasing your mortgage; they loose.  with that in mind.  you have to stay on them and threated legal action as well as reporting them to your state's department of licensing and finance.