Two buyers of two different properties on two separate transactions equal one big nightmare for an escrow branch! Two buyers were signing their closing documents (including documents for their purchase money loans) with two different closers on a Friday afternoon. The closers took their packages to the copy room to run executed copies for the buyers before they left the office.

The copies were delivered back to the buyers and they each left the office with documents in hand. The closers packaged up the original documents and prepared to send the loan packages to the lender for funding. After 5 p.m., everyone left the office for a great summer weekend.

On Monday morning one of the buyers called her closer to inform her that the document copies she and her husband received at closing were not theirs! The closer asked the buyers whose copies they had in their possession. She asked them to bring the copies back to the office.

In the meantime the closer scrambled to find out who had HER buyers' copies. She looked in the system to determine the names of the other buyers who were in the office on the same day and their assigned closer. She approached her co–worker about the problem and her theory that the document copies were switched in the copy room.

Her colleague was shocked that this could happen and placed a call to the buyers on the transaction she closed. The buyers pulled out their documents copies and sure enough they had the other buyers' copies. They agreed to bring them back to the office.

The document packages each contained not only transactional information, but the buyer's loan applications with bank account and credit card information. After realizing they had just compromised the identity and credit of each buyer, the two closers contacted their National Escrow Administrators who provided them with directions on how to proceed.

When each buyer arrived with their copies the closers sat down with them and apologized profusely for the mix–up. They provided each buyer with the correct set of document copies, as well as a year's worth of Credit Check Basic® thru Experian® and a check to reimburse them $110 for a twelve–month LifeLock® subscription.

After the respective buyers left the office, the office staff held a meeting to discuss the mix–up and to ensure that measures were put in place to prevent the same mistake from happening in the future.