Unfortunately, the lender is not a party to the contract and is not bound by the dates or terms thereof. Moreoever, a lender generally has no obligation to lend, and can take as long as it likes to commit to a loan, if it will grant the loan at all. So the lender is not liable for not making the loan committment yet, because it is not obligated to commit within any particular time frame, or to extend the loan at all. At the same time, however, you are obligated to the closing date in your contract, and can suffer the consequences for breaching it. For future reference--and not just speaking as attorney, but also as speaking as someone who recently bought a new house and went through this--as unfair as it seems, you *must* set a closing date far enough in the future to acount for any and all possible delays in underwritng and closing the loan. You bear all the liabiltiy for a failure to get the loan in time; the lender bears none.