6 CRITICAL MISTAKES TO AVOID FOLLOWING MORTGAGE PREAPPROVAL
Congratulations – you’ve received a preapproval from your mortgage lender, and are out looking at homes! This is no time to drop the ball. Experienced loan officers will always admonish borrowers to keep things the same as they are as of the time of the preapproval, but every once in a while a borrower will ignore the loan officer’s advice and make one or more of these critical mistakes as they move toward the closing. Keep in mind that a mortgage preapproval has no value – and won’t bind the bank- if your financial picture changes between the issuance of the preapproval letter and the formal application is processed. So here are the six biggest mistakes to avoid following mortgage preapproval:
Late Payments
Be sure that you remain current on any monthly bills. If you have bills paid automatically paid out of your checking account or by credit card, by all means continue to do so. Your preapproval only relates to a snapshot of your financial situation, and you need to keep this the same or better as when the preapproval snapshot was taken. This is probably the most common mistakes to avoid following mortgage preapproval.
Applying for New Lines of Credit
Mortgage lenders are required to do a later credit check before the loan closes. They typically do what’s called a “soft pull” of your credit, which tells them if any new lines of credit have been opened. Any new credit account could negatively impact your credit score. This could lead to a higher interest rate or even result in delaying your closing. People looking to furnish their new homes often will be looking to buy new furniture and to time the furniture delivery to coincide with their closing. The stores offer deals with no payments due for months or even years on the new furniture. While seemingly a good financing offer, opening up this new line of credit could jeopardize your mortgage loan.
Making Large Purchases
Buying expensive furniture or appliances with credit could change your debt-to-income ratio, which could result in a delayed closing or denial of your loan if your ratios were tight to begin with. Even if you use your own cash to make big purchases, you’ll end up having less cash on hand for reserve requirements, which could also negatively impact your loan.
Paying Off and Closing Credit Cards
Credit scores are impacted by a variety of things. One of them is paying off and closing credit cards. Although it seems counter-intuitive, paying off and closing credit cards often negatively affects credit scores. Also, depleting funds in your bank account to pay off credit cards also means lower cash reserves.
Mistakes to avoid following mortgage preapproval
Co-signing Loans for Others
Especially when it’s a new loan, co-signing a loan for another means that the loan is a debt for the borrower and for the co-signer. It will go into the debt-to-income ratio mix. So, think twice before helping your child or sibling buy a car at least until after your purchase closes.
Changing jobs
Even if it’s a higher paying job, changing jobs after receiving a preapproval could cause a delay in closing due to verification requirements. Your new salary must be proven, so two paystubs will be requested and the new job verified before the loan will be cleared to close.
The bottom line is that it is very important that you stay in touch with your loan officer, Mistakes to avoid following mortgage preapproval can be any significant financial move, since even seemingly beneficial changes could have a negative impact in the days and weeks leading up to your closing. For more information about real estate matters, check out this website at www.brooksandcrowley.com.
