Are you looking to find out what mortgage pre-approval means? If so, you are in the right place.
This article will introduce you to the concept of pre-approval while explaining its benefits, disadvantages, and everything else you should know about mortgage pre-approval.
What is a Pre-Approval?
A pre-approval is a letter that shows your lender that they can trust you with a loan.
Lenders use pre-approval to ensure they’re comfortable lending money to someone who hasn’t done any research on loans or mortgages yet, so they don’t need to put their customers through unnecessary stress.
We’ll be talking about “how much is mortgage preapproval good for” in a minute, but first, I want to give you a little background about the topic.
The word “pre-approval” has a pretty clear meaning: it means finding out if a loan will be approved within a certain amount of time.
Banks and lenders usually send out mortgage pre-approvals within two weeks of an application, or sometimes even sooner.
So what does this have to do with your mortgage? Well, if you do not get pre-approved for your mortgage before applying, you’ll have to wait until after the application process is complete to find out whether you’ve been approved for the loan.
This can make it difficult for some people, as they may have already spent time and money on their home search or other activities related to buying their first home.
How Long Is A Mortgage Pre-Approval Good For?
Preapproval letters typically have a validity period of 30 to 90 days.
Your financial situation may change dramatically over time, impacting the type of loan you’ll qualify for, which is why pre-approvals expire.
Lenders want to give you a loan estimate that is based on your current finances and is as accurate as possible.
As Parker explains, “We can always renew them.” This is often needed for newly built homes because it can take months for them to be finished after the initial pre-approval.
This method is also good for you as a buyer, because you don’t want to make a wrong offer on a house and then find out later that you can’t get the mortgage you wanted.
Usually, a mortgage pre-approval is valid for 90 days.
Your money situation can change over time, and both interest rates and credit scores are always changing. For better or worse, all of these factors could have an impact on your maximum buying price.
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When you are approaching the 90-day window and still haven’t located a property, get in touch with your mortgage professional and let them know you’d like to have your pre-approval updated.
You’ll give them updated documents to back up your claim, and they’ll look over all the information as they update your credit report.
They’ll let you know if there are any changes positive, bad, or otherwise.
Additionally, you will receive a new pre-approval letter valid for another 90 days of house hunting.
How Long Can You Hold A Pre Approved Mortgage?
A preapproval for a mortgage normally lasts 60 to 90 days. When it does, you must get in touch with your lender once more, bring any updated documentation, and request a fresh preapproval letter. The good news is that since they already have the majority of your information on file, this usually doesn’t take too long.
What Happens When Pre Approval Expires?
When it expires, you must get in touch with your lender once more, bring any updated documentation, and request a fresh preapproval letter.
The good news is that since they already have the majority of your information on file, this usually doesn’t take too long.
Do Pre Approvals Hurt Your Credit?
Your credit score may be hard-inquired if you decide to apply for credit after receiving a mortgage pre-approval.
Even though a pre-approval could hurt your credit score, you should still get one because it is an important step in buying a house.
This temporary damage to your credit score is not permanent.
If you keep making your monthly payments on time and keep your credit card balances low, your score will quickly recover from any small drops.
Additionally, you won’t need to fret about mortgage comparison shopping.
Your credit score won’t go down each time a lender you apply to for a mortgage loan does a credit check on you if you do so quickly.
Each credit draw from several lenders will only count as one hard inquiry because you are only looking for one loan.
Therefore, your credit score will only be reduced by a few points even if you receive preapproval from, say, three lenders.
Just remember to apply for each of your preapproval a few days apart.
So, each hard inquiry will be counted as a single inquiry when figuring out your credit score.
Additionally, don’t let that slight credit blip keep you from getting pre-approved.
How Many Times Can You Extend Pre Approvals?
Pre-approval can usually only be renewed; they cannot typically be extended.
The difference is that you can’t just extend your preapproval based on information you already gave; you have to show proof of funds again.
Your most recent preapproval documentation will be requested by a lot of lenders.
Is It Easy To Extend Pre Approvals?
Yes, it’s super easy to extend pre-approval if you want to.
First, let’s talk about how you can extend your pre-approval.
If you’re wondering if there are any restrictions on how long you can extend your pre-approval for, there aren’t you can do it as long as you want (as long as your loan doesn’t close).
But why would you want to do that? What’s the point? Why not just wait until the end of the process and get your pre-approval extension once everything has been finalized?
There are several reasons why you might want to extend your preapproval in this way:
- You could be using the time between when you get approved and when your loan closes as an opportunity to save money by doing some comparison shopping or researching other lenders’ offers.
- You could be working with a different lender than the one who originally approved your loan so that they won’t have access to all the same information about your application.
Can I Have 2 Pre Approvals?
You can actually get pre-approved an unlimited number of times. In a buyer’s market, where there are more houses up for sale than there are interested buyers, many homebuyers locate their ideal house within a few weeks or months.
Furthermore, they find it simple to have their bids accepted.
Is There A Downside To Getting Pre Approved?
Yes, a hard credit check will be performed as part of a pre-approval, which will result in a minimum five-point drop in your credit score.
But your credit score will go back to normal if you continue to make your payments during that period.
If you look at different lenders to find the best deal, getting a lot of pre-approvals shouldn’t hurt you.
Does It Hurt To Get Multiple Pre Approvals?
It’s a good question. The answer is maybe. Maybe not.
Some people are more sensitive than others are , and some people just don’t care.
It depends on how you’re feeling about the process of getting approved for a loan, and whether you feel like you’ve been treated unfairly in the past by being denied for loans
If you feel like the process has been unfair, then there’s a chance that it will sting when you get multiple pre-approvals, but it doesn’t mean that your application was any less worthy than anyone else’s who got approved after the first one.
Is obtaining preapproval from different lenders is acceptable?
Your credit score won’t be negatively impacted by obtaining repeated credit checks for the same objective, such as mortgage pre-approval applications, so long as they’re finished in a timely manner.
FICO treats comparable loan-related questions that happened within 45 days of one another as a single inquiry in the scoring process, according to Experian.
Why is the Pre-approval for me so low?
You have a high DTI ratio and a significant monthly debt load.
However, a lender might be ready to enhance your preapproval amount if you can get rid of some of these debts from your records, including credit cards or personal loans.
Can I get a mortgage preapproval before I even apply for a mortgage?
No, you cannot get mortgage pre approval before applying for mortgage.
The best way to get a mortgage preapproval is to apply for one and then wait to see if you’re approved.
If you already have a mortgage and it’s still in good standing with your lender, this may be the case for you.
If that’s not the case, then you’ll need to start the process over again.
Conclusion
From this article you can infer that mortgage preapprovals can be very beneficial, depending on your situation.
A preapproval is not only a way to get yourself started in the home buying process; it’s an opportunity to start looking at homes that you may not have otherwise considered due to their affordability.
All in all, mortgage preapproval is a great way for you to get the ball rolling on your home-buying process.
With it, you can start building your down payment and look into what kind of home loan options are available to you.
Is mortgage preapproval worth it? If you’re not sure, feel free to ask us at any time.
We’ll be happy to answer your questions and help you make an informed decision.
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