• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sonoma County Mortgages

Contact Us About Mortgage Financing

All financing provided by New American Funding

(707) 217-4000 | Prequalify Now

Search Sonoma County Mortgages

  • Home
  • Purchase
    • How Much Down Payment To Buy A Home?
    • How Much Income You Need To Buy A Home
    • How Much Should I Save For Buying A Home?
      • How Rates Affect Payment
    • No PMI Mortgages
    • FHA Loans
    • Sonoma County Disaster Loans
    • Jumbo Loans
  • Refinance
    • Mortgage Rates
    • Does It Make Sense To Refinance?
      • Get Your Refi Paperwork In Order
    • How To Pay Off Your Loan Faster
    • How To Remove PMI
    • How Lenders Price & Quote Loans
  • Loan Programs
  • Payment Calculator
    • Mortgage Affordability Calculator
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • About SCM
  • About Scott Sheldon

Primary Sidebar

Sonoma County Mortgages is a part of New American Funding

New American Funding - NMLS #6606

Get Your Latest Rate Quote Now!

Five Things Consumer Still Do In The Loan Process That Hurts Their Loan Closing

October 2, 2015 by Scott Sheldon

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn Share on Email
things consumers do in the loan process hurt qualifying chances

Lending requirements are starting to loosen, and gone are the days of overly stringent mortgage underwriting. While this remains… here are five things borrowers still do in the loan process that make things more dicey.

Co-mingling Gift Funds-let’s say you’re receiving gift monies from family to buy a home. You instruct your family member providing the gift funds to send the monies directly to your personal checking account. The same checking account you run your monthly ledger off of. The money is documented and paper trailed. Transferring money into your monthly spending habits account will look on paper as though you are spending your down payment. The least path of resistance approach is to have your family member providing the gift funds wire the funds directly into escrow. The escrow company is required to hold these monies for you until closing at which point those funds becomes a credit against your cash to close.

Undocumented Cash-Please keep any cash from “side jobs” keep out of the loan process. Undocumented money cannot be used. Even if the funds are there, the bank will ignore the funds if they are not substantiated. Banks do not readily make loans to mortgage borrowers who deal primarily in cash.

Applying For Credit- Once you have picked a mortgage company, and have begun the loan process, stop. Even if you get a sexy credit offer such as buying a car with interest free financing for five years or a zero balance credit card transfer, applying for credit or worse, taking on new debt in the loan process not previously disclosed may negatively impact your loan. Do nothing. Do not open any credit accounts, do not close any credit accounts, and do not dispute any credit accounts without the guidance of your loan professional. If there is some sort of credit offer you must have, handle it after you closing on your loan.

Lack Of Response- lenders understand you are busy, but so is everyone else. Moreover, you should try to manage your time accordingly to account for taking on the largest liability of your life. Timely regular communication within the mortgage loan process is crucial especially if you’ve decided to lock in your interest rate. A mortgage rate lock commitment is usually good for 30 days or 45 days sometimes longer depending on circumstances. This means the clock begins taking from the time the day you lock in. Taking longer than 48 hours to provide documentation to your mortgage company for resubmitting to underwriting for final loan approval could end up costing you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in lock extension fees depending on how long the lender needs to extend your rate lock. In other words, just acknowledge there could be things requested in the loan process that might seem annoying, frustrating, redundant or tedious, but getting these things back to the lender within 48 business hours of the lender requesting those items helps meet closing time frames.

Tip: some mortgage companies do not allow you to extend your interest rate lock, but rather force you to take worst-case market pricing. Make sure to ask about your lender’s rate lock policy at or before loan application.

Questioning Documentation –every single residential mortgage loan entails submitting an application and financial documentation in a loan package to an underwriter for review. Every reviewed loan comes out approved with conditions or suspended (needing more information or a change needed to attain an approval). The loan approval says “meet these conditions and you will get a full loan commitment”. These conditions might mean explaining previous addresses, providing updated pay stubs, requesting verification of employment to name a few, but there could be many different reasons and/or conditions an underwriter places on your file based on their analysis of your complete credit, debt, income, and assets and financial history. Lending is pretty specific in terms of qualifying and documentation needed. More often than not, providing some alternative form of documentation the lender did not specifically ask for one not only makes the loan process take longer, but can cause more stress and frustration within the communication stream Simply put, if the lender is asking for something, provide it. Don’t fight it, argue it, or try to provide some other form of documentation as it likely will not work in lieu of. While this might seem a bit harsh, the time it takes to question a piece of documentation could have been greatly reduced if you just gave the lender what they originally requested. A good rule of thumb is give the lender exactly what they want in a reasonable time frame they have established.

Looking for a committed, and responsive loan officer dedicated to working for you? Get a free mortgage rate quote online from Scott today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related Mortgage Advice from Scott Sheldon

  • how to make your mortgage fit the box
    Make your credit fit the mortgage box

    If you have some credit challenges preventing you from getting mortgage with competitive rates and…

  • Mortgage Sign Art Image
    How Mortgage Interest Works

    Mortgage interest is a double edge sword, on one hand it's a tax-deductible expense, but…

  • Comparing Mortgage Rates In Sonoma County

    What to look for in comparing mortgage rates in Sonoma County. The Federal Reserve came…

  • Little lending nuances to get a mortgage
    How to figure out closing costs on a mortgage

    Closing costs are a factor you must account for consider when taking out a mortgage…

Filed Under: First Time Home Buyers, Mortgage Shopping, Mortgage Tips & Advice Tagged With: qualifying for a mortgage, Santa Rosa mortgage, shopping mortgage rates, sonoma county home buying, SONOMA COUNTY LOANS, sonoma county refinancing

Get Sonoma County Mortgages News and Updates in Your Inbox

Footer

SCM on Facebook

SonomaCountyMortgages.com

Connect on Facebook

SCM On Instagram

Follow Sonoma County Mortgages on Instagram

Follow on Instagram

SCM on Zillow

Zillow Reviews for Scott Sheldon, New American Funding

See Reviews on Zillow

Location & Contact

Sonoma County Mortgages and New American Funding are an Equal Opportunity Housing Lender

Scott Sheldon, Senior Loan Officer
NMLS ID# 287389
2455 Bennett Valley Road C107
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
1-707-217-4000
View SCM Map | Email Us!

Map of Sonoma County Mortgages New American Financing Office

View Map on Google

Copyright 2010–2023 SonomaCountyMortgages.com · About Us · Sonoma County Loans · Privacy Policy · Terms Of Use · Legal · Site Map

NMLS Consumer Access © New American Funding. All rights Reserved. NMLS ID#6606.
Corporate Office 14511 Myford Road, Suite 100, Tustin, CA 92780. We at New American Funding take great pride in our customer service and make it our number one priority. We encourage you to contact us for complaint resolution or any post-closing questions you may have regarding the servicing of your loan. We strive to have your experience with New American Funding a stellar one. In the rare case that our service did not meet your expectations, please call our customer care hotline at 1-800- 450-2010, ext. 7100 or you may contact us by email customerservice@nafinc.com. Please leave a detailed message and we will follow up with you no later than the end of the next business day. If you are using a screen reader or other auxiliary aid and are having problems using this website, please call 800-450-2010 Ext. 7100 for assistance.

State Licensing (Opens in New Window) | Privacy (Opens in New Window)
Terms of Use (Opens in New Window) | Electronic Consent Agreement (Opens in New Window)
Opens in new window Opens an external site Opens an external site in a new window