Basic Mortgage Application Stages

At Altius Mortgage and our partners at Mortgage Ogden, one of the primary services our mortgage brokers provide is a thorough and complete walk-through of the mortgage process. A home loan is no small undertaking, and we want our clients to have a crystal clear idea of what they’re going to be facing as they get started.

One big element here involves the basic stages of the application process for a mortgage. These may vary slightly within a given situation, but in most cases there are three steps here: Pre-qualification, pre-approval and the final, binding loan commitment. Here are the basics on each of these three important application stages.

Pre-Qualification

Pre-qualification is a first step that often gets confused with pre-approval, which is actually different and comes later. Pre-qualification is less formal than pre-approval – more of a financial meet-and-greet, if you will.

To get started, you’ll provide a lender with very basic financial information like debts, income and basic assets. You won’t be assessed a credit report or any background checks – these will come later. During this stage, your lender is simply looking to get a very general picture of your finances. This is also a good time to ask any initial questions you have, plus go over your expectations and goals for the mortgage process.

Pre-Approval

Pre-approval follows a similar procedural format to pre-qualification, which is why they’re often confused. Pre-approval is the more formal stage, however – it’s more detailed, including background and credit checks performed, and it’s also more binding. In a situation where everything goes as planned, you’ll finish pre-approval with a written commitment for an exact loan amount from your lender. With this commitment, you can begin searching for homes within your range.

Loan Commitment

When you’ve matched your price range and found a home, it’s time for the loan commitment step. Your lender will go through one final check to ensure no big changes have taken place to your finances during the home search, and then all that’s left will be for you to provide your signature and move the process forward.

Want to find out more about the application process, or interested in any of our other mortgage services? Speak to the brokers at Altius Mortgage today.