A mortgage pre-approval proves you’re a serious buyer. Get pre-approved for your mortgage before you start shopping for a home.
A mortgage pre-approval is a letter from a lender indicating how much of a loan you can qualify for, issued after the lender has evaluated your financial history — including pulling your credit report and score. With a pre-approval letter, you can find a home you can afford by shopping within your means — while showing you’re a serious buyer.
A mortgage pre-approval letter can put you head and shoulders above other buyers who may be interested in the same home as you. Getting pre-approved will help you find a mortgage lender who can work with you to find a home loan with an interest rate and other terms suited to your needs.
Learn more about getting pre-approved and why it’s important.
A pre-qualification is like an audition, while a pre-approval is a dress rehearsal for an actual loan application.
Without digging too deeply into your financial details, with a mortgage pre-qualification a lender can give you an estimate of how much mortgage you’ll likely qualify for and some preliminary loan terms. You estimate your credit score and provide a few details, including the purchase price of a home you would like to buy, your down payment, your monthly debts and how you would want to structure your loan (length, fixed- or adjustable-rate interest, and so on).
With a pre-approval, on the other hand, you complete a full application, the lender pulls your credit report and score and puts an offer in writing to give you a loan at a given interest rate.
Even with a mortgage pre-approval, your loan still has to go through underwriting — a final stage of due diligence before issuing the loan — after you have a home under contract.