Get Pre-Approved

Here are the documents you will need to get a new mortgage or to refinance your current mortgage.

Pay Stubs

In order to apply for a mortgage refinance or purchase, you’ll need to provide proof of income. The lender needs to ensure that you have the financial capacity to pay off your new mortgage and your existing debt as well as to pay for your living expenses.

You and anyone else who will be a co-borrower on the loan (perhaps a partner or spouse) will need to provide pay stubs from the past two to three months. If you’re self-employed, you’ll need copies of your last two federal income tax returns as well as profit-and-loss statements in order to verify your source of income.

Start preparing now by making copies of all of these documents, as you’ll want to have these items at the ready.

Homeowners Insurance

You’ll need a copy of your homeowners insurance policy to verify that you have current and sufficient coverage on your home.

The lender may require that the value of your home is assessed. The value of your home is used to determine the amount of homeowners insurance that you need. You’ll need to contact your insurance company so that your policy can be updated according to the new value of your home.

W-2s, Tax Returns and 1099s

To verify past employment and income history, your lender will also require you to submit copies of your W-2s, tax returns and/or 1099s. Typically, lenders ask for two years’ worth of information. As a general recap, your W-2 shows your income and money taken out for taxes; a 1099 shows your income but not money taken out for taxes.

It’s important to submit these documents because they:

• Verify your salary
• Show trends in your earning
• Show investment gains or losses
• Affect your loan approval amount
  

Statement of Assets

The lender will need to verify that you have enough cash to cover closing costs (if you can’t roll them into your loan) and at least two months’ worth of mortgage payments.

The following information is needed for your lender to assess your refi-readiness. You’ll need to provide statements from:

• Checking/savings accounts
• Retirement accounts
• Stocks
• Bonds
• Certificates of deposit
• Mutual funds