Question:
“I just talked to a lender for about 10 minutes and I got pre-approved for a $550,000. That seemed a little too fast. I thought getting a loan was a little more complicated. Do you think I’m really approved?
Answer:
No, I don’t. You’re right to be dubious.
There’s pre-qualifying, there’s pre-approval, and there’s REAL pre-approval.
1. Pre-qualifying
Pre-qualifying means that based on a discussion, with little or no verification of your information (income, credit, $$ in the bank), a loan representative thinks you’re likely to get a loan if everything checks out.
2. Pre-approval
This is SUPPOSED to mean you’ve gone through a process and actually been approved. You were approved by a human underwriter or “desktop underwriting” software. It typically means they’ve run your credit. They may or may not verify your other information.
3. REAL Pre-approval
What I call “real” pre-approval is when you really ARE pre-approved…as opposed to only being pre-qualified, but your lender is fibbing and telling you that you’re pre-approved.
Sounds to me like you got #2 and not #3.
I should add that there is a VERY short list of loan reps that I trust to pre-approve without running it by an underwriter. These are ladies and gents who really know their stuff, and know the underwriters’ guidelines as well or better than the underwriters themselves.
If you’d like to really be pre-approved, give me a call and I’ll get you in touch with our trusted lender…
