Mortgage applications and the supporting documentation have a definite ‘use by’ date. What does that mean? It means the documentation you submitted to your lender is no longer up to date and can’t be used. Okay, so now what happens? 

When you first submitted a loan application your lender subsequently supplied you with a list of things needed before your loan can be approved. If you’ve bought a house before, you probably remember sending in no shortage of documentation. If you haven’t bought a home before, here are some things you can expect to provide.

First, lenders need to document your income. This is done by providing 1-2 years of your most recent W2 forms. Typically, two years are needed. Lenders like to see a year-over-year income that is consistent. At most, they don’t want to see a significant decline in income. Sort of a ‘steady as she goes’ kind of thing. In addition, lenders want to see your most recent paycheck stubs covering a 30 day period. This amount is used to help calculate your debt to income ratios. Lenders like to see your mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance, be somewhere around one-third of your gross monthly income. If self-employed, be prepared to provide 12 months bank statements as well as business and personal tax returns. Your lender will tell you exactly what is needed.

But here’s where the expiration part comes in. Those paycheck stubs cannot be more than 30 days old. If one or both of those stubs are more than 30 days old, you’ll be asked to provide new ones. This is common when you’ve submitted an application for a mortgage but have yet to pick out a property. When asked, don’t be concerned, it’s a bookkeeping thing. But your income needs to be consistent and current.

Your credit report will also need to be updated. Lenders want to see if there have been any  new charges and/or accounts that come up since the initial submission.  Your credit file must also be within the 30 day window. Bank statements show both sufficient funds to close the transaction as well as confirm how much you get paid and when.

If you’ve submitted an application and accompanying documentation but have yet to find a property to buy, you can bet you’ll need to update some things to keep your entire credit package up to date and not more than 30 days old.