# how many documents did you have to supply when talking to a lender about a mortgage? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 24, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-documents-did-you-have-to-supply-when-talking-to-a-lender-about-a-mortgage/572464 "2011-02-24T16:44:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-documents-did-you-have-to-supply-when-talking-to-a-lender-about-a-mortgage/572464/21 "2011-02-25T00:28:06Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > And to take a different perspective, Lasciel, if you tell your dear sweet old grandmother that I also am buying a house, and remind her that I didn’t get a Christmas present from her this year, maybe she can send me a large check too. heh. If one grand will make or break your attempt to get a house this year, I’m sure she could arrange something for you - she’s nice like that. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-documents-did-you-have-to-supply-when-talking-to-a-lender-about-a-mortgage/572464/22 "2011-02-25T01:20:59Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Why? How much did granny give you? I can’t see how this could possibly be material unless she is giving you 100k or something, and then, how does it matter where the money is coming from other than for taxes? Was the fact that this money was coming to you tax-free somehow material to your application, in that if you had had to pay taxes on the money, you would be in a materially worse position to pay back the loan? We almost had to do the same thing; we’d gotten 2 very large wedding gifts from my BIL and his wife, and from my parents-in-law, maybe 3 months before we applied for the mortgage (in December 2009). The mortgage officer said that if the gifts had been within 60 days of the mortgage application, she would have wanted a signed statement from the givers that the money was a gift, not a loan. It’s material in that if the money is a loan, that will obviously affect your ability to repay the mortgage just like any other debt would. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-documents-did-you-have-to-supply-when-talking-to-a-lender-about-a-mortgage/572464/23 "2011-02-25T01:22:20Z")
1. Last three years tax returns, all pages and sections 2. Last 6mo bank statement 3. Complete copy of passport, including all pages. 4. Police record for every place I had lived in the past 5 years 5. Copy of Drivers License 6. One other government ID. 7. Copy of my residency paperwork and right to be in the country. This was for an American applying for a Czech mortgage. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-documents-did-you-have-to-supply-when-talking-to-a-lender-about-a-mortgage/572464/24 "2011-02-25T01:29:27Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I also had to send the same stuff to corporate HQ (postage paid!) I’m actually shocked that they didn’t offer to add it to the closing costs, so that they could finance it over 30 years. ---
**Author:** ![NoiseBomb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/49beb7/32.png) [@NoiseBomb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoiseBomb)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-documents-did-you-have-to-supply-when-talking-to-a-lender-about-a-mortgage/572464/25 "2011-02-25T07:33:14Z")
> [@Dusty\_Rose](#): > > I had to prove EVERYTHING. They went through my bank statements and wanted explanations for a couple of different deposits. (A couple for $100 and one for around $400.) THIS was the annoying one. The explanation was perfectly reasonable- one of those things one sometimes does before moving is sell some stuff on Craigslist that he doesn’t want to deal with hauling around. It didn’t help any that the deposits (total of 3 of them) from this just happened to equal my earnest money (1%) (Small house out in the boonies, I paid 65K. I don’t have THAT much nice stuff.) The list: 2 years of tax returns 2 years of W2s 2 recent pay stubs, plus verification of the total time I’ve worked there. Some number of checking account statements. I have the account at the same bank that gave me the mortgage, so I didn’t have to provide the physical papers. Savings account statements to show I had the funds for closing costs. Also at the same bank. Credit reports. The bank pulled them, I only had to authorize them to do so. I only had to mention how much I was paying in rent, no docs needed, but I presume they called the landlord to verify it. Copies of driver’s license and social security card. I think that was it, though I found it amusing to have to sign something called something close to the ALIAS STATEMENT- assuring them that Noise Bomb, Noisemeister Bomb and Noisemeister T. Bomb are all the same person. I did get a call at one point asking about an old address that appeared on some credit file or other. A place I hadn’t lived in since May of 2001! This for a mortgage I took out in July of 2010. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-documents-did-you-have-to-supply-when-talking-to-a-lender-about-a-mortgage/572464/26 "2011-02-25T07:37:35Z")
hmmm, I’m on a special relocation deal. 2 months bank stubs copy of offer letter they wanted a credit report or credit card history from china (but waived this) approval for a credit report and 20% down ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-documents-did-you-have-to-supply-when-talking-to-a-lender-about-a-mortgage/572464/27 "2011-02-26T00:50:20Z")
As to the 401(k) statements, it’s to make sure you haven’t taken out a loan on the 401(k), since that’s a debt that won’t show on your credit report, but could become significant if you should default/lose your job. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-documents-did-you-have-to-supply-when-talking-to-a-lender-about-a-mortgage/572464/28 "2011-02-26T01:08:48Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > For my last mortgage I didn’t have to provide any documents to my bank, other than the completed application form. My salary is directly deposited, so the bank already had details of my income, employer etc. This. We refinanced last year. As with the initial mortgage and this refinance, my bank asked for written authorization to do a background check and IRS check. That’s it. I work for the feds. I know for a fact my federal employer will only provide information that I work for them, length of service and base salary (which is a public record) and nothing else. Even if I sign an authorization for more information, they didn’t get it. The Privacy Act rules here and certain privacy rights cannot be signed away. Oh, yeah. The initial mortgage and refinance were both completed via the phone and email. Never met anyone from the bank. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-documents-did-you-have-to-supply-when-talking-to-a-lender-about-a-mortgage/572464/29 "2011-02-26T07:13:46Z")
I provided very little last year when I applied for a mortgage. I had a lot of the things you list in the OP all ready for when they asked, but mostly they didn’t. The bank came back with a couple of questions about recent trivial expenses on my primary checking, but I don’t think I ever even had to give them a copy of my prior year’s tax return. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-documents-did-you-have-to-supply-when-talking-to-a-lender-about-a-mortgage/572464.md?page=1)