Mortgage Applications Made Easy: A List of Required Documents

Applying for a loan, whether it’s your first home purchase mortgage, a home equity loan to consolidate debt, or for home improvements, can be a nerve-wracking process especially when you don’t know what to provide. We’re happy to put you at ease by explaining what we’ll need for documentation.   If you ever have any questions, at any point in the application process, please feel free to reach out to us via phone or e-mail.  

Before starting your online application, be sure to gather the following documents:

• Mortgage statements (if you currently own a home)
• Real estate taxes (if you currently own a home)
• Homeowner’s insurance (if you currently own a home)
• Homeowner’s association fees or dues (if applicable for a condo)
• Two months’ worth of bank statements (this can be provided later, so skip if you don’t have it on hand!)
• Recent paystubs (30 days worth)
• W-2s or 1099-Rs or 1099-SSAs (two years’ worth)

Everyone’s situation is different, so please read on for more information about what else you may need!

LIABILITIES:

Liabilities consist of the items on your credit report, plus housing expenses on any and all properties you may own. We’ll pull your credit report and see your debts there.  If you have anything that might not show on a credit report, please let us know. This could be a private mortgage or other private liability. We will need to document that manually. 

Housing expenses are also considered liabilities. Mortgage or home equity payments are considered a debt and a housing expense and we’ll treat them as such. For housing expenses we’ll need your mortgage statements, real estate taxes, homeowner’s insurance, and homeowner’s association fees or dues (if applicable for a condo) for each property that you own.

When we do ask for mortgage statements or bank statements, we will need a full statement, all pages and including account owner names and at least a partial account number. When requesting proof homeowner’s insurance, we’re usually looking for the annual premium and coverage limits. Typically, these are on the declarations page in your insurance paperwork.  Again, we can collect this information later on, so don’t feel that you need to include all of it if you’re not sure.  

ASSETS:

Depending on the situation, we may ask for assets as well.  If you’re purchasing a home and applying for a purchase mortgage, we always need to document assets. This will prove you have the moneys needed for the down payment and closing costs. For other transactions, statements aren’t always necessary, but can be a compensating factor or used for proof of receipt on some types of income. We typically need two months’ worth of bank statements.   You can always provide this information later, so feel free to skip this part during your initial application if need be.  

INCOME:

We will need income from your employer or self employment income figures.  We look at income broken down on a monthly basis.  To document this, you can provide recent paystubs.  You can also think about what you give to your accountant to file your taxes; W-2s or 1099-Rs or 1099-SSAs. If you’re self-employed we’ll need two years of tax returns (personal and business).  

Everyone’s situation is different, but generally we’ll want to see two years history, along with proof of recent income. Recent income documentation would be 30 days of paystubs or monthly statements of income from a retirement account or pension. For social security we can use the annual award letter or document the receipt to your bank account. If you’re self-employed, we’ll need a YTD profit and loss for applications submitted after July 1st.

What do we do with all this information? We calculate your debt-to-income ratio and see if it’s within our guidelines and policies. These are meant to ensure that our lending is safe for everyone; you as the consumer, and us as the bank! If there are further questions, or a complicated scenario, please don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our mortgage originators They’re always available to review a situation and see how we can help. In working with a community bank, you’re working with community people. We live and work in Hampshire and Franklin county, too! You’ll always get a real person here at GCB, and we’ll do what we can to make the process as smooth as possible.

Questions?

Reach out to one of our local mortgage lenders! Or call Loan Origination:  413-772-5000 ext 490

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