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Applying for mortgage - How much financial data to reveal?

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 7:04 am
by goshenBogle
We are real sticklers for privacy. So when we apply for a mortgage, do we have to reveal ALL of the contents of our portfolio / investments? Or can we reveal enough to qualify for the loan and leave the rest private? For example, for a $250K loan, if we only reveal part of our portfolio, say $2M, is that good enough to qualify for the loan? If the mortgage company asks if there is more than the $2M in our portfolio, can we say "yes" and then indicate that we want to leave the rest private? Does the mortgage company have to see everything?

Note that we are retired, not working (yeah!!!!!), and our income is from SS and our portfolio.

Re: Applying for mortgage - How much financial data to reveal?

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 7:12 am
by rkhusky
goshenBogle wrote:We are real sticklers for privacy. So when we apply for a mortgage, do we have to reveal ALL of the contents of our portfolio / investments? Or can we reveal enough to qualify for the loan and leave the rest private? For example, for a $250K loan, if we only reveal part of our portfolio, say $2M, is that good enough to qualify for the loan? If the mortgage company asks if there is more than the $2M in our portfolio, can we say "yes" and then indicate that we want to leave the rest private? Does the mortgage company have to see everything?

Note that we are retired, not working (yeah!!!!!), and our income is from SS and our portfolio.
If your portfolio is in separate accounts, I think it is fine to just give them 1 or 2 accounts to satisfy the income stream requirement. However, if you just have one account, I wouldn't advise lying and saying that it has 1/4 the amount that is really in there.

Re: Applying for mortgage - How much financial data to reveal?

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 7:20 am
by 260chrisb
What your mortgage company or bank are going to want are the complete (every page) statements for whatever accounts you list as an asset for your mortgage. They will also ask for signed tax returns fro the past 2 years as well as income verification. You can get pre-approved of course without showing them anything but applying is another thing. Good luck, I'm doing the same thing.

Re: Applying for mortgage - How much financial data to reveal?

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 7:34 am
by Grt2bOutdoors
The bank wants to ensure they will be paid one day. How do they ensure that? Verification of income and assets. If you take a $250K mortgage out showing $2M in assets and close to no other liabilities, and assuming the mortgage is for less than 80% of property price, I assure you most banks are not going to turn down "an asset of that quality on their books". Give them the income tax forms they require, fill out the disclosure sheet and what ever else they want.

P.S. Leave your blood sample in Slot A. :twisted:

Re: Applying for mortgage - How much financial data to reveal?

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 7:46 am
by dolphinsaremammals
If part of your portfolio is $2 million, so maybe total $4 million, and the cost of the house minus the downpayment is $250k, why are you getting a mortgage as opposed to paying cash?

Re: Applying for mortgage - How much financial data to reveal?

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 7:46 am
by nordlead
260chrisb wrote:What your mortgage company or bank are going to want are the complete (every page) statements for whatever accounts you list as an asset for your mortgage. They will also ask for signed tax returns fro the past 2 years as well as income verification. You can get pre-approved of course without showing them anything but applying is another thing. Good luck, I'm doing the same thing.
This. I had to provide 2 statements for every account I told them about.

I told them about my Ally and First Niagara accounts. I didn't tell them about my TIAA-CREF, Vanguard, and Chase accounts. Why? Because they don't need to know my retirement assets, stock investments, and my Chase account I'm using to deposit paper EE bonds and then transfer the money.

My current income stream, the fact that it is a refinance, and my main cash assets (basically, my EF) were enough to qualify for a 15-year loan at their best rate.

Re: Applying for mortgage - How much financial data to reveal?

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 9:06 am
by Carefreeap
We refinanced two of our rental properties in 2013 using our taxable account income and oil royalties.

We had to supply two years of tax returns. They will average that income between the two years. Have a frank talk with your lender whether that income is going to be enough. Be prepared to supply current statements to support that you still have those assets.

In our case we also have four rentals. We had to provide supporting documentation such as leases. I've gone through this process before therefore I was prepared.

A good point made by one of the lenders was to only provide what is asked for. If you give them more the underwriter will have even more questions. :wink:

Re: Applying for mortgage - How much financial data to reveal?

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 9:49 am
by goingup
The last time we refinanced the broker wasn't interested in any retirement account balances (IRAs or 401K). Just income and non-retirement accounts.

Re: Applying for mortgage - How much financial data to reveal?

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 12:03 pm
by ChrisOK
We just recently went through the mortgage process and provided only the accounts suitable to meet the minimum requirements for the loan and reserve requirements. This was actually at the suggestion of our mortgage officer.

Re: Applying for mortgage - How much financial data to reveal?

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 12:25 pm
by segfault
I fully disclosed my retirement accounts but did not have to provide any account statements, for those or for my checking/savings accounts. This was on a conventional, fixed rate mortgage. I did have to provide the closing statement from the house I sold, which showed the net sale proceeds. Evidently, that was enough that they didn't need anything further.

Re: Applying for mortgage - How much financial data to reveal?

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 1:17 pm
by dreamchaser
I would give just what is "needed" to get the loan. I just did that.