October 21st, 2016 5:33 PM by Jill Kohler
Before applying for a Pa mortgage loan, Do Not make Major Purchases of any kind or take on any unnecessary debt if you can avoid it. Reason being that bills for appliances, jewelry, ,furniture, vacations, cars orany of these expenses that may show up on a credit report can affect your DTI. (debt ratio) A 0% interest free loan for a year on some appliances from Home Depot still may need to have a monthly figure attached to it on your credit bureau, often 5% of total balance. That seemingly insignificant amount could be the difference on what rate your lender is able to approve you at, or worse yet, whether you get approved for the mortgage loan at all. Better safe then sorry. Get the loan then buy the appliances (or whatever else) later. You'll be glad you did.
Keep your funds where they're at. That includes checking, savings, money markets, CD's, retirement funds, 401k savings, mutual funds or stocks. Remember that a loan officer may need a paper trail of each account and transaction you make and it can be very messy. All loans require proper documentation especially these days. Lenders, banks and credit unions triple check every loan file for quality control, accuracy and fraudulent activity so leave your cash parked where it's at until you get solid advice from your lending professional. And by the way, consider not changing banks either.