A pre-approval is an amount backed by verified documents and a validity window. Not a promise of financing, and that distinction matters the day you remove a condition.
Its real value is surfacing obstacles early: a forgotten debt, income that’s hard to document, an error on your credit file. Fixing those takes weeks. Better to find out before the offer.
Get pre-approved with MathieuI gather your income records, your debts, and the source of your down payment, then review your credit file with you. That’s where the surprises show up: a closed account still reporting, a balance flagged late in error, a credit line whose limit weighs more than its balance.
Your bank gives you its number, using its criteria. If your income falls outside the usual frame (bonuses, self-employment, a recent job), another lender can read the same file differently and arrive at a different amount. I obtain the amount and validity period from the lender whose method works in your favour, before you make an offer on the strength of a single opinion.
Income, debts, available savings, and the price you have in mind. A conversation, with no documents to prepare in advance.
Income proof, down payment statements, list of debts, then a read of the credit file to spot anything off.
I present the file to the right lender and come back with the amount, the validity period, and the held rate.
If your situation changes or the validity is running out, we redo the exercise rather than assume the number still holds.
Prequalification starts from what you tell me: approximate income, debts from memory. Pre-approval rests on verified documents and a credit inquiry. The first guides your search; the second presents you seriously to a seller.
The lender calculates what it will lend using ratios. It doesn’t know you want to keep saving, travel, or absorb a leaner year. The right price is the one that still leaves you room after the payment.
Nothing. On a traditional mortgage file, the lender pays me when the mortgage funds. The pre-approval, the scenarios, the revisions when your situation changes: all of it is part of the work, with no invoice to you. What it costs, in detail
A solid pre-approval rests on documents gathered in advance and a budget that accounts for costs the down payment doesn’t cover.
Usually 90 to 120 days depending on the lender. After that, updated documents are needed and the held rate is recalculated at current conditions. Tell me before it expires rather than after: renewal is simpler when nothing has changed in the meantime.
It sets a ceiling, not a floor. If rates rise during the validity period, you keep the held rate. If they fall before closing, the lower rate should be requested. That is not automatic with every lender, so it is a check I make before closing.
Only by increasing the down payment or having the file reviewed again. The amount reflects what the lender accepts based on your current income and debts. If your situation has improved since, tell me: it is worth recalculating rather than assuming.
Inquiries grouped in a short window for the same mortgage project are normally treated as one by the agencies. What hurts more is spreading applications over several months, or opening unrelated credit during the same period.
Tell me right away. A job change, probation, a car loan, a card filling up: all of it can change the final decision. It is far better to adjust the scenario now than to discover the problem days before signing at the notary.
Major banks, credit unions, and specialized lenders each apply their own criteria, products, and terms. A logo does not mean that a mortgage will be offered or approved.
