Thinking about buying your first house? Prepare Your Finances Before Buying Your First Home. To make the preapproval process seamless, gather these financial documents:
Before Buying Your First Home Check Your Credit
- Your credit report – Obtain a copy as early as possible and scour it for accuracy. If time permits, pull your credit report three months before you seek pre-approval so you have time to correct any issues or mistakes. Each major credit bureau must provide one free credit report annually to consumers requesting a copy. To obtain a report visit annualcreditreport.com. Usually, it works well to order one report every four months from a different credit bureau. But when your plan is to buy a house, check all three at once. Save up your “free” reports in the year until you’re ready to start looking for a house. Your goal is to identify discrepancies between the reports as well as to monitor your credit standing.
Necessary Paperwork
- W-2 forms – Make copies from the past two years.
- Paystubs – Copy your two most recent ones, before buying your first home.
- Financial account statements – Collect statements (including retirement accounts) from the past few months.
- Lines of credit – If you have opened any in the past six months, you’ll need copies of those statements as well, since they might not show up on your credit report.
- Information on vehicles you own – Include make, model, and resale value.
Your Loan Information
- Credit card account information – Include numbers and types of cards, balances and minimum payments.
- Auto-loan account information – Include account numbers and statements.
- Other loan account information – Think student loans and personal loans.
Money For Down Payment
- Gifts– If you’re fortunate enough to have any money for your down payment gifted to you, identify how much and where it will come from. Before buying your first home be prepared to document that it’s a gift and not a loan.
Ready to Go?
Once you have all your documents and personal financial information assembled, you’re ready to get preapproved at Mid Oregon Credit Union. Stop in to one of our 7 Central Oregon branches or apply online today.
To find out if we have any free home-buying workshops coming up, check our Financial Workshops page on MidOregon.com.