Finding the perfect house is sometimes difficult. Applying for the loan to finance that house can be a uncomfortable process because the loan approval process is an audit of your personal and business financial affairs. Many times this is a very straightforward process, sometimes it is not. The lender may seem to want to know everything about you, including your blood type. The thing to keep in mind is that you are asking the lender to put out a great deal of their money so that you can purchase your home. Thus, the lender needs to minimize its chances of making a mistake.

The loan officer, or the processor, may ask you for various pieces of information on a number of occasions through the loan approval process. Sometimes, one piece of information that you give to your lender will lead to additional questions requiring more documentation from you. This can be very annoying, but lenders operate under very strict guidelines that are frequently more annoying to the loan officer and processor than they are to you, believe it or not. In return for following these strict rules and regulations imposed by “Fannie Mae” and “Freddie Mac”, the interest rates the lenders can offer you are lower than if they did not comply with them.

When you realize that the loan officer, like the real estate agents, is paid on a commission basis and therefore does not get paid until your loan settles, it is easier to understand that they are not doing things just to bother you but are honestly trying to do the best job to get your loan approved. It is better to have too much information when a loan is submitted to the decision makers (called underwriters) than not to have enough and to have to re-submit the loan to them. Re-submitting greatly slows down the process and may cause your proposed settlement date to be missed.

To speed up your loan approval there are several things that you can do to help your loan officer. First of all, be honest at loan application. If there is something that you think may present a problem in your ability to obtain a loan, let the loan officer know right away so that you can deal with it quickly and efficiently. When the loan officer asks for information, get it to them immediately. If there is a problem obtaining information, let your lender know what is happening; they may be able to help, or at least work around the delay.