Banks and Lenders growing concern about fraud has caused lending institutions to make their regulations on documentation for mortgage approval much more strict.
At the beginning of the mortgage approval process, your mortgage broker will request documents from you, which show proof of your income, down payment and possibly other items such as proof of permanent residency and other identification. In the past, it was acceptable to take a snap shot of these documents, and send them in as a .jpg file. Unfortunately this is no longer the case. Banks and lenders do not accept photograph copies, and are requesting PDF copies.
So here’s my tip of the day. Make a digital file of all of important documents, and store them somewhere safe such as an external hard drive or an offsite server location. Important documents may include:
- Your passport or other important forms of identification
- PDF copies of your T1 General tax returns and Notice of Assessment from CRA.
- If you need to make a copy of a bank statement get it scanned and copied to a PDF
If you were lending your own money, what lengths you’d go to in order to make sure your investment of “X” mortgage amount was safe and secure. Consider this next time you’re frustrated with the Banks and Lenders in regard to the collection of documents. When in doubt feel free to call, text or email me.
All the best,
-D