Pre-approval
Get the letter. Use it now, or keep it in your back pocket.
It starts with a soft credit pull, which does not affect your score at all. Not a point. That one fact is what stops most people, and it is the one most people have backwards.
What you end up with is a documented letter — your income calculated properly, your debts read off your actual credit report, the whole file reviewed by a person rather than a form. It is good for ninety days. Go write an offer with it this weekend, or put it in a drawer until the timing is right. Either way you will know your real range, and anything worth fixing will have surfaced while it is still cheap to fix.
There is no wrong time to do this
People assume a pre-approval is the step you take once you are ready. The opposite is closer to true. Every problem in a mortgage file is cheaper when it is found early — a collection nobody knew about, a co-signed loan counting against a ratio, income that documents differently than it feels. Found a year out, those are chores. Found during closing week, they are the reason a contract falls apart.
How it works
See your numbers, before anyone knows your name
Rates for your scenario, your debt ratio, and closing costs priced for your state. No credit pull, no account, nobody calls you. If you stop here you have still learned the thing most people find out too late.
Run your numbers →A soft credit pull — no score impact
This is the step people stall on, and it is the one that costs nothing. A soft pull is visible only to you and is not a scoring factor at all. What it does is replace guesses with your real accounts and real balances, so the letter is built on evidence instead of memory.
Why this does not affect your score →Your income, assets and file get reviewed properly
Income calculated the way an underwriter calculates it, debts read off the report rather than recalled, and the whole picture looked at by a person. Wrinkles surface here, while they are still cheap to fix.
What actually gets reviewed →You get the letter — and it keeps
Dated, thorough, and good for ninety days. Go shopping with it this weekend, or put it in a drawer until the timing is right. When it expires it is reissued, as long as income, credit, assets and employment have not materially changed.
Start →One thing worth knowing if you are comparing lenders
When you do get to hard credit pulls, do them all inside the same two weeks. Multiple mortgage inquiries in a shopping window count as one event — but the window is fourteen days on the scoring versions mortgage lenders actually pull, not the forty-five days most articles quote. The full explanation is here, and it is the single most useful thing on this page if you are shopping.
Start with your numbers.
No credit pull, no account, nobody calls you.
Licensed in 14 states, which matters most if you are moving — the same person can review your file where you live and close it where you are going. Where I lend.
Common questions
Will a mortgage pre-approval hurt my credit score?
Not at the stage where the letter is written. A soft credit pull is visible only to you, is not reported to other lenders, and is not a scoring factor at all — so the review that produces the letter costs nothing. A hard inquiry comes later, when a file goes to a lender, and FICO’s own guidance is that one additional inquiry takes fewer than five points off the score for most people.
How long is the pre-approval letter good for?
Ninety days, dated. That sits comfortably inside the age limits underwriting applies to credit documents. When it expires it is reissued rather than rebuilt, provided nothing material has changed — material meaning income, credit, assets and employment. A letter expiring is paperwork, not a reset.
Can I get a letter if I am not buying for another year?
Yes, and it is arguably the better time. The letter goes in a drawer; what you keep is the information — your actual range, and anything that needs attention before it matters. A collection nobody knew about or a co-signed debt counting against a ratio is a chore a year out and a crisis during closing week.
What is the difference between this and a prequalification?
A prequalification is an estimate built from what you say. A pre-approval is built from what has been verified — the credit report reviewed, income documents read, assets confirmed. Some lenders issue letters called pre-approvals on prequalification effort, which is worth asking about, because a listing agent comparing offers can usually tell.
How long does it take to get the letter?
The soft credit review is quick. What sets the pace is how fast documents arrive — someone with pay stubs, returns and statements ready is typically a day or two rather than a week. Nothing is submitted anywhere and no hard inquiry is made in order to produce the letter.
Is a pre-approval letter a commitment to lend?
No, and that is true of any lender in any state. Final approval always depends on the property, the appraisal and underwriting the complete file. A letter that suggests otherwise is misleading — and being clear about the limit is part of what makes a letter credible to the agent on the other side of an offer.
Nothing on this page is a credit decision, an approval, or a denial. No pre-approval from any lender is a loan commitment — final approval always depends on the property, the appraisal and underwriting the complete file. Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943, through C2 Financial Corporation, NMLS #135622. Equal Housing Opportunity.