You didn’t come in empty. You ran the calculator last night. Maybe there’s a Loan Estimate from another lender sitting in your inbox, or a quote a friend’s lender sent over. You know roughly what your payment should be, and you’re a little wary that a call with a mortgage person turns into someone trying to talk you out of the numbers you already trust.
That’s a reasonable worry. Here’s what verify actually means here, and what it doesn’t.
Verify is about your file, not your quote
When you bring Jeff a number, he doesn’t start over. He reads what you have and checks it against what’s actually going on with you. The income you typed into the calculator, is that what your paystubs will show? The property taxes in the estimate, are those the seller’s numbers or the reassessed ones? The credit tier the quote assumed, does your report land there?
That’s the whole job. The number you brought was built on inputs. Verify means checking the inputs against your file so the number you’re planning around is one that holds up when an underwriter opens the folder.
What verify is not
It isn’t a pitch. Jeff doesn’t take your outside quote and go hunting for a reason it’s wrong. If it’s a clean quote and your file supports it, he’ll tell you that, and you’ll leave the call with more confidence in the thing you walked in with.
It isn’t re-shopping you either. BankPricer is one licensed originator, not a marketplace. There’s no panel of lenders your name gets sent to, no bidding on your file, no second round of quotes you didn’t ask for. You brought one set of numbers. You get one honest read on whether your file backs them up.
The person who checks the number has to stand behind it
A calculator can’t ask a follow-up question. It takes what you type and hands you a payment. That’s useful, and the mortgage calculator on this site does exactly that. But it can’t notice that your bonus income is only a year old, or that the condo you’re looking at has an assessment coming.
A Loan Estimate is better, because a person built it. But it was built from what that person knew on the day they built it, and it’s only as good as those inputs. If a line on it looks off to you, that’s the question to bring.
Jeff originates the loan if there is one. So when he verifies, he’s checking inputs he’d have to stand behind himself. That’s a different posture than someone whose job ends when you sign an application.
What to bring to the call
Bring the number and how you got it. The calculator screenshot, the Loan Estimate, the emailed quote. Bring the assumptions that went into it if you know them. Then bring the one thing about your situation that you suspect the number didn’t account for. That’s usually where the verify conversation earns its keep.
You don’t need to have decided anything. Verify comes before that.
One thing to do
Use Get In Touch and start a pre-approval conversation with Jeff. Tell him you already have a number. Ask him to check it against your file. That’s the whole request.
Jeff Shin, NMLS 1041652. Barrett Financial Group, L.L.C. Chicago. Equal Housing Lender. Not a commitment to lend.