Do I Really Have to Provide All Pages of My Bank Statements?

A fisheye image of a mid-30’s business woman pouting and looking angry.

When assets are being used for down payment of a new home, towards closing costs on a refinance or even to document that the borrower has enough reserves (typically a couple months of mortgage payments) in the bank after closing; they need to be documented.

This means that depending on how much assets are required to be documented, you may have to supply copies of your bank statements, stocks, retirement or other asset accounts…all pages.   “All pages” of your accounts means that if you have a bank statement which states there are 1 of 4 pages, all four pages must be provided to the lender even if the last page is blank and only states “page 4”.   And even if your portfolio statement consists of 20+ pages, be prepared to provide the entire document.

Why is this?  The truth is, your statements are being reviewed for large deposits (plan on documenting where your large deposits come from) and even NSFs/bounced checks.  Every page is being reviewed.

You will also need to provide documentation to show that, at the very minimum, you have enough funds to cover the funds due at closing and the required reserves (Mortgage Master Service Corporation has a minimum two months reserves required–this may be higher depending on the type of transaction).  Lenders typically use what is showing as the ending balance on your most recent bank statement for your current balance.  If you have other properties, you will most likely have to show additional reserves for each property.

It does seem very anti-environment with all this paperwork to obtain a mortgage–thank goodness for PDFs!