Once youve figured out how much of a down payment you can make on your home mortgage, its time to determine how to document the source of your funds for the down payment and closing costs. Now you might be saying, Why do they care where I get the money? Lenders need to verify the source of funds to both assess the underlying risk in you as a borrower as well as to prevent loan fraud. This makes it imperative for you, the applicant, to maintain complete and detailed records of how the money which you plan to use for a down payment makes it into your hands. Money from your own savings, checking & money market accounts looks best to the bank for a variety of reasons, and is amongst the easiest sources of capital to document.
Money in the bank is also very easy to document. The lender has the option of asking you to submit bank statements to them indicating that you have the money for the down payment and closing costs, or performing a formal Verification of Deposit directly with your bank. Most lenders ask for statements, generally 2 to 3 months if you are providing full income documentation or up to 24 months if you are providing alternative documentation of...