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Pre-approval gives you a good idea of the type of mortgage you will qualify for and the price range of homes you can afford. It can help you: * Know how much you can borrow. * Confirm your ability to qualify for a mortgage based on your credit, financial, and employment information. * Strengthen your position to make an offer on a house. Sellers are usually more willing to accept offers from pre-approved buyers. To get pre-approved, you'll need to work with a mortgage lender. The lender will review your credit, financial, and employment information after you fill out an application. Based on your individual circumstances, you may be asked to provide proof of income. A fee might be involved to cover application costs. If you qualify, you'll receive a letter that says your mortgage is approved for a certain amount of money and for a certain amount of time. Being pre-approved does not mean you have to use that lender, although a different lender may offer different terms. Pre-qualification is not the same as pre-approval
Some lenders offer loan pre-qualification services, which are not the same thing as pre-approval. Because the terms are so similar, they can generate confusion, but borrowers should be careful to keep them distinguished. A pre-qualification is a free test-run of the loan application process, and usually takes only a few hours. It generally offers an estimate of your affordability (the maximum amount you can borrow from a lender) by examining basic indicators of your income such as your credit, financial, and employment history. A pre-approval, on the other hand, may require a complete application, along with an application fee, and generally comprises a much deeper investigation into your income sources and affordability. A pre-approval acts as a bank's guarantee of the amount they will lend you to put toward a home. | 
