Module 1: Introduction

In a mortgage transaction, the lender will request several documents for risk assessment and mitigation, compliance, processing, and underwriting, and to fulfil investor requirements. This Hands-On Guide to Documentation: Loan Setup will cover documentation that is generally requested by lenders during the loan setup stage of the mortgage lifecycle.

How this Hands-On Guide Works

The rest of this guide is divided into five more modules, with each module addressing different types of documentation requested. It is important to keep in mind that not all the documents listed in this guide will be requested in each single loan file.

Module 2 covers documents requested and seen during the loan setup milestone of the mortgage process. These are documents requested by the loan setup clerk in all, if not most, loan files.

Module 3 covers income documentation, which are documents that support the borrower’s capacity to repay the loan.

Module 4 covers title documents, which are requested from the Title Insurance Company during the loan setup milestone.

Module 5 covers appraisal documents, which may be ordered during the loan setup milestone and help lenders verify the value of the collateral. Keep in mind that not all the documents in this module will appear in each loan file.

Module 6 covers other property-related documentation, such as real estate contracts and insurance documents, which can be encountered in different loan files.

Module 7 covers documents seen when requesting other type of verifications, such as IRS tax certs or Social Security number verifications.

For each document, the guide will provide a brief description of the document and indicate the document’s context, key takeaways, and important items to be aware of during review.

• Context: Items that help identify the document. Highlighted in green.

• Key takeaways: Important items that should be reviewed once the document is received to ensure completeness and accuracy. Highlighted in blue.

• Important notes: Things to keep in mind when reviewing documents.