What Not to Do
Before Closing

Conditional approval is progress, not a green light.

Conditional approval means the loan is approved with a list of things left to satisfy, updated income, bank statements, title work, insurance, sometimes a written explanation for something on the file. That is real momentum, and I treat it like the good news it is. But it is not the finish line. Clear to close is the finish line. That is the word from underwriting that every condition has been met and we can move into final closing prep. Until you hear clear to close from me, keep living like you are still mid-application, because you are.

The lender looks again, right before you sign.

Whatever got you approved has to still be true on the day we close. So right before closing, I pull an updated pay stub, fresh bank statements, a final verification of your employment, and a second credit report. None of that is me not trusting you. It is the lender confirming the file one more time before they wire six figures to a title company. If nothing changed, this step is quiet and you barely notice it happening. If something did change, I would rather catch it now than have underwriting catch it after we already scheduled your closing.

The landmine list, and why each one trips the file.

These are the moves that show up again and again on files that almost do not close. None of them are illegal or unusual. They just land at the worst possible time.

• New credit cards or store financing. A new account is a new inquiry and a new available line, and it can drop your score right when the second pull happens.
• A car loan. A new car payment raises your debt-to-income ratio the same week the lender re-checks it, and your DTI is one of the numbers your whole approval was built on.
• Furniture or appliances on a zero percent promo plan. It still reports as a new debt with a monthly payment, promo rate or not, and it still counts against you even if you plan to pay it off long before interest kicks in.
• Co-signing for someone else. You take on their payment on paper even though you never see a dollar of it, and it counts against your DTI exactly the same as if it were your own.
• Quitting or switching jobs. The lender re-verifies employment right before closing, and a gap or a switch, even a good one, can stall the file while we document the new income.
• A large cash deposit that cannot be traced. Underwriters have to source every meaningful deposit. Cash that cannot be traced to something explainable often gets treated like it does not exist for qualifying purposes, or worse, it raises a question we now have to answer under a deadline.
• Moving money between your own accounts. Even your own money moving from savings to checking creates a paper trail question on both accounts. Simple move on your end, double the documentation on ours.
• Closing an old credit account, thinking it helps. It usually does the opposite. It can shorten your credit history and shift your utilization right when the second pull happens.

I would rather get the dumb question than the surprise.

Call this the protector part of the job. I spent 28 years in the fire service learning that the small thing you mention early is never the problem. It is the thing nobody mentions that burns the house down. Text me before you buy the recliner. Text me before you move the deposit. Text me before you say yes to the new job across town. Nine times out of ten I will tell you it is fine, and it takes thirty seconds. The other time is exactly why I want the text before the receipt.