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Why this list exists
An approval is a snapshot of your finances on the day it was written. Before the loan funds, most lenders pull your credit again and call your employer again. Anything that changed in between is now part of the decision — and at that point there is no time left to fix it.
Nothing below is about being frugal. It is about keeping your file identical to the one that was approved until the money moves.
Don’t take on new debt
- No new credit. No car loan, no credit card, no personal loan, no store financing. “Twelve months, no interest” on a sofa is still a loan, and it still shows up.
- No large purchases on the cards you already have. The balance matters even when the card is not new.
- Don’t co-sign for anyone. Not for a child’s car, not for a friend’s lease. You may never make a payment on it; on paper it is your debt.
- Buy the furniture after you own the house. Every settlement company has watched a closing die in a furniture showroom.
Your approval depends on the share of your income already committed to debt. A new payment can push that past the limit on a loan that was comfortably approved.
Don’t reorganise your credit either
This one is counterintuitive. Closing an old credit card, consolidating balances, or paying off an old collection can move your score in directions that are genuinely hard to predict — sometimes down, right when it is being re-checked.
Ask your loan officer before you do any of it. If it helps, they will tell you. If it does not, you will have found out for free.
Don’t move money around
- Every large deposit has to be explained in writing. An underwriter will ask where it came from and will want a document, not a description.
- Cash is the hardest of all. Physical cash deposited into an account usually cannot be traced to a source, which can mean it cannot be used for your down payment at all. If you have cash to deposit, talk to your loan officer first.
- Don’t shuffle money between your own accounts in the weeks before closing unless you keep every statement. You will be asked to account for it.
- Don’t spend the down payment. The funds that were verified have to still be there on closing day.
- A gift needs a gift letter before it moves, not after. If a relative is helping, tell the lender before the transfer, not when it shows up on a statement.
Don’t change your job
Not employers, not from salaried to commission, not to self-employment, and above all not to unemployment. Do not give notice. The lender will call your employer again shortly before closing, and the answer has to match the file.
If a change is unavoidable — a layoff, a promotion you cannot turn down — tell your loan officer before it happens. Some changes are survivable with the right documentation. None of them are survivable as a surprise.
Don’t miss a payment
Not on a credit card, a car, a student loan, or your current mortgage. A single late payment reported during underwriting can change your rate or end the approval.
Refinancing? Keep paying the old loan until the new one funds. Your existing mortgage is not paid off the day you sign; it is paid off days later, and a payment that comes due in between is still due.
Don’t go quiet
When the lender asks for a document, send it that day. Approval conditions expire, verifications go stale, and a file waiting on one paystub can miss a settlement date over nothing. The same goes for us: if the settlement company asks you something, it is because something depends on the answer.
And the one that costs the most
Never send money on wire instructions that arrived by email. Before sending any funds, call us at 724-733-7700 — using a number from your title commitment or from wpsettlement.com, never a number in an email — and confirm the details out loud. We will never change wire instructions by email. Criminals read compromised email threads and send a revised set days before closing; the message looks right because they have been reading the real ones. Wired funds are often gone for good.
If one of these has already happened
Tell your loan officer today. Not the day before closing, and not at the table. Nearly all of it can be worked around when there is time to document it, and nearly none of it can be worked around the night before settlement.
The short version
Between now and closing: don’t borrow, don’t buy, don’t co-sign, don’t close accounts, don’t deposit cash, don’t move money, don’t change jobs, don’t pay late, don’t go quiet, and don’t wire anything you have not confirmed by phone.
If you are not sure whether something counts, ask before you do it. That call takes two minutes.
Settlement and title services, not legal advice; legal work is handled separately by Ament Law Group, P.C. under its own engagement. PA agency licensure pending; our principals are licensed Pennsylvania title agents. General information about mortgage underwriting practice, not advice about your loan — your lender sets its own requirements and its disclosures govern.