What is the URLA? The Uniform Residential Loan Application is the loan application you will fill out when applying for any type of mortgage. It is the basic paperwork of personal information needed to process the application, and financial details we need to determine your financial standing and run your credit. We need bank accounts, statements, employment documents, pay stubs, recurring bills, etc. If you have financial records for assets, additional properties like rentals are needed to determine eligibility and total gross income for all applicants on the loan. Different loans have different rules, and some loan programs are geared towards specific buyers, so the 1003 form will ask all these questions to help us find you the best loan product.

As you can see above, credit usage is part of the application and this will be critical in your approval. We will use this application as part of your pre-approval as well so you can put in offers for whatever house you are hoping to buy. During the approval process and underwriting, we will run your credit reports of course and continue to monitor your account balances and such; but we need to know for preapproval and get an initial idea of how we can process an application, and determine if you should right now.

Not only is it federal law to be accurate and truthful about your financial information, not disclosing all your balances and accounts will only harm you after your offer is accepted because when we begin digging into your bank accounts and check your credit history, this will become a major problem right away and you won’t get far into underwriting. You might get lucky and be able to pivot to another type of lending program but it can cause you to fall out of escrow and lose the house and a lot of money. Don’t hurt yourself and others by hiding what we are obligated and paid to find! It makes no sense but people do try it. Just be honest or wait to apply until you’re ready and comfortable with your money situation.