Why do mortgage companies need to see bank statements

rj1000

Hi all,

Sorry if a bit of a rubbish question but would appreciate some advice.

In the process of applying for a mortgage at the moment and bank want to see 3 months' bank statements. Is this just to prove that there's regular income going into it or are there other reasons for this?

Thanks

_Andy_

Income, outgoings, account conduct.

nervousftb_3

it's to check not only that you have a regular income going in, but also to check that you live within your means, i.e. you are not scraping the bottom of your overdraft every month

rj1000

Thanks for the replies.

I feared that it might be more than just checking for income....

Whilst I have a very good credit record and can easily afford the mortgage I want, I have been scraping my overdraft limit every month as all of my money has gone into paying off my credit card so that I could reduce my unsecured debt before taking on the mortgage.

Bit worried now!

nansenst

I didnt have to provide the bank statements, just 3 months worth of payslips

cash-magnet

Can they please see 3 months worth of statements, after bombarding you for months to go paper-free with them, so would statements you printed yourself be acceptable for submission? They can't be thinking they can have this both ways?

nw_man

cash-magnet wrote: »

Can they please see 3 months worth of statements, after bombarding you for months to go paper-free with them, so would statements you printed yourself be acceptable for submission? They can't be thinking they can have this both ways?

Banks wanting things both ways ?!! Perish the thought !!

Soot2006

I printed them off, as am paper-free .
NR accepted printouts.

dunstonh

You can tell a lot about someone by looking at 3-6 months of statements. It can indicate the financial character of the individual. When I used to do mortgages (a long long time ago), you really looked at statements in detail and things like scraping too close to the overdraft every month would have you on guard if it was a new mortgage for example.

That sort of went out the window in the credit boom. It ought to come back again post credit crunch but I dont know if it has or not.

Dan_1976

Bank statements tell a lot more than payslips etc. This is why lenders stopped asking for them, to many reasons not to lend.

real underwriting is done with bankstatments, its all you need!

Charlton_King

Just to take this one step further - are there any lenders who will accept bank statements INSTEAD of payslips..?

My thinking is with regard to other regular income sources - rental from property, regular subsidy from relations etc.