Did you submit for a full documentation or stated income loan program? Full documentation generally offers better rates as lenders balance risk vs. rates in their pricing models. Stated income loans have more risk for the investor because they know less about your capacity to make payments if they cannot verify your income however, it's not unusual for stated programs to have higher loan qualifications as people tend to over-state their incomes.

hi Tina. There are many reasons this could have happened to you and not all of them are bad. Though there are not as many creative financing options out in the mortgage world as there used to be, there are still a wide variety of mortgage products out there that have different qualifying criteria. That criteria could be what has changed your loan amount. Criteria such as, credit score, down payment %, type of loan, cash on hand, employment history, etc. Sometimes if you go to a loan that will have you putting more money down, the interest rate will go down and therefore you will be able to mortgage more and visa versa. The more money you have to work with the same thing happens. There are so many factors that could have changed your numbers. My suggestion would be to get a local lender to look at your situation. That lender will be able to give you an idea of price range to be looking at. Once you have found your home, there is typically a little playing room in your number. Check with your lender again to be sure that the home falls within your range of ability. Then do your offer. Always better safe than sorry. I wish you well. Cynthia

Tina:
How are things going now? Have you learned exactly what criteria the lenders are looking at to come up with your approval amount? Do you understand what is on your credit report and how it affects your approval? You should have a professional explain all of these things to you so that you understand them all.
Good luck,
Ruth

That sounds very discouraging. It could be a number of things that caused this change but remember to feel free and shop around with other lenders and particularly a local lender.
I like to see a buyers pre approval letter before we go and shop for homes just so they dont fall in love with the $138,000 home and then find out they can only go up to $115,000.
My only advice is to ask for a good reason and then go to another lender locally and ask for them to help explain the situation and see if they can offer a lower interest rate or raise your limit.
Just be sure you can afford those monthly payments of course!

Hard to say, another item may have appeared on your credit report or it could have been an error on the part of your loan officer. Any of those things would cause a problem.

I would recommend dealing with a local lender & get another opinion. I'd be happy to refer you to 2 lenders in the area that are great & can give you the straight answers. It would take either of them a few minutes to know exactly what you can afford & what the fees are.

A pre-approval is not a guarantee because they haven't confirmed everything you told them about your credit and income, etc. Confirmation of facts takes place after you have a contract which is when you actually make a loan application. A professional lender would have educated you on this matter. If there was more than a month or so lapse in time, the programs you were once qualified for may have changed.

Based upon this back and forth movement in values, I'd be looking for another mortgage broker. Sounds as if this one is careless which may cause you trouble at the closing table.