Can a lender make me provide documents like my W-2 or pay stub in order to give me a Loan Estimate?

To receive a Loan Estimate, you need to submit only six key pieces of information:

• Your name
• Your income
• Your Social Security number (so the lender can check your credit)
• The address of the home you plan to purchase or refinance
• An estimate of the home’s value
• The loan amount you want to borrow

Although you’re not required to provide documents to get a Loan Estimate, it’s a good idea to share what you have with the lender. The more information the lender has, the more accurate your Loan Estimate will be.

Once you receive a Loan Estimate, you need to choose whether you would like to proceed with the loan application. Once you’ve notified the lender that you would like to proceed with an application, the lender may require you to provide additional information and documents to verify the information you have already submitted. If your verification documents show different information than what you already provided, you may receive a revised Loan Estimate.

Note: You won’t receive a Loan Estimate if you applied for a mortgage prior to October 3, 2015, or if you’re applying for a reverse mortgage. For those loans, you will receive two forms – a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and an initial Truth-in-Lending disclosure – instead of a Loan Estimate. The rules for a GFE are different – lenders may require additional information beyond the six items listed above in order to provide you with a GFE, but they still may not require any documentation. If you are applying for a HELOC, a manufactured housing loan that is not secured by real estate, or a loan through certain types of homebuyer assistance programs, you will not receive a GFE or a Loan Estimate, but you should receive a Truth-in-Lending disclosure.