Today we have a guest post by Coosa Valley Credit Union Main Office Assistant Branch Manager, Emily. She has some great tips to make sure your next loan application is approved.
So, you're thinking about applying for a loan. What kinds of things are lenders looking for when deciding whether or not to approve you? There are several key factors that help determine whether an application is approved or not: employment history, your ability to repay us (debt to income ratio), and credit history. Under some circumstances, when employment history is limited, credit history is limited, or additional income is needed, we may recommend a qualified co-signer. So, keeping those three factors in mind, here are a few tips when applying for a loan.
About the application itself:
- Completion. It is much more efficient to work up the loan if all the information requested is provided. A loan application is fairly quick to fill out completely, and doing so will most likely result in a quicker response. Also, failing to sign the application prolongs the process. A signature is required before we can even start the process, because it gives us permission to pull your credit.
- Accuracy. It is important that the information provided is as accurate as possible. Example: When monthly income is requested and you put your weekly salary, this could limit the amount we are able to approve you for, or negatively impact your debt to income ratio, which is something of importance to us.
- Legible. Needless to say we need to be able to read it.
Things to Remember:
We are here to help you meet your financial goals. If it doesn't look that great on paper, it doesn't mean we can't help. All of our officers are trained to look outside the box and help members reach their goals.
When submitting a loan application it is not required to submit poof of income, but we will need it in order to process any loan, so think ahead and bring your most current pay stub with you if you are able.
Pre-approvals- yes, we do them! Come to us first if you are thinking about purchasing a new car, consolidating, or any financial thoughts that come to you. It is great to know your options when you are brainstorming with finances. And chances are, we can offer you a lower rate! We also offer GAP and extended warranties at lower costs than you'll find elsewhere- benefits of being a credit union member are great!
Also, working up loan applications gives us insight into where your money goes and we are always looking at how we can help you save. We just might be able to refinance higher interest loans or consolidate.
Ready to get started? Come by and let us see how we can help you save!