How to Apply for a Home Loan Online
If you’re reading this page, it probably means you are researching the process of applying for a mortgage loan online. If so, you’ve come to the right place to learn all about it! In this article, I’ll explain the basic steps needed to apply for a home loan online, and I’ll even recommend some websites you can use to get started.
The Online Home Loan Revolution
About six or seven years ago, something interesting began to take place in the home loan industry. Many lenders started setting up websites that allowed consumers to apply online for a mortgage loan. Today, there are hundreds of these websites to choose from, but not all of them are created equally. There are three types of websites through which you can apply for a home mortgage:
- A primary lender’s website (such as Wells Fargo)
- A mortgage quote website (such as LendingTree.com)
- The website of an individual mortgage broker
If you want to apply for a home loan online, and you’d rather get offers from several lenders at once, I recommend the middle option above (LendingTree). In fact, you can get started with that process from the mortgage quotes section of our main website.
How to Apply for Quotes
Using the Internet is a great way to get the ball rolling quickly. Technically speaking, you don’t really apply online for a home loan, because you’ll still need to follow the online process with document submission (by fax or mail).
What you are really doing here is requesting offers from lenders, based on some basic qualifying criteria submitted through the website. The lender will still need to review your credit score, debt-to-income ratio, and all of the other nuts and bolts of home loan qualification. With that being said, I still feel the online process is the best way to get started in nearly all cases.
Here’s how the process usually unfolds when you apply for a home loan online through a site like LendingTree:
- First, you will fill out a web-based form with some basic information about the type and size of loan you want.
- The website will then match your request with mortgage lenders who can help you (typically based on city and state).
- You will receive some initial offers (interest rate and terms) from up to four different lenders, usually by email.
- You would then review the offers to see which one appealed to you the most.
- Next, you would contact the chosen lender to begin submitting the necessary paperwork.
- The lender will complete a more thorough review of your credit and finances in order to qualify you for a loan.
This process varies based on the type of loan you are applying for, which website you use, etc. But these are the basic steps that take place when you apply online for a home loan through such websites.
Gather Your Loan Documents
Regardless of whether you start this process online through a mortgage website, or in person at a lender’s office, you’ll need to provide certain documents for review. The list will vary based on the lender’s underwriting process, but you will probably need to submit some or all of the following items:
- IRS W-2 forms for the last two years
- Pay stubs, usually just the two or three most recent ones
- Bank statements for the last three to six months
- A list of all debts currently being paid
- Checking and savings account balances and account numbers
- Social security number and other personal information for the borrower
You can see that there’s a lot of sensitive information on this list. That’s why you need to be careful when submitting this information. Don’t ever submit sensitive data through a website unless it’s a secure website. You’ll know if it’s secure because there will be a letter ’s’ at the beginning of the web address, such as “https://www.lendersite…”
You should also be careful when faxing and mailing such information. If the lender you choose has a local office, which is likely, it’s best to submit these documents in person. The fewer people who put their hands on it, the better.
How to apply online for a home loan is not complicated at all. I hope this article gives you a better understanding of how the application process works, and I wish you all the best with your mortgage shopping experience.
Applying for a Loan | admin | 
February 22, 2009 10:48 am
