I cannot stress enough that things in lending are nowhere near as lax as they were in early 2007 and the several years that preceded it, anymore. So, when you are getting your loan - regardless of what type of loan it is - and you are asked to provide documentation that seems bothersome to you (and quite honestly, probably seems bothersome and rather unnecessary to me, as well), that is simply the way it is right now - no matter what lender you are dealing with. At this time, its simply best to accept this and acquiesce, if you want to close. I know this may sound harsh - and while the last thing I want to do is sound that way or put anyone off - its the simple reality of where we are, today.  

When you are looking at buying or refinancing a home, know that this is what is out there, pretty well across the board: conforming conventional loans, including a number of very good low-moderate income or first time buyer type programs; Jumbo loans (those that are over the conforming limit) that are fully documented and require at least 10% down, most of the time; FHA and VA loans (the loan limits (i.e., maximum dollar amount) on FHA loans have gone WAY UP in many areas, very recently - this is a wonderful thing!)and SOME fully documented sub-prime loans at not-so-attractive interest rates that are requiring a lot more money down than they used to. For any of these loan types (from conforming conventional to sub-prime), be prepared to provide 2 years W-2s and/or  tax returns, 2 months bank statements, and 1 paystub with at least 30 days of year to date information. If you are a 1099 employee or self-employed (and intend to use income from this employment to qualify), you need to have been so for at least 2 years in most cases and you need to be prepared to provide tax returns (which will be analyzed by an underwriter to determine how much they think you make, based on a 24 month average of the income they derive from the returns). Regardless of your employment type, if you have large deposits in your bank accounts or a large balance now, relative to what you had a month ago, plan to be asked to explain this and provide evidence that its not borrowed money. You may only be asked for 1 months bank statements or no bank statements; you may be asked only for 1 years W-2 or even just a paystub and no W-2s. You may even not be required to have a full 2 years of self-employment (if that is applicable to you) to use the income. But, going into it, you really need to be prepared for the "2 rule"... and again, concerning large deposits, you will almost always be asked about any that show up on a bank statement ...   

All that said, there are still A FEW conforming conventional stated income/stated asset programs (though there may still be some sort of stated versions of the Jumbo available here and there, too - with larger down payments required in most cases), available. However, these require very high credit scores and have extremely stringent guidelines pertaining to job type, reasonableness of stated income and debt-to-income ratios. Further, they will require at least 5% down on the purchase of a primary residence, usually 10% down on the purchase of a second home and 20-30% down on an investment property. Refinancing for a better rate or term is going to be limited to about 90% and refinancing to cash out (i.e., to get your hands on some of the equity), is usually limited to no more than 70% of the value of the home - regardless of what type of occupancy is involved (that said, I am just waiting for the discontinuation of investment properties, in general, on any of these programs and for any reason, purchase or refinance).

Beyond that, understand that a great credit score is no longer a golden ticket to a loan with very little money down and/or very little documentation, involved - especially if you are trying to buy or refinance anything other than your primary residence or maybe a second home. Those kinds of loan programs, as we knew them before, are pretty well a thing of the past. They really don't exist today and where there are a few of them still lingering in some capacity, the guidelines continue to tighten up on them, with alarming regularity. Quite frankly, decent credit is now a basic criterion of the vast majority of loan programs - especially the conventional ones. And, if you don't have good credit, but its adequate to qualify you in the "lower credit tiers", anyway, plan to pay a higher interest rate and/or be asked to put more money down.     


I am in the process of researching my investors to see if there are still ANY "Alt-A" No Ratio, Low Doc, No Doc or NINAs hanging around out there, anywhere. I will post on that next, if I find them.