The term "Seasoning Money" or Seasoned Money" is a very common term in the Mortgage Industry. A simple definition for what is "Seasoned Money" is that it is a reference to the length of time that has past since funds were deposited in or withdrawn from a Bank Account..
Why is "Seasoned Money" important in the Mortgage Industry? It is important because if a Borrower is applying for a mortgage, the Lender is going to require that they produce bank statements for a certain period of time. These days any deposit or withdrawal of funds of $1000 or more, that are not a normal monthly deposit or withdrawal will need to be explained.
This is not a problem if the Borrower can document where the funds came from. For example they sold a car and can produce a sales slip and copy of the check, or they cashed in some stocks or bonds and can produce the documentation for that. But most often Borrowers can not produce documentation for these deposits or withdrawals, and stating that they just had it laying around the house is not a good explanation (that is referred to as mattress money).
So what needs to take place if there is a large deposit or withdrawal it needs to be "seasoned" (be in the Borrowers Account ) long enough so that it does not show up as a deposit or withdrawal on the Bank Statements that they need to produce.
Depending on the Loan Program, the length of time to "season" the funds is different. For example, on Conventional Loans (Fannie Mae, & Freddie Mac backed loan) the time needed to "season" is 31 days, because all that is required for the Borrower to produce is a 30 day bank statement. Therefore, if the funds have been in the bank account for more that 30 days they will be included in the balance, but not listed in the deposits or withdrawals. For a FHA Loan, the Underwriter (at least my Underwrite) is going to want to see two months of bank statements, which means that the money needs to be "seasoned" for at least 61 days. On a CHFA Loan, the Underwriter as well as CHFA usually want to see three months of bank statements so the money needs to be "seasoned" for at least 92 days, since within a three month period there is bound to be a 31 day month.
This all may sound simple, but "seasoning money" produces more problems than you might imagine. A lot of the times it is because the Borrower got money to purchase the house from someone that would not be an acceptable source for gift money. Or the person was an acceptable source, but does not want to produce the documents needed to show that it was an acceptable gift.
Please keep in mind that if you are thinking of purchasing a house and are going to be depositing or withdrawing any large sum of money ($1000 or more) that you talk to your Loan Officer first to make sure that it is being done correctly so that you do not run into a problem at the time of the loan.
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Info about the author:
George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com
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