Pre approval - "I'm looking for a house and want to know if I would qualify" - bank underwrites the loan, performs verifications and approves subject to suitable property being found. "You are approved for $XXX until xx/xx/xx subject to the property being suitable" HMDA reportable
Back to the age-old debate....how do you perform verifications without providing the applicant with a Loan Estimate? This is the reason why at my current bank and two prior, there is/was no pre-approval program. We DO pre-qualify and for that, we DO obtain a credit report. The decision is then based on information the applicant provided on the application.