Mortgages

To help serve our members efficiently and with the least amount of anxiety during the purchase of a new home, the loan department at Cleveland Selfreliance Federal Credit Union has established the following guidelines and timeframe for new applications (these are the same for mortgages, refinances, and home equity line of credit (HELOC) products:

The following is the minimum required for a pre-approval letter and ultimately for the official loan application:

1. Two (2) years (most recent) of Federal tax returns (Form 1040) and all attached schedules, W-2s, and 1099s.
2. Two (2) months (most recent) of paystubs for borrowers who are not self-employed. Those who are self-employed must contact their tax preparer and request a Profit & Loss statement (year-to-date statement) that is signed and “Reviewed and Verified” by the tax preparer or accountant. Likewise, self-employed individuals must provide copies of the cancelled checks from their quarterly estimated tax payments. If you have not been paying your taxes quarterly, your tax preparer must prepare these in conjunction with your P&L statement.  These will need to be paid before we can fund an approved loan.
3. Two (2) months (most recent) of bank (savings/checking), investment, credit (student loan / automobile loan, etc.) statements and any other relevant financial documentation.
4. One of the following two (2) categories must have all documents present: 1. Current driver’s license and social security card. 2. Permanent residents (green card holders) must also provide the loan department with their original U.S. immigration status card and foreign-issued passport for copies.
5. Proof of downpayment. These funds must be in a bank account, we will not consider cash as part of a downpayment.
6. Homeowner’s insurance quote (once a purchase agreement is signed).
7. Applicants MUST be members of the credit union. No pre-approval will be issued to non-members.

The advertised interest rate at the time of application does not guarantee you will obtain the same rate.  We will lock the rate for sixty (60) days for our members once an application is fully completed and a purchase agreement is signed.

The mortgage process:

1. Member completes an application online at https://clevelandselfreliance.com/mortgages or she/he may schedule an appointment with a loan officer to complete the application in our office.
2. Once an application is received, we will coordinate with the borrower(s) to review the application and determine what options may be available. A pre-approval will be issued to the applicant if the loan officer determines that the information, as presented, is sufficient to begin searching for a home.
3. Once a home is found, ideally the borrower(s) should check with the loan officer to determine if they will still qualify for the purchase (we will check property taxes and other items for you). If this is not possible, the buyer(s) can sign a purchase agreement, but they must understand that this will be done at their own risk.
4. A signed purchase agreement as well as title company information (name, contacts, etc.) should be delivered to the loan officer as soon as possible. It can be emailed to mortgage@clevelandselfreliance.com
5. Once received, we will request the preliminary fees from the title company. Ideally, these fees will be received within three (3) business days, so that we can provide a Loan Estimate to the applicant(s).
6. The Loan Estimate figures are generally slightly inflated to give the borrower(s) an idea of their worst-case scenario for closing costs. Signing the Loan Estimate is simply an acknowledgement of receipt, it does not guarantee the loan, nor does it force you to take a mortgage through the credit union.  The Loan Estimate can be signed digitally through our online portal or wet-signed in person here with our credit union loan officers.
7. If the borrower(s) wish to proceed, they must give the loan officer a verbal or written “Intent to Proceed” before we will submit the file to our processors and underwriters. At this point, members should expect to wait approximately two (2), sometimes three (3) weeks for the processors to order the appraisal and conduct other supporting reviews. This is also when we expect the applicant to produce either digital versions or originals of their supporting documents as listed on page 1 of this guide.
8. During the processing and underwriting process, we may request more supporting documents. It is in your best interest to send these documents to us as soon as possible so as not to delay the lending review process and the closing date as listed on the contract.
9. Once approved (usually around noon on Friday), we will move to obtain a clear to close (CTC) from our processor before we can schedule closing. Closing can take another week or two from this point, depending on how busy the closing calendar is.

Note: At this time, we will only consider lending on properties located in Northeast Ohio.

We look forward to helping you purchase your new home, should you have any questions, please feel free to call us at (440) 884-9111.