Your Mortgage Got Approved. What Happens Next?

Frequently Asked Questions

• 1. What happens after you get the keys?

  Once you’re handed the keys to a new property, your mortgage enters a new servicing phase, you have to start making due payments, and don’t forget to store document copies responsibly. 

  In the first few weeks after closing your mortgage loan, several new responsibilities emerge that you must take up as a new homeowner while the involved specialists help you coordinate them:

  • Your mortgage enters the servicing phase – you now must stick to the mortgage schedule and make all timely payments as required in the loan agreement. Your original lender will continue managing the mortgage (but you can switch to another mortgage servicer if you want). Namely, they’ll be handling your payments and escrow account (where applicable).  
  • Your payments start with the first payment due one month or more after closing – one month is a broad standard, but the precise due date depends on your loan and closing date. Always check the closing documents and servicer information for the exact due date. Your payment may include:
    • principal
    • interest
    • property taxes
    • homeowner’s insurance
    • mortgage insurance (if any)

  Any formal change in these payment amounts may affect due dates.
  

  • Keep your closing documents – never throw your closing paperwork into a drawer and just forget about it. Store digital copies safely and keep their location in mind. Make sure to do this with the Closing Disclosure, promissory note, deed of trust or mortgage, and actual property deed.

• 2. What can potentially delay closing after my mortgage approval?

  The final approval might be postponed due to underwriting completion, financial or employment instability, issues with the title, appraisal, property, insurance, funding, or wiring, and last-minute changes.

  Here you are, getting successfully approved for a new mortgage loan, but you can still run into the potential risks of a closing delay. It may happen in-between the approval and closing, and the most common causes for it may include:

  • • Unresolved underwriting conditions. Missing documentation or unexplained financial actions can hold up your final approval
    • Major changes to finances. You will provoke additional questions if you run into a new debt, switch employment, experience credit issues, or make unexplained asset movements. 
    • Title issues. You won’t be able to make a clean property transfer if you have ownership disputes, liens, judgments, or other issues waiting to resolve. 
    • Appraisal or property issues. If property’s value or eligibility suddenly or formally changes, it may affect the loan term. 
    • Insurance issues. You may be required by the lender to provide an acceptable homeowners insurance before they close your loan.
    • Last-minute changes. Any changes to the loan or transaction will call for revised documents and, in certain circumstances, a new three-business-day review period for a revised Closing Disclosure. 
  • Wire or funding setbacks. Incorrect or delayed transfer will accordingly postpone the closing. 

  To efficiently avoid most of these potential delay factors, keep responsible from the day one of applying for a mortgage loan and legal servicing assistance. 

• 3. What should I do between approval and closing?

  The best advice would be to keep your overall situation stable and without sudden changes or disputable occurrences, while double checking other responsibilities in the meantime. 

  While there are certain operations and routines that you will still need to manage, ideally, your best bet is to keep your general life (and work/business) situation as uneventful as possible. Why? Because any spikes, drops, unexplained occurrences, and major shifts will provoke lender’s/settlement agent’s questions, which may potentially delay your closing. 

  To help you stay responsibly idle, here’s your approximate “to-keep-doing” list:

  • Continue paying your existing bills on time;
  • Keep your financial situation as stable as you can;
  • Respond promptly to lender’s requests;
  • Store documentation for any major transfer of funds;
  • Review the Closing Disclosure carefully;
  • Make sure your homeowners insurance is in place;
  • Ask for the remaining closing documents before the final appointment;
  • Verify exactly how your Cash to Close must be wired.

  Don’t be overexcited by the new mortgage approval – keep careless financial decisions at bay for now. This includes buying new cars or furniture, making undisclosed bank deposits or large credit-card balance payments, and changing jobs (without pressing necessity). 

• 4. What should I ask or clarify before signing approval/closing documents?

  Ask if you missed any important and additional information, whether all summed-up terms match those documented and recorded, and when will important transfer stages take place (e.g., receiving the keys). 

  Depending on who you choose as your mortgage management assistant, the servicing professional should help manage and clarify most important points and process specifics (including choosing a loan program and mortgage servicers). 

  However, before you sit down at the closing table with all requirements fulfilled, documents approved, and mortgage ready to be secured, make sure you know answers to these questions:

  • Is the interest rate exactly what I expect? Can we calculate it precisely?

  • Is the loan amount correct?

  • Does the monthly payment match the final disclosure?

  • Is the submitted Cash to Close correct?

  • Are all lender credits, seller credits, deposits, and adjustments reflected in the documentation for signing?

  • Are there any points, prepayment penalties, or other fees I did not read into or expect?

  • Is my homeowner’s insurance active and eligible?

  • Will my mortgage have an escrow account?

  • How and when will my first mortgage payment be made?

  • Who is my mortgage servicer, exactly? 
  • When will I receive the keys and when can I take possession of the mortgaged property?

  Clarifying all of the above will help keep your approval-closing phase more on your terms. 

• 5. Can I change or cancel my mortgage after its approval/closing?

  You can’t cancel it per se, but you can change its conditions with time, e.g., through refinancing or early mortgage compensation.

  Once you have successfully gained a mortgage approval for a new home, you can’t simply cancel the loan purely out of a change of heart. Your last line of no return is when the purchase transaction gets completed and the funds get disbursed – the property immediately becomes securely mortgaged. 

  Most consumer credit transactions usually reserve you a three-day right to cancel after closing. Mortgage is nothing of the kind, it’s much more complex and requires careful, multi-stage revision. 

  However, if your financial circumstances or goals come to change drastically, you may get options later on in your mortgage journey. For example, you could refinance the mortgage to shift your loan terms, obtain a different interest rate, or leverage your home equity. 

  You can also sell the property and use the proceeds to pay off any remaining mortgage balance. 

  So while you cannot necessarily cancel the approved (or closed) mortgage, you can replace it in time or pay it off before its time. Even the closing makes the original loan legally binding, but it does not prevent you from changing your financing strategy in the future.