Firstly, a pre-approval is, as the name suggests, an approval of your loan before it being a formally approved. What’s the difference?, a pre-approval can be issued subject to you finding a property, which means the lender has pre assessed your information such as your income, liabilities, expenses, and savings position to deem you suitable for the loan. The formal approval will only be issued once you commit to a property and the bank has assessed the property and deemed it as acceptable security.
Why is it important to obtain a pre-approval before you start looking?