Qualifying · Indi Mortgage
Why pre-approvals fail — and how to avoid it
A real story of an approval falling apart at the finish line, and how to make sure yours doesn’t.
A real story
Josh walks through a real couple (names changed) — a newcomer to Canada who’d been working up in the Fort McMurray oil-sands camps — whose deal ran into trouble late in the process. The lesson isn’t to scare you; it’s to show where approvals quietly break.
Where approvals actually break
The common culprits are income that’s newer or harder to document, credit surprises, and the source of your down payment. Changes mid-process — a new loan, a job change, a big purchase — can also undo an approval you thought was solid.
How to protect yourself
Get a real, fully reviewed pre-approval up front (not just a rate hold), be honest about the messy parts early, and don’t make big financial moves between approval and possession. That’s how you avoid doing all the work of finding a home and then losing it at the finish line.
