Has anyone noticed lately how the diligence of lenders seems to be increasing daily?

I sure have.

Nice, full doc applications, with good clients on nice fat salaries with maybe not quite as much in savings as they could have, but hey, these guys have lifestyles to maintain don't they?

These applications would previously have just sailed through. Provide the payslips or proof of income and the loan is all good to go. But lately there seems to be a growing trend amongst lenders to want to review the customers banks statements to see their spending habits. That's where it all starts to get messy for some clients.

So, while the lenders may advertise their products as "No Genuine Savings Require", they are still very interested to see where the clients money has gone to so far. Let's face it, if they're not saving it, then they're spending it on something, and the reality is that many people have trouble in cutting back in their lifestyle. So, adding a large financial commitment to someone who is living from paycheck to paycheck could be problematic.

The challenge for us as brokers is to apply that critical eye to our clients and to ask ourselves, "If this was my money, would I lend these clients this amount?" Maybe it's worth pre-empting the lenders request and asking for those statements before submitting the deal. That way, if you see daily cash withdrawals from the casino, you'll know before the lender asks you that hard question.