Pre-qualified vs pre-approved

The big idea

What is pre-approval for a mortgage? Pre-qualified vs pre-approved

A pre-approval or pre-qualification is a letter, not a loan offer.

Both say a lender is willing to lend up to an amount.
Lenders use the two words differently.
Some call a letter pre-approved only when they checked your numbers.

See it in an example

Example

How some lenders use the words.

Pre-qualified: numbers you report

Pre-approved: numbers the lender checked

Ask yours what they checked.