Should I tell my mortgage broker I just lost my job?

Yes- I forgot to mention- I'm in Pennsylvania.

Why are you looking for trouble? Fill out all paperwork in good faith. If you were asked, today, "are you employed?", the answer is no. If you were asked, last week, "are you employed?", the answer is yes. No information is ever truly up-to-date - when you walk away from the bathroom scale, you no longer weigh *exactly* what the scale said you did. That's okay. The banks understand the risk of information being out of date. Truly, it's minor - you could have been fired the day after the mortgage papers are signed. The bank doesn't care about any particular job, they care about the income potential that you demonstrate by holding the job. Some little kids have the same problem. They ask Mom, "can I have a cookie?" Mom says yes. Then they go ask Dad if it's okay that they have a cookie! Know when to take your answer and go! You remain confident of your ability to pay off the mortgage as required. If the bank convinces themselves of the same thing, why are you so anxious to throw a monkey wrench in the deal?

I'm in a similar situation. My boss refuses to fill out any sort of employment verification "because I'm not an employee, but a contract worker". I had a loan ready to go, but without out that verification, the loan (and the 300 bucks I'd paid to get the ball rolling) are now in the toilet. Don't tell the loan officer anythign more than what he asks.

If you already completed the mortgage application, submitted paystubs and all that, I'd let it ride. I had the same thing happen last year in the middle of a refinance, except I got no severance as the company was shutting down. I didn't have any problems.

If the company is large enough to have an HR department they may be limited by law what they can say to an inquiry. FWIW I was in the exact same situation- still being paid, but technically laid off- and doing a refi. The HR people informed me that all they could say when asked was that I was 'currently on the payroll'.

When I bought my house five years ago, the bank re-verified my employment status about 3 hours before closing. Presumably, if when they called my employer, they found that I no longer had a steady source of income, they would not have allowed the closing to proceed. Your bank might do the same, and you might want to be prepared for what you'll do if that happens. Personally, I would be up-front with the mortgage broker and tell them what's going on. If it kills the purchase of the house, so be it - there are other houses. Of course, this assumes that you had a financing contingency clause in your offer, and you won't lose your earnest money deposit.

Technically, if you're 'on notice' you're still employed. I'd talk to your companies HR department and see if they would still verify employment.

I was a Mortgage loan Officer for 7 years. If your loan as already been submitted and approved, and you have a closing date you should be fine. The only thing that can trip you up is if they havent done a verification of employment (VOE) yet... which depending on how busy your mortgage company is can be the last thing to be done, or in the very beginning... there also is the possibility that the VOE can be done just prior to closing as part of an internal audit, or spot check if you will, but this is highly unlikely. Depending on your relationship with your LO, you may want to talk to him about it so that you can create a plan B if there is a problem with your VOE at the last minute. You dont want to put yourself in a pickle the day before or of closing and potentially lose any deposit money you've put down. Another idea may be to call a seperate mortgage company, ask them to give you a pre approval **WITHOUT RUNNING YOUR CREDIT REPORT** and that WOULD NOT include a VOE... that will at least give you the terms and conditions of the new loan, and give you an idea how much higher the rate would be as a result of not doing a VOE. If your credit score is in the 700's (very good), it may be possible that you can get a loan very close in terms and rates to a loan when they do a VOE.

There are "no verification" mortgages. I've always qualified for these in the past, and the mortgage people offered them. I'm not sure how they rationalize them, but basically it means that they don't verify your employment. I think this is based on past credit history. If you get one of these, you shouldn't have a problem.