A verification of deposit is a document through which a mortgage lender obtains proof from a borrower’s banking institution of his or her balances. Upon a lender’s request, a banking institution will fulfill this inquiry by providing current data as well as two months’ worth of the borrower’s average bank balances. Loan applicants are required to sign a form that authorizes their banking institution to give this information to lenders. Each banking institution listed by a borrower on a mortgage application must receive a request for a verification of deposit. But, if multiple institutions are involved in a potential transaction, lenders can simply ask a prospective borrower to sign an umbrella authorization form allowing the lender to make all necessary requests for information. In the case of a first mortgage, lenders must transmit such requests directly to each bank, which must send the completed request back to the lender directly without the borrower’s involvement. For second mortgage applications, borrowers are themselves permitted to submit requests for verification of deposits to their banks, but the completed information must still be sent by the financial institution back to the lender, independent of the borrower.
