We sold our home last year and moved to Palm Springs. I’ve never dealt with Wells Fargo in my life but went in to apply for a mortgage after putting 20% down on our offer. I’m on social security with a small pension as only income. We don’t have credit card debt or a car payment, and have paid our bills on time over the years. Our loan for 200K was approved in about 15 minutes. No appraisal was even required. I paid 1 point to get a 4% 30y fixed rate loan. It couldn’t have been easier.... and I’m just a regular guy.
I heard the same story from my kid about Wells Fargo. He's 23, but has a well paying job, has a good credit rating, and his wife is employed. They have no debt. He went to pre-qualify before they started looking at homes, and he went to Wells Fargo since his accounts are there. They pre-qualifed him for $200,000. He won't spend that much, because he's looking at foreclosures (which in our area are very inexpensive) and he doesn't have enough saved for a 20% down on a 200,000 dollar home. But they were not reluctant to lend and he's a first time buyer.
Your income is government guaranteed.
Some of us, admittedly fewer and fewer, don’t have that kind of sterling credit.
Government=Well Fargo=Government=Wells Fargo=Government.