Mortgage Documents Translation

Documents underwriters ask for

• Income: pay slips, employment contracts, employer letters confirming salary and tenure, pension statements.
• Self-employment: business registration, financial statements, tax assessments.
• Assets: foreign bank and brokerage statements, proof of a property sale abroad funding the down payment.
• Gifts: the donor's bank statement and transfer record, often from a relative abroad.

Each needs to be translated in full, with amounts in the original currency, dates written with the month in words, and account numbers copied exactly. Ask the loan officer which months and which pages are needed before ordering; translating a full year of statements when two months will do is a common waste.

Who may translate

For loans sold to Freddie Mac, the translation must come from the document's originator (for example, the foreign bank) or an unaffiliated third-party translation service, and be attached to the original. A borrower's own translation, or one by a relative or the loan officer, does not qualify. Many lenders apply the same rule to every loan. Our translations are made by an unaffiliated service and carry a signed certificate of accuracy.

Borrowers who read another language

Federal rules let lenders give TILA and ECOA disclosures in another language as long as English versions are available on request, and FHFA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac publish translated versions of standard documents. Those translations are aids: the English note and security instrument you sign govern. If you want your actual closing package translated before you sign, including the lender's own forms, order it a few days before the closing, not on the day.

Refinancing and foreign property

The same documents come up when refinancing with foreign income, and in reverse when a US resident borrows against property abroad: then US pay stubs, tax returns and bank statements are translated into the foreign lender's language.

Common problems that delay underwriting

• Missing pages: a statement translated without its header page, which shows whose account it is.
• Unexplained names: the borrower's name in another script or order on a foreign document. We give it as on the passport and note the original form.
• Converted amounts: a translation that converts currency invites questions about the rate. Amounts stay as printed; the underwriter converts.
• Gift letters without the donor's records: translate the donor's statement and the transfer record together so the money can be traced.

Timing

Underwriting conditions often arrive a week or two before closing. Most income and bank documents are one or two pages and are delivered within 24 hours, or in hours with expedited service. Send every requested document in one order so names and account numbers are translated consistently across them, and so the underwriter receives a complete set rather than pieces on different days. If the lender later asks for an extra month of statements, send it with a note of the earlier order and we match the format.