What Happens If Your Financing Falls Through After You're Under Contract

I'm Holli Cobb, REALTOR® with REAL Broker in Redmond, and this is a moment I see catch buyers off guard: your offer gets accepted, and it feels like the hard part is over. It isn't. A pre-approval is a lender's strong, document-backed opinion, not a finished loan, and I cover that distinction in more detail in pre-approval vs. pre-qualification. Between an accepted offer and closing day, your file still has to clear full underwriting, and that process can still turn up a problem nobody saw coming at the pre-approval stage.

That gap between "approved to shop" and "approved to close" is exactly where a financing problem shows up, and it's rarely because a buyer did anything careless on purpose. It's a normal part of the process, which is also why it has its own protections built into your contract.

Underwriting is a closer, more thorough look than pre-approval, and a handful of things commonly trip it up. Taking on new debt between pre-approval and closing, a car loan, a new credit card, even financing furniture for the new place, changes your debt-to-income ratio and can change what you qualify for. A job change, a drop in hours, or a shift from salary to commission can affect verified income even if your new paycheck is larger. A credit score that moves before the final pull, sometimes from something as small as a new hard inquiry, can shift your rate or your approval entirely. And paperwork that doesn't match earlier estimates, tax returns, bank statements, or a large deposit that can't be easily explained, can slow or stop a file that looked fine on paper weeks earlier.

Most financing problems I see are preventable, and the rule is simple: don't change anything about your financial picture until you've closed. That means no new credit cards, no financed furniture or appliances for the new house, no car purchases, no job changes you don't have to make, and no large, unexplained deposits or transfers between accounts. If something genuinely has to change, tell your lender first, not after the fact, so they can tell you whether it affects your file before it becomes a problem instead of after.

A standard Oregon purchase agreement includes a financing contingency with its own deadline, separate from the inspection period covered in what actually happens after your offer is accepted. If your loan is genuinely denied, or a condition can't reasonably be met, before that deadline, you can typically cancel and get your earnest money back. Miss that deadline, or let the contingency quietly expire without acting on it, and you can be exposed even if the denial comes just days later, which is exactly why tracking that date matters as much as tracking your paperwork.

Call your lender and your agent the same day, not after you've worried about it alone for a week. Ask directly: is this fixable before the contingency deadline, or is it heading toward a real denial? Sometimes a short extension can be negotiated with the seller if everyone involved is still moving in good faith. Sometimes switching loan products, adjusting the loan amount, or bringing in a co-borrower solves it. And sometimes the honest answer is that this isn't the right loan for this house right now, in which case acting inside your contingency window, rather than past it, is what protects your deposit.

If you're under contract in Redmond and something with your financing feels uncertain, don't sit on it. That's exactly the kind of moment I stay involved for as part of how I help you buy a home. Get in touch and we'll work through it together before a deadline passes.