In this lesson of the first-time homebuyer's course, you will learn my most recommended tools and resources that you can use to turn your physical mortgage documentation into PDF files that you can upload to your loan portal.
Many of these resources will allow you to utilize the camera on your phone to crop, organize and merge multi-page documents into a single PDF.
Need My Help?
As your loan officer, I'm available to help scan your documents at my local office. Please schedule an appointment by texting 435.590.1019 then meet me at 43 S 100 E, Suite 200, St George, UT 84770.
Online Banking
Most banks include an online banking platform that you can use to quickly find your most recent bank statements to download. The most popular loan programs require your most recent 2 bank statements but some mortgage programs may require 3-24 statements.
During the loan application guide, you will also have the option to integrate your online banking into your loan application to automatically pull in the banking history needed.
If you choose to not integrate or have problems integrating your bank details into your loan application, try logging in to your online banking directly and look for a "Statements" or "Download" option to download your full statements.
Remember, we need all pages of each statement including any blank pages.
iPhone Users
There's a couple popular options available that are convenient and easy to use.
Notes App
Apple automatically includes an app on your phone called "Notes" that can be used to quickly and easily scan multiple pages into a single PDF document.
Once the app is open:
- Tap the new note icon on the bottom right.
- Tap the Camera icon then tap "Scan Documents"
- Place the first page of your document in view of the camera. It should automatically scan.
- Look for a prompt to scan the next document and place the next document in view of the camera.
- Once all pages are scanned, tap "Save"
- On the upper right, tap the "..." icon then tap "Send a Copy"
- Choose messages, email or "Save to Files" to save the PDF.
- Upload the PDF to your loan portal or send the file securely.
Adobe Scan: Mobile PDF Scanner
Besides the Notes app that comes with Apple iPhones, Adobe Scan is also one of my favorite apps for iPhone users to scan multi-page documents into a PDF.
- Download Adobe Scan from the app store.
- Login with your existing Adobe account user/pass or set up a new account.
- Grant access to your camera.
- Tap the screen if prompted to tap to begin.
- Place document in view of the camera.
- It should automatically frame the document and take a clear photo.
- Place and scan all pages needed.
- Tap Save
- Tap "Save PDF" in the upper right
- Tap Share > Share a copy > Save to Files, message or email.
- Upload the PDF to your loan portal or send the file securely.
iMessage - SMS - Texting
Since we both use an iPhone, you can also snap photos of your single-page documents and send them to me securely via iMessage (communications are secured user to user). I can then securely transfer your photos to your loan application including convert them to PDF for you.
Android Users
Android users have access to powerful document scanning apps that can be used to digitize physical documents. Here are a couple options.
CamScanner
CamScanner is the most popular PDF scanner for Android. The instructions are straight forward:
- Skip registering and tap "Use Now"
- Tap the Camera icon on the bottom right.
- Grant camera access to take pictures and video.
- Tap the "Multi-Page Mode" option on the bottom right.
- Place document in the camera view.
- Tap the camera icon, adjust corners to capture the entire page, rotate if needed then tap the "Next" arrow
- Tap save.
- Scan the remaining pages for your PDF document.
- Once all documents are scanned, tap the "PDF" icon on the top of your screen.
- Share > Share to Google Drive or Email then upload securely to your loan application.
Adobe Scan: PDF Scanner
Like iPhone, another popular scanning software is Adobe Scan. The functionality between Apple and Android are very similar.
- Download Adobe Scan from the app store.
- Login with your existing Adobe account user/pass or set up a new account.
- Grant access to your camera.
- Tap the screen if prompted to tap to begin.
- Place document in view of the camera.
- It should automatically frame the document and take a clear photo.
- Place and scan all pages needed.
- Tap Save
- Tap "Save PDF" in the upper right
- Tap Share > Share a copy > Save to Google Drive, message or email.
- Upload the PDF to your loan portal or send the file securely.
Fax
Prefer to use your personal fax machine? No problem. After your loan application, reach out to me and I'll provide my fax number!
Fax Warning
Many fax service providers use industrial fax, scan and copy machines that are likely to save copies of your faxed documents to a hard drive. For this reason and for your security, I do not recommend using a fax service provider to send your sensitive documentation including anything with your SSN, banking details or other non-public personal information.
Physical Mail If you are unable to use one of the solutions provided and are too far away from my St George office, I am happy to arrange physical mail to send your physical documents directly.
Thank you for viewing this tutorial! Remember to refer to the course navigation to access over 20 guides and resources to help you through the loan process.
