Preparing bank statements for a mortgage application

What lenders typically look at

Requirements differ between lenders and countries, so check your lender's list. Commonly they ask for several recent months of statements for the accounts you use, and read them for regular income, regular outgoings, the state of existing credit, unexplained large deposits and anything that looks like a missed payment. An unexpected item you did not anticipate can lead to a request for an explanation, which is easier to give if you saw it first.

What Tallyscope is for here

Tallyscope is a way to review your own statements, not a document that replaces them. Load the months you plan to submit, from every account, and you get one table you can search and filter. Useful views for this job:

• Money in, money out and net by month, shown in the Insights tab, so you see how income and spending actually run.
• Largest movements, which are the large deposits and payments a reader will notice first, so you can prepare a note on each.
• Recurring payments, found by asking the assistant about subscriptions or regular payments.
• Search and filters by description, date and amount, for finding a specific transfer or a payment to a named company.
• Transfers between your own accounts, excluded from income totals by default, so moving savings between accounts does not look like earnings.

The assistant answers questions such as "how much did I spend on subscriptions last month?" with figures computed locally from the table. Insights filters and Advanced AI features are part of the Day pass and Pro plans.

The checks that matter before you send anything

If you convert a statement and its status is Verified, the rows' amounts agree with the printed running balances, so the totals you read in the table are those of the statement. If it is Needs review, do not rely on the converted numbers; look at the original. Either way, lenders want the original documents or bank-issued digital copies, usually unaltered. Do not submit a spreadsheet produced from a statement where original statements are requested, and never edit a statement document. Tallyscope's export is for your own analysis.

A sensible workflow

1. Download the PDF statements from your bank for the full period requested.
2. Add them all to Tallyscope, including accounts in other currencies if you have them. See multi-currency statements.
3. Check each statement's status, and fix or review flagged rows against the original.
4. Look at the largest movements and prepare a short explanation for any that are not obvious, such as a gift from a relative, a property sale or a one-off bonus.
5. Submit the original documents the lender asks for, through the lender's secure channel.

Privacy matters here

Mortgage statements are about as sensitive as personal data gets. Tallyscope reads them in your browser and does not upload them; see converting without uploading. The Advanced AI features are off by default and, if you enable it, sends a masked table to an AI provider, so most people applying for a mortgage will leave it off.

This page is general information, not financial or lending advice. Your lender, broker or adviser decides what you must provide. Open Tallyscope to start reviewing your statements.