A Temporary Loan Profile is what Padzilly gives you when no lender has uploaded a loan approval for you yet. It lets you start searching with real numbers on day one, instead of waiting.
You will see it named on your profile card. Once a lender uploads your approval, the same card reads Pre-Approved Loan Profile instead — that is how you know which one you are using.
Padzilly has to assume something to produce a payment, so it assumes the most common case:
A conventional loan with 5% down. The card tells you so directly, showing the down payment percentage it is using.
Everything else comes from you: your Qualified Payment Limit and your Savings and Funds Limit — the two figures you entered when you set up your profile.
From those three things, Padzilly estimates a monthly payment and a cash-to-close for every home you look at, and filters your search accordingly.
Your payment limit and your funds, in Profile → Homebuying Budget. These are your own numbers, so you can move them freely while the profile is temporary.
Your down payment, which you can increase for your search. Putting more down lowers the estimated payment and may remove mortgage insurance from the estimate.
This is the important part, and it is where people get into trouble.
It is not a pre-approval. No lender has looked at your income, your credit or your debts. Nobody has agreed to lend you anything.
It will not make your offer credible. A seller's agent wants a pre-approval letter from a lender. A temporary profile does not produce one, because there is nothing behind it to certify.
The numbers are estimates built on an assumption. Your real rate will not be the assumed rate. Your real loan type may not be conventional. Your lender may apply a minimum qualifying property tax that raises every payment you have been looking at.
So use it to explore, to learn what your money buys in your area, and to narrow down neighbourhoods. Do not use it to decide what you can afford.
Invite your loan officer to upload your approval. It is free for them, and the moment they do, three things change:
Your figures switch from assumptions to your lender's actual decision — your rate, your loan type, your limits
Your lender's own rules start applying, including any minimum qualifying property tax
Your payment and cash figures become something you can act on, and your qualification letters become real
The card changes to Pre-Approved Loan Profile, and you will notice the difference in the numbers. Sometimes they improve. Sometimes they tighten. Either way, they become true.
A Temporary Loan Profile is a well-informed guess that lets you start today. A pre-approved profile is a fact. Start with the first, move to the second before you fall in love with a house.
