Somewhere on your phone is a PDF that says you're approved to $450,000. It has a real lender's logo on it, a real signature, and an expiration date a few weeks out. You quote that number at showings like it's a fact about you.
It was a fact the day it printed. It may not be one today.
Here's the part nobody explains when they email you the letter: the expiration date tells you when it stops being valid. It never tells you when it stopped being accurate. Those are two different dates, and the second one usually comes first.
What actually goes out of date
A pre-approval is a snapshot of three moving parts at once. Your income. Your credit and debts. And the interest rate.
The first two are reasonably stable month to month. The third one moves every single week, and it's the one nobody re-checks. Your letter has it baked in permanently, usually without ever printing the number.
The 30-year fixed averaged 6.76% in the week ending September 10, the highest reading since June 2025. A year ago that same national average was 6.35%. Forty-one basis points. It isn't dramatic, it didn't make anybody's headline, and that's exactly the problem — a rate move big enough to be news gets a phone call. A move this size just sits there quietly and shrinks what your approval buys.
What 41 basis points does to your number
Say you were approved last fall to a principal-and-interest payment of about $2,489 a month, which at 6.35% financed a $400,000 loan. That's the number printed on your letter, and it hasn't changed a character since.
Same payment. Today's rate. Different house.
What one payment buys at four different rates
Holding principal and interest at roughly $2,489 a month on a 30-year fixed. Loan amounts rounded. Property taxes, homeowners insurance and any mortgage insurance are additional, and in the Capital Region taxes are the single biggest variable between two towns. Illustration only, not a quote.
| Rate | What it means | Loan supported |
|---|---|---|
| 5.75% | If pricing improved from here | $426,000 |
| 6.35% | The national average a year ago — what your letter was built on | $400,000 |
| 6.76% | The average the week of September 10 | $383,000 |
| 7.25% | If the trend continues another few weeks | $365,000 |
Read the middle two rows together. Your ceiling dropped about $17,000 and your letter never changed. Run it the other direction and the same $400,000 loan costs about $108 more per month than the payment you agreed to in your head.
In Albany County, where houses have been going in around 15 days at roughly 102.9% of list, $17,000 is the difference between winning a house and being the second-best offer on it.
And here's what makes it genuinely expensive: the gap doesn't surface when you write the offer. It surfaces at underwriting, two or three weeks in, after you've paid for the inspection and booked the movers.
Four things besides the rate that quietly move your number
You financed something
A car, a truck, a riding mower, furniture on twelve months no interest. A $550 car payment can take $70,000 to $80,000 off a purchase price, depending on where your ratios sat to begin with. This is the most common reason a pre-approval quietly shrinks, and it happens between the letter and the offer more often than you'd think.
If you financed anything since the letter, say so before you write an offer.The taxes on the house you found
Your approval was run on an assumed tax figure. Capital Region school and property taxes swing enormously town to town, and two houses at the same price in different districts can differ by $400 a month in escrow alone. A letter written against a Colonie assumption doesn't automatically hold on a Niskayuna listing.
Ask for the payment on the actual town and the actual tax bill.Your credit score moved
Scores drift. A card that ran up over the summer, a closed account, a medical bill that went to collections, an authorized-user account that came off. Pricing is tiered by score, so a 20-point slide can change your rate even when your approval amount looks untouched.
Credit reports for mortgage purposes typically go stale at 120 days anyway.Your income changed shape
A new job, a switch from salary to commission, a bonus structure that changed, a side business that started losing money on paper. None of that is bad news by itself — but income is documented and averaged a specific way, and "I make more now" doesn't always translate to a bigger approval without the right paperwork.
A raise helps. A raise two weeks into a brand new job needs a conversation.The fix takes about ten minutes
This is the part worth knowing, because most buyers assume re-running an approval is a whole ordeal and avoid asking.
It isn't a new application. It doesn't restart your file, it doesn't hurt your standing on a house you're already under contract for, and in most cases it doesn't require a new credit pull — if your report is still inside its window, we re-price against today's market and reissue. If something did change, you'd rather find out sitting at your kitchen table than in underwriting.
What comes back is a clean letter with a current number on it, and more usefully, the purchase price that holds your payment where you actually want it.
Three questions to ask your lender today
"What rate was my approval built on?" Most letters don't print it and most buyers have never asked. If the answer is anything from the spring, your real number is lower than the paper says.
"What's my payment at today's rate?" Approval amount is the wrong headline number. You don't live in a purchase price, you live in a monthly payment. The payment calculator will get you close before anyone pulls credit.
"What purchase price keeps my payment at X?" This is the question that actually helps you shop. Get that number in writing, and re-check it monthly while you're out looking.
Is your letter stale? Six-item check
If you check more than one of these, it's worth a ten-minute refresh before your next showing.
- The letter was issued more than 60 days ago — look at the issue date, not the expiration date
- You don't know what interest rate the approval was calculated on
- You've financed anything since: car, furniture, equipment, a personal loan
- You've opened, closed, or run up a credit card, or co-signed for someone
- Your job, pay structure, or self-employment income has changed
- You're shopping in a town with meaningfully different taxes than where you started looking
Dad says a number from four months ago is not a number anymore. I have learned this about the food bowl. You check it again. Every time.
Holding a letter you're not sure about? Send it over and I'll tell you same day what it's worth at today's pricing. Call or text 518-396-7392. If the number still holds, I'll tell you that too.
FAQ
How long is a mortgage pre-approval good for?
Most pre-approval letters carry an expiration of 60 to 90 days, and the supporting credit report typically goes stale around 120 days. But the practical shelf life is shorter than the printed one, because the rate the approval was calculated on changes weekly. A letter more than about 60 days old is worth re-running even when the expiration date hasn't hit yet.
Does re-running a pre-approval hurt my credit score?
Usually there's nothing new to pull. If your existing credit report is still inside its validity window, the approval can be re-priced against current rates without a new inquiry. When a fresh report is needed, mortgage inquiries pulled inside a short shopping window are generally treated as a single inquiry by the common scoring models, and the impact is typically small.
Why did my pre-approval amount go down?
Most often one of four things: interest rates moved, you took on a new monthly debt payment, your credit score shifted into a different pricing tier, or the property taxes on the homes you're now looking at are higher than the figure your approval assumed. The first and last of those have nothing to do with anything you did wrong.
Will a higher interest rate change how much house I can buy?
Yes, and more than most buyers expect. Holding principal and interest around $2,489 a month, a 30-year fixed at 6.35% supports roughly a $400,000 loan while 6.76% supports roughly $383,000. Same payment, about $17,000 less house. That is an illustration on published national averages, not a quote, but the direction and rough scale hold for any payment.
Should I get re-approved before making an offer?
If your letter is more than about two months old, yes. A current letter is a stronger offer — listing agents and sellers in the Capital Region do look at the issue date — and it means the payment you commit to is built on the market that exists rather than the one that existed when you started looking.
Can I buy a car while I'm shopping for a house?
You can, but wait until after closing if there's any way to. A new monthly payment goes straight into your debt-to-income ratio and can reduce your purchase price by tens of thousands of dollars, or in a tight file cost you the approval entirely. If you genuinely have to, call your loan officer first and get the number re-run before you sign anything.
Related reading
- Pre-qualified vs. pre-approved vs. cleared to close
- The 7 documents to gather before you call a lender
- You're not keeping a 3% rate. You're keeping it on a house you've outgrown.
- Sunday Spotlight No. 19 — the agent's version of this same problem
Brian Marchand, NMLS #481563 · The Marchand Team, Powered by New American Funding · New American Funding, LLC, NMLS #6606 · Equal Housing Lender. Equal Housing Opportunity. This article is for educational purposes only and is not a commitment to lend, an offer of credit, a rate lock, or tax, legal or investment advice. All payment and loan figures shown are illustrative examples calculated on a 30-year fixed principal-and-interest basis using published national average rates, exclude property taxes, homeowners insurance and mortgage insurance, and are not quotes specific to any borrower or property. Rate figures reflect the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the weeks ending September 10, 2026 and September 11, 2025. Capital Region days-on-market and percent-of-list figures reflect Greater Capital Association of Realtors monthly indicators. Credit report and pre-approval validity periods vary by lender and program. All loans are subject to credit approval, underwriting and program guidelines; not all applicants will qualify. Rates, programs and terms are subject to change without notice.