Mortgage loan declarations on the standard mortgage loan application (Uniform Residential Lending Application).

These are answered with a yes/no response. The primary borrower and co-borrower(s) need to answer these questions.

The questions in the declaration include, but are not limited to, the status of:

outstanding judgments
bankruptcy declarations
property foreclosures in the past seven years
any current lawsuits
obligations on other loans that resulted from foreclosures or judgments
borrowing on all of part of the mortgage down payment
endorsing someone else's debt
citizenship status
your intention to occupy the property
how you plan to hold the property
former types of property owned
ways title were held on other properties
The purpose of this is for the lender to get additional information on legal status, legal problems, and additional debt obligations that may not show up on a standard credit report.

A big surprise for many borrowers is co-signed debt showing up on their credit report.

This can impact an application in several ways. This additional debt can be treated as your debt load, even if someone else is paying it. If you co-sign for a sibling's mortgage this may show up on your loan and prevent you from refinancing or getting other loans.

If the person that you co-signed with are paying their bills late this will also impact your credit. This can come as a surprise to some borrowers. Often times they have not been informed of the other party's inability to make these payments.

Lenders are typically interested in more recent financial and legal affairs in your life. If you have a bankruptcy 20 years ago the lender may not be as concerned with it as a bankruptcy 3 years ago.