Maximize down payment savings with sign up bonuses? Or better to leave alone?

[PNW_FIRE]

Hi! We're first time homebuyers looking to purchase in the next 4-8 months. In the meantime, I'd love to maximize our down payment savings, which we currently have sitting in a high-yield savings account.

I was thinking my partner and I could each take advantage of the $700 Citi sign up bonus (deposit 50K for 60 days), however we're a little hesitant to do this since we're not sure if having multiple savings accounts, or recently opening new accounts and moving money around, will negatively impact us when we apply for a mortgage in the next few months.

Should we go ahead and try for the sign up bonuses since we don't need our saved up down payment money right now, or is this just not worth it--either because it could negatively impact us when we go to secure a mortgage in the next few months, or just because it creates more paperwork for us when we know we're going to be applying for a loan soon (more accounts we have to list/document, etc.).

[Joel]

I did this when we were saving our 20% down payment on a house (which ended up building up to around $100k). My biggest piece of advice is to keep good records and all statements from the various accounts as your lender will ask a lot of questions on the transfers back and forth. I did not retain statements very well and it because a giant headache in the final stages of closing.

[MudPuppy]

How many hard pulls can your credit take? I can’t imagine the pulls and card payouts would do more than balance at best in a 7 month time frame.

[terran]

How many hard pulls can your credit take? I can’t imagine the pulls and card payouts would do more than balance at best in a 7 month time frame.

I would avoid too many hard pulls leading up to getting a mortgage (and none while the application is in progress), but I think PNW_Fire is talking about bank account (not credit card) bonuses which don't usually have hard pulls.

I would do any account opening bonuses you have the money for that aren't too much of a pain. I've done the Chase bonuses a number of times.

[PNW_FIRE]

Thanks, all!

Yes, I'm talking about soft pulls for bank sign up bonuses and definitely not hard pulls for opening credit cards.

It sounds like if I keep good records (important for when the time comes to apply for a mortgage), it shouldn't be a problem moving the down payment savings around for the next few months to take advantage of some sign up bonuses.

I've already done the Chase bonus so I think the Citi $700 bonus for $50K deposit is the best one I can currently find.

[FindingFI]

Definitely keep good records. My lender needed me to walk them through all large bank transactions, including the sources of any large deposits, even though they already had bank statements from my other accounts showing a matching withdrawal.  I surmised that they were looking to be sure I hasn't received money from someone else that I would need to pay back after closing in addition to their mortgage.