Stages of a Mortgage: 2. Viability Analysis
Once your documents reach the banks, viability analysis begins — the stage where each bank decides whether, and on what terms, it's willing to finance your mortgage.
When it starts and when it ends
Viability analysis starts the moment your file is sent, for the first time, to the banks — the natural end point of the previous stage, document collection. This stage is different from the others: it doesn't end with a bank's decision, but with a second, more complete submission.
That second submission typically includes the signed Solvency Proposal (Proposta de Solvabilidade) and the IRS settlement note — and, if enough time has passed since the initial collection, your most recent payslips, so banks are working with current figures.
What banks are evaluating
At this stage, each partner bank is running its own numbers: the applicant's debt-to-income ratio, what amount and term make sense, and what terms it can offer. It's normal — and expected — that the fastest response and the best offer don't come from the same bank; that's why the file usually goes to several banks at once.
Why there can be a second submission
If your IRS return didn't yet have a settlement note available during document collection — common in the first months of the year — this is the stage where that document joins the file, as soon as the Finance Portal makes it available. The same applies to payslips: if the analysis stretches out, banks prefer to see the most recent ones, not whatever you had on hand weeks earlier.
What happens next
With the signed Solvency Proposal and up-to-date tax documentation in the banks' hands, the process moves to pre-approval — the stage where you start getting concrete answers.
