I'm shocked......

at how easily I'm given access to an insane amount of credit.

I'm in the process of buying my first home, and yesterday dealt with my mortgage pre-approval. Now, standards may tighten as a I move from pre-approval to final mortgage, but the laxity still shocked me. For example:

I was pre-approved for 4.5X my annual salary, or 33% higher than my calculated ceiling.. How did I manage this? I mentioned my recent bonus (20% of my salary), which my broker promptly assumed would occur every year (and at the same payout level.) Gulp.

Not only that, but my broker also suggested a loan structure that while still representing 95% of the prospective value of the house, didn't include PMI, as 15% of the loan was in the form of a home equity loan (or 2nd mortgage.)

While such generous credit terms won't really affect my personal choices, I'm wondering how many other loaded guns are walking around out there with an excess of mortgage debt and NO PMI!