Latest Home Shopper Bonus: Getting Pre-Approved Loan

“Putting it on the plastic” has new meaning--perhaps the ultimate meaning--at CompuFund Inc., a Bay Area computerized mortgage banking firm.

On Monday, CompuFund is introducing its Homebuyer Express Card to qualified home seekers. A prospective buyer with the card is able to assure all parties to a transaction that he or she has money waiting at CompuFund to purchase a house in a stated price range, according to Sig Anderman, the Pleasanton, Calif.-based firm’s chief executive officer.

“Pre-approved loans--widely accepted in automobile financing--have not been available up to now in the housing finance industry because of the complexities of real estate transactions,” he said. “We have developed computer procedures that enable potential buyers to initiate a loan application before the specific property is selected.”

Anderman said that the card is available through and honored by the more than 100 mortgage banking affiliates and real estate brokers enrolled in the CompuFund National Morgage Network, listed in the Yellow Pages.