Bank said I need assets to qualify for Mortgage...

[David Martin]

I've applied for a sub40K mortgage and my credit union is asking for a list of assets available such as a retirement account or accounts with other financial institutions.  They have hinted that they may not be able to approve the mortgage if I can't show assets. (That's why I applied for the mortgage... to build an asset!)

Currently I don't have any real assets or real property other than personal property and business inventory from Income on my schedule C.

Would this asset requirement happen to be an industry standard and is there a creative way to get around this or another way to deal this requirement?

Thanks!