Mortgage Scams • Loan Scams • Identity Protection Mortgage Scams in Australia: How to Know You’re Really Talking to Your Bank or Broker Mortgage scams in Australia are not always obvious. A fake lender or broker can have a convincing website, professional-looking documents, an Australian phone number and even real business or licence details copied
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Pre-Approval • Property Security • Home Buying Property Declined After Pre Approval? Why Pre-Approved Doesn’t Mean Every Property Is Approved A property declined after pre approval can come as a nasty surprise. You may already know roughly how much a lender is prepared to lend, but the actual property still needs to meet the lender’s
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Investment Property • Keeping Your Home • Next Home Can You Turn Your Current Home Into an Investment Property? You have outgrown your current home, found somewhere else you would rather live — but you are not quite ready to sell the old place. So can you simply keep it, rent it out and turn
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Property Valuations • Home Loans • LVR Why the Bank’s Property Valuation Can Be Different From What Your Home Is Worth Online An online property estimate says $950,000. A real estate agent thinks it could sell for $980,000. You believe it is worth around $1 million. Then the lender values it at $900,000. That does
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Home Loan Pre-Approval • House Hunting • Buying Property Your Home Loan Pre-Approval Has an Expiry Date — Here’s What Can Change Before You Buy Getting home loan pre-approval can make the property search much easier. You have an indication of what a lender may be prepared to lend and a clearer price range to
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Home Loan Serviceability • Borrowing Power • APRA Why Banks Assess Your Home Loan at a Rate You’re Not Actually Paying Your home loan rate might be 6%. Yet the bank could assess your borrowing power as though the rate were around 9%. That does not mean the bank thinks you are about to start
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Mortgage Prison • Refinancing • Home Loans Mortgage Prison: Why You Can Afford Your Home Loan but Still Can’t Refinance You are paying your mortgage. A cheaper home loan exists. Yet when you try to refinance, the new lender says no. It sounds ridiculous, but it can happen. The term mortgage prison describes borrowers who
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Home Loans • Lender Policy • Broker Strategy One bank said no. That isn’t necessarily the end. Different lenders can look at the same borrower and reach different conclusions. The trick isn’t applying everywhere and hoping for the best. It’s understanding why one lender doesn’t fit — and knowing where to look next. Book a
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Home Loans • Offset Accounts • Borrower Protection Is your offset account actually linked to your home loan? An offset account can be one of the most useful features attached to a home loan. Money held in the account can reduce the balance on which the lender calculates interest. As a result, you may pay
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