This isn’t what you want to hear when you make the trip to your bank, cap in hand, to ask for money. However it’s often what’s said. The main reason is that many borrowers don’t understand how lenders look at you and how they assess your worthiness. BY JANE SLACK-SMITH It comes down to a two things: 1.You 2.What you’re buying Let me deal with the first component. Without getting over the initial hurdle...
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It was written there for all to see in the company’s prospectus. But for the 3500-odd investors in failed Gippsland Secured Investments, the company’s financial woes came as a surprise. For the mostly farmers, pensioners and small business owners who held money with the non-bank lender, GSI was a trusted institution with a vested interest in keeping the community secure. But for those with the financial nous to understand the fine print, it had been...
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by Shannyn HunterConveyancer shannyn@lawyersconveyancing.com.au Lawyers Conveyancing Anyone who has dealt with the banks for a home loan will tell you about their battle scars with pride. Simply securing finance approval can be a frustrating and baffling task. An anxious purchaser can be kept waiting for finance approval because the valuation has been delayed, the vendor has gone overseas, the valuation has been done but your documents are being processed, your broker is on leave, your call...
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by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au This latest “Clayton’s” finance approval letter is hot off my fax machine. Last year I reported on an upbeat broker’s keenness to show me that my clients’ finance had been “approved” – by way of a copy of a letter from the lending bank confirming that the loan application had been “Unconditionally Approved.” (see: Clayton’s Finance Approval (The Approval You Have When You Don’t Have Approval)). Responsible...
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by Neil Jenman The word ‘mortgage’ is French in origin. It means to make a pledge upon which your life depends – or, literally, an agreement until death.In today’s debt heavy world a mortgage really has one of two meanings. Either you destroy (kill) it or it destroys (kills) you. Around one million Australians are now suffering the most talked-about ‘material disease’ of today – mortgage stress. The symptom of...
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by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au Last week I received this email: “Tim, I was wondering if you could help me with a strange clause. A woman wants to purchase a property for $500,000. She wants to get extra money from the banks to cover deposit, so this is what she proposes: Contract Price: $670,00030% deposit (deposit is not physically paid, but sellers acknowledge that the deposit has been) Then at settlement, she pays the...
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by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.B Queensland Solicitor & Consumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au The fax came through late one afternoon from the mortgage broker for a residential property buyer on whose behalf I was acting. “Dear Tim,” it familiarly began, “I am pleased to advise that finance has been approved, to assist with the purchase of the above-mentioned property.” The fax, which was on the broking company’s letterhead, continued that the broker (THE LOAN MARKET MULTIBANK LENDING...
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