The Loan Process

Preparing for your mortgage application

To discover your eligibility for a home loan, the best place to start is to speak with a mortgage broker.

Talk to your mortgage broker

There are many benefits to using a mortgage broker:

• For the vast majority of cases, we will not charge you a *fee for our services – *more complicated cases may incur a fee.
• The best interests duty (BID) for mortgage brokers is a statutory obligation for mortgage brokers to act in the best interests of consumers (best interests duty).  This new legal duty offers customers peace of mind knowing that their mortgage broker is legally required to act in their best interests and put their interests first.
• They have access to a wide range of major banks and lenders, and specialist lenders, which can be helpful if you do not quite fit into standard policies.
• You will get a fast and easy approval compared to going to the bank directly because the broker will handle the application process from start to finish.
• Mortgage brokers have strong negotiating power to get tough loans approved and to negotiate sharp interest rate discounts on your behalf.

After your initial conversation, our mortgage broker can gauge if you are eligible for a home loan.

Returning your application and documents

We will ask you to complete a short application form and also require supporting documents such as your ID, payslips and bank statements

Preliminary assessment

• After we have your application and supporting documents, we’re able to complete a preliminary assessment of your situation.
• The preliminary assessment is a very detailed process where we identify any possible problems from a lending point of view.
• We will also calculate your borrowing capacity or borrowing power.
• Our brokers will then assess which lenders can assist and compare a suitable loans at competitive interest rates.
• After determining eligibility we will discuss/recommend lenders that will meet your needs.
• After the preliminary assessment, the broker will present two or three loan recommendations for you to choose from.

Submit to a lender

• We will submit your documents on your behalf to the chosen lender and we join the queue for it to be assessed.  It usually takes between 5-7 work days depending on their workload and any complexities.

Loan Application

Conditional Approval or Pre-Approval

• A conditional approval means that you are yet to find a property which means your home loan is approved subject to a property valuation

Property valuation

• Once you have chosen your desired property, a valuer will make an appointment to inspect the property.

Unconditional approval or formal approval

• Unconditional approval, also known as formal approval, is when the lender has everything they need and can confirm that they are willing to approve your loan.  Once formal approval is received, your Solicitor/Conveyancer will be in a position to exchange contracts.

Loan offer issued

• Once the loan has been formally approved, the lender will send you a loan contract for you to sign to accept their offer.

Settlement

• Once the lender has certified that all of your documents are in order, they can then advance the loan funds.
• For a purchase, they will call your solicitor or conveyancer and let them know that the funds are available.

After the mortgage is set up

Did you know that we continue to look after you even after your home loan has been settled.

Two weeks after settlement

After your loan is set up, we’ll contact you a couple of times after settlement to make sure that you understand the loan features and how to make repayments.

We’ll also ask for a copy of the settlement letter to make sure that the lender has not overcharged you.

Annual review

We call our customers annually on the anniversary of their settlement to check that they haven’t had any problems and review their home loan.

Ongoing help

We provide ongoing service to our customers long after they have settled their loan including:

• Reviewing your interest rate
• Switching loan products
• Helping you make an educated decision on fixing your interest rate or staying variable