It’s important to understand the game has changed when it comes to borrowing. It’s changed for everyone from first home buyers to investors refinancing fixed interest loans or home owners swapping banks for lower rates.
It used to be an easy process to move from principal and interest to interest-only or vice versa, or to change from a fixed rate to a variable rate loan. However, the regulator now expects banks and other lending institutions to undertake a serviceability assessment whenever there are material changes to the current or originally approved loan conditions.
While these serviceability assessments were brought in months ago, mortgage brokers are only now understanding the impact the changes are having on clients. For anyone looking to change their lending or enter a new borrowing arrangement, it’s important to understand what you need to do today to ensure you’re in the best position to obtain or change your arrangements.
One example is living expenses. Last year it might have been perfectly adequate to estimate income and expenses, for the purposes of assessing an applicant’s capacity to repay. The higher of the household expenditure method (HEM) or customer-declared living expenses was accepted in serviceability assessment.
There are now 12 categories of living expenses that borrowers must provide a detailed response on. A rough estimate of living expenses is not acceptable.
Lenders are extra vigilant when it comes to verifying borrower’s living expenses. Expenses declared are verified with a mandatory three months of the lender’s recent bank transaction account and credit card statements.
If there were items in the statements that did not support declared living expenses, borrowers would be questioned and would need to provide justification.
An example was for a client who earns about $90,000 a year. She is single, has no dependants and lives in a three-bedroom apartment in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
The clients declared living expenses are not marginal but the bank had been relentless in validating her living expense declaration.
After providing three months’ worth of bank and credit card statements, the bank came back querying several items. One was a $467 per month payment to a course provider. The transaction was a final payment of an evening course completed in May 2018. We had to obtain confirmation the course was paid in full, even though the cost did not appear on statements in later months. The client also declared clothing expenses of $200 per month, yet because a $500 debit from David Jones appeared on her credit card, she had to provide sufficient justification to prove it was a one-off transaction. Parking and fitness taken out of her pay meant the clients employer was asked to confirm these were discretionary expenses that could be stopped if required.
If banks will be looking at three months’ worth of transactions, start looking at your spending now.
Historically this loan would have been approved within 48 hours but it took 10 days to get it approved.
Delays like this can be countered if borrowers understand the regulations and how they’re going to affect them when it comes to applying or refinancing.
If you know banks will be looking at three months’ worth of transactions, then start looking at your spending and make conscious choices about whether your purchases will affect your ability to secure a loan. If they will, then consider either deferring your spending or choosing to go without. It will make it so much easier to apply for the loan, knowing you have a spending history that the banks will be happy with rather than having to justify individual purchases that don’t match up with what you’re declaring as your spending pattern.
Besides, if it forces you to evaluate your spending and become a more mindful and conscious spender then surely that’s a benefit.
If you’re even considering a rate change, a loan swap, comparing banks, buying an
investment property or purchasing your own home it’s important to understand we’re in new era of responsible lending.
More than ever, it means working with us, perhaps months beforehand, to understand the changes and to ensure that not only your income and assets, but your spending, aligns with the criteria required for you to obtain funding.
For help in obtaining finance tailored to your personal situation please contact Crosbie Finance who will be happy to guide you through this process and find the best business and commercial, motor vehicle, equipment or home loans for you.