Mark Bristow

Do you need a bank account to get a home loan?

To get a home loan, you’ll need a bank account in order to manage the repayments. However, you aren’t required to bank with the same financial institution that holds your mortgage.

What happens to my super if I’m a temporary resident working in Australia?

Working in Australia means a percentage of your wage or salary must be put aside in a superannuation fund. But what happens if you’re only working in Australia on a temporary basis? Will you be unable to access this money until you retire, or can you access your super early?

Three great reasons checking your credit score can help you

Your credit score is an assessment of your financial responsibility. If you have a good credit score, lenders may feel more confident about lending you more money at lower interest rates. But if you have a bad credit score, you may find it harder to successfully apply for credit.

Can I use my home as collateral for a loan?

Buying a property with a home loan typically means using the property’s value to secure the loan; a practice called “mortgaging” your home. But it’s also possible to use the value of your property as collateral on another loan, provided you fulfil the eligibility criteria and have enough usable equity available.

What factors go into a home appraisal?

Before you get ready to sell your home or investment property, you may want to work out what kind of sale price you can expect. Whether you’re planning to use the money from the sale to fund your next property purchase, or if you have some other project in mind, appraising your property’s value before you sell can help you start planning your budget in advance.

What to do if the house valuation is less than your offer

Getting a home loan preapproval doesn’t mean your mortgage is automatically guaranteed. Many lenders preapprove home loan applications on the condition that the value of the property being bought is enough to secure the loan. If the lender’s valuation comes back short of the price you’ve offered to pay, you could be left in a difficult financial position, though there are steps you can take to try and recover.

CommBank releases Green Loan to mortgage holders nationwide

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has made its Green Loan available to all of its eligible home loan customers nationally.

How fast can you get a home equity loan?

To get a home equity loan, you’ll first need to get some equity in your property. While it will likely take some time to build up your equity, you may find that you have more equity available than you realise, which could help things go faster.

Is it safe to get a home loan online?

If you’ve never applied for a home loan online before, it’s easy to feel nervous about the prospect of making a major financial commitment by clicking a mouse or tapping a smartphone. But there are benefits to online home loans, which are often much safer than you may expect.

Some of the best investor home loans in July 2021

Recent statistics show that home lending recently hit an all-time high. But it wasn’t owner occupiers and first home buyers driving these figures – rather, it was investors and refinancers.