Residential Loan
First Home Buyer
At LeMerit Finance, we are proudly assisting with First Home Buyers to achieve their dreams. You will have thorough understanding of your needs and circumstances to find out right home loan deals.
First Home Buyers FAQs
Q1, How much I can borrow?
The loan amount you can borrow is depending on your different circumstances. We firstly collect your personal and financial information to conduct a preliminary assessment in order to calculate your maximum borrowing capacity. The results of our borrowing capacity will be the similar as lender does as long as you provided correct information to us.
Please call or email us for your borrowing capacity, it takes only 5 mints to get results.
Q2, How much deposit I should have?
If you are owner occupied applicant, most lenders can allow you to save at least 5%-10% of purchasing price as a deposit. In this case, lender mortgage insurance must be applied, you will pay extra fee on that or capitalized it to your loan amount.
If you are investor, 10% of purchasing price is requested by lenders to precede your loan application.
Q3, What is First Home Owner Grant?
In Australia, different states have different policies on First Home Owner Grant. Generally speaking, the FHOG is a one-off payment by your states or territory to assist you purchasing or constructing your first home under specific value of property. Please link to SRO on your Google search for more information.
Q4, Interest Only Repayment or Principle and Interest, Which one is better for me?
Most lenders encourage first home buyers and owner occupied applicant to repay their mortgage in principle and interest method. Under Principle and Interest repayment, you may have lower interest rate and more borrowing capacity.
However, if you have different plan on how to repay your mortgage, it is ok to try interest only repayment and budget your cash flow.
We can list some options for you to compare which repayment is most suitable for your situation.
Home Loan Refinancing
Refinancing your home loan, which means you switch home loan balance from either your existing lender or other lenders with different purposes of lower interest rate, lower cost or equity releasing.
We provide and compare highly competitive home loans options and offers from a wide choice of lenders to meet your goals and circumstances. After successful refinancing, you are able to,
- Save your monthly repayment to pay off your loan quicker, or
- Debts Consolidation, pay off your other high interest rate debts, or
- Equity release for your personal or investment purpose, or
- Restructure your loan
Home Loan Refinancing FAQs
Q1, What advantages or benefits I can have from refinancing?
In most refinancing cases, you can have blow advantages or benefits,
- Reduce your current higher interest rate or lock in lower fixed rate for next few years
- Pay Off your mortgage faster
- Consolidate your credit cards, personal loan, car loan or even other urgent debts
- Release your equity from your home property to make investment (Either property or shares)
Q2, How does Home Loan Refinancing work?
Step one – initial appointment with LeMerit Finance Broker to complete preliminary assessment about your personal situation, your property value and current loan information.
Step two – recommend your some lenders depending on your purpose of loan refinancing.
Step three – collect your supporting documents and lodge the loan
Step four – settle your loan and enjoy your benefits.
Q3, What else I need to consider when refinancing?
You need to check if your current interest rate is at fixed rate terms or with any other conditions, we can help you to review your current loan agreement to avoid any surprise cost and fee.
It is worth having a chat with LeMerit Finance broker to understand more on your loan refinancing.
Q4, Any particular cost or fees related to Home Loan Refinancing?
Some cost and fee are applied if loan is refinanced to the other lender. Please have a look at below common fee and charge in most scenarios,
Existing Lender:
Discharge Mortgage Fee: from $350
Discharge Mortgage Registration Fee: From $122 (depending on your states)
Economic cost if you refinance fixed rate loan
New Lender:
Annual package fee may applied, from $395
Mortgage Registration Fee or relevant legal cost: from $300
Application fee may applied
Lender Mortgage Insurance if LVR is over 80%
At LeMerit Finance, we try our best to work with lender to cover some cost and fee on your side.
Property Investment Loan
A good property investment strategy can help you a lot. Wealth Creation, Retirement Planning, or even Tax Deductions, property investment is the best tool for you. We can work together with your tax agent, financial planner or you to calculate your capacity to maximum your returns. Beside, we understand your different circumstance to place you in the most suitable lenders.
- New Property Investment purchasing or refinancing
- SMSF Investment Loan
- Residential Loan under Trust or Company
- Maximum your borrowing capacity
- Negative Gearing Benefits
- Non-Residential Investment Loan
Property Investment Loan FAQs
Q1, What is the different between Investment Loan and Owner Occupied Loan?
Some lenders may charge higher interest rate on investment loan purpose and restrict LVR limit in some postcode suburbs for property investors. However, we always have “Plan B” to assist property investors with better deal.
Q2, How much I can borrow for investment loan?
Different from owner occupied loan, we can consider rent income and negative gearing benefits to increase your borrowing capacity. Most importantly, full preliminary assessment is still requested to check your current personal and financial situation if you are suitable for investment loan.
Q3. Do I need to pay more fees than Owner Occupied Home Loan?
If you are purchasing residential investment property and provide full documents on your income, all the lenders treat you as high profile applicant without any surcharge on application.
Q4, What is Negative Gearing?
At the end of financial year, if your annual costs (Interest on the loan, bank fee, maintenance, repairs, management fees and capital depreciation) on your property exceed all your income on the property, you will have negative gearing. This negative gearing will impact on your taxable income when you lodge your tax return.
Low Doc Loans
Low Doc Loans are designed and suitable for those self-employed, who only can provide with alternative supporting documents rather than traditional income verification documents, like personal tax return or financial statements. As a result, most lenders reduce their LVR and increase interest rate to offset default risk for low doc borrowers.
Low Doc Loans FAQs
Q1, Is Low Doc only available for self-employed people?
Yes, only self-employed applicant is eligible for Low Doc Loan.
Q2, Why I need to use Low Doc Loan?
Traditionally, all the lenders requested self-employed applicant to provide with recent 2 years tax return and financials. However, if some applicants are struggling to meet income documents requirements, Low Doc is the only way for them to secure a loan.
Q3, What Documents I need to provide at least for Low Doc Loan?
A self-employed applicant would need to provide proof of income using a combination of the following:
- Evidence of ABN and/or GST Registration
- Current Business Activity Statements
- Business Transaction Bank Statements
- Accountant’s letter
- Personal Income Declaration Form
It is always recommended to discuss with us before decide to apply for low doc loan. Doing this could help to avoid disappointments, and you will explore more choices you were not aware of before.
Q4, How much I can Borrow based on Low Doc Loan?
We will assess on your annual BAS statement to estimate your annual income based on bench market ratio. The borrowing capacity is varies from different lenders.
Q5, Does lender charge more fees on Low Doc Loan Application?
Normally, lenders will charge application fee on low doc loan applications, but we can work out best to waive that fee for clients.