Applying for a home loan can feel like a never-ending quest of supplying paperwork- statements,
payslips, your grade 5 history class results… okay maybe not that one, but why do we ask for so
much? And why do we ask for more after your initial meeting?
Well there are a few phases to the process of getting a home loan, here we’ll explain why we need
so much ‘stuff’!
Initial appointment
Before you’ve even met with your broker, they’ve already started researching options for you based on your current situation. In order to do this research, we ask you to complete a few initial things, including your online Fact Find, providing payslips (or financials, if you’re self-employed) and your credit report. This gives your broker a basic run down of your current circumstances, and gives them a starting point for your meeting.
Post appointment
At or after your first meeting with your broker, they will provide a recommendation, and this is when we start preparing your application. The finance world is heavily regulated, and so we have certain documents that we need to get from you at a bare minimum, such as bank statements and ID. Your broker will have assessed what we need in order to submit an application for you specifically. At this point, the documents we need will vary from person to person, and can include things like Centrelink statements, HECS/HELP debt, tax returns and more. Based on your circumstances and the bank that we’re sending your application to, your broker will
have a pretty good idea of what they will ask for.
But wait- I gave you all of that, and you asked me for MORE things?
Usually this is because we’ve spotted something that we know the bank is going to ask about. Things
like Afterpay transactions on your account that maybe we didn’t know about earlier, or a card on
your credit report that hasn’t been used for years (thanks, Harvey Norman!). If we ask for this now,
there are fewer surprises, and your application will go more smoothly.
After your application has been sent to the bank
So, you’ve sent everything we asked for, signed your forms and we’ve sent your application to the
bank. You’ve been anxiously waiting for an answer for a few days, and now you have an email from
your broker! You open it up and…they’ve asked for more documents? Why?!
Well, when your broker submits your application to the bank, they try to anticipate everything that
the bank will ask for, but sometimes, the bank finds something else that they need clarification on.
Every bank has their own policies, and your application is assessed by an individual person who is
interpreting those policies. The person working on your application at the bank wants to be sure that
they have a clear understanding of your personal circumstances and why you’re applying for the
loan, and sometimes this can mean that they will ask for things that we didn’t anticipate…we’ve
been meaning to get that faulty crystal ball back from the repair shop!
The sooner we can get those things back to the bank, the sooner they will get back to working on
your application and get your application approved!
You’re approved! And there are MORE documents.
Yep, that’s right, now it’s time for the legal stuff, like showing that your house is insured, and that
the correct name is on the title for the house. Occasionally there will be extra things, like showing
that you’ve closed a credit card for example, but we’ll let you know about this when we send you
your approval letter.
While it can seem like we’re just asking you for more and more ‘stuff’, we always ask for it for a
reason, and it will help us get the best result for you in the end- and if it seems like a pain having to
get the paperwork for us, you can imagine how much coffee our hardworking admin team has to
drink to sort through it all!
Written by Keisha Thompson