FAQs

A.

Refinancing is the process you go through when your personal or financial circumstances change and your current home loan no longer meets your needs or is the best deal for you.

Your current lender may be able to help you out, but you may also find that a competing lender has attractive deals that may have a more competitive interest rate, fewer or cheaper fees or simply has the features you are looking for in a home loan.

To assess your current situation, speak to Bob to arrange a free, no-obligation home loan health check at [email protected].

For more on this topic, see our Refinancing blog post.

A.

LMI is applicable when borrowing more than 80% of the property’s market value. Importantly, this is an insurance policy that is designed to protect the lender and NOT the borrower.

If you were to default on the loan and the lender was to lose money, they would apply to their LMI company to recover their loss. The LMI company will still ask you to repay the loss.

LMI is calculated on a sliding scale depending on how much is borrowed against the market value of the property. The higher the amount above 80% the more expensive LMI will be.

A.

LVR stands for Loan to Value Ratio and is a commonly used phrase within the mortgage industry. The term is used by lenders to describe what percentage you are borrowing against your property.

LVR is calculated by dividing your loan amount by the value of your property. For example, if you take out a loan for $250,000 and your property is worth $500,000, the LVR will be 50%

Lenders will use the LVR as part of their loan assessment, assisting them in determining whether or not your loan needs Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) applied to it. If your application doesn’t need LMI applied, lenders can often be a little more flexible with their credit policies.