You might be an existing homeowner looking to refinance, looking for a new home, or even a first home owner – one thing for sure is that you need to start planning now and getting rid of these financial red flags as soon as you can!

As the March towards Christmas continues and the year’s end draws upon us, everyone’s thoughts start to look to next year and what it might bring.

Many existing customers or new contacts will approach us to start talking about and planning for purchasing a new home next year, refinancing, or dipping their toes into the property market for the first time.

If you are planning any of the above, now is the time to start preparing yourself to be assessed by the banks, be it your existing bank or a new bank, for a refinance or new loan.

With bank assessment criteria now sitting at around 8% (it was 5% earlier in the year), and borrowing capacities drastically reduced, you need to position yourself in the best light if you’re to get the funding you need for a new property, or access to better rates with a refinance.

This is where we can help – consider us your ‘personal trainers’ for finance. We’ll work with you over a few months to get you financially fit and put you in the best position to source the solution you need that’s aligned to your goals. We’ve got some actionable steps you can take to begin this process now, just so you know, this financial cleanse should go on for three to six months. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll be fit enough to be assessed.

So, what can you do now to cleanse yourself? The easiest way is to look at the ‘financial red flags’ in your savings account – this is usually ‘habitual’ discretionary spending. This means looking at (and cutting):

• Your daily coffees (maybe take it down to one a week)
• All of the streaming services you have (perhaps choose your favourite one)
• Getting rid of that gym membership, you don’t use
• Cutting back on credit card expenditure and paying down any of your debts 

The goal is to position yourself as a responsible borrower who is not living beyond or close to your means. 

Banks will look very closely at your spending behaviour. If they deem you an ‘unfit’ borrower, the chances of getting your loan approved or refinancing with another lender could be cut significantly.

So, if you’re seriously considering purchasing or refinancing, contact the MAW Money team today. We can talk to you about how you can prepare yourself for a loan application or a refinance.

It’s also important to note that more rate rises are coming, and if you are looking to purchase, your borrowing capacity will continue to decline. So, the sooner you get started, the more chance you’ll have of being able to borrow what you need to get into that suburb you want to.

We look forward to talking to you soon!