After the recent decision by the major banks to lift interest rates above the Reserve Banks cash rate, the government has responded with measures designed to make it easier for customers to change lenders. These measures have operated to reduce early exit fees which generally cost around $700 when the loan is paid out in the first 3-4 years. However, the problem is not the early exit fees but rather the non transportability of Lenders Mortgage Insurance which has not even been mentioned by either side of politics Lenders Mortgage Insurance is charged when a borrower has less than a 20% deposit or equity in their existing property. It is a once off upfront fee and is designed to protect the lender against a bad debt. There are two lender mortgage insurers in Australia being Genworth and QBE and different banks will use one of these two insurers. The issue arises for borrowers when they want to refinance without having… Read More
Archives for January 2011
How to get home loan documents certified or witnessed when living overseas
If you are living overseas you will be required to provide certified witnessed copies of ID and certain other supporting documents when making a home loan application to purchase an Australian property. Depending on the State of Australia you are purchasing in, you may also be required to have your signature on the mortgage document itself witnessed by an authorised person. Who can certify/witness the documents? Lawyer, Notary public, Consular official, JP or CDEC, Police officer if in Australia What are the requirements for a document to be satisfactory certified? It is not just sufficient that the document is certified, we also need to be able to confirm that the person who has certified the document is who they say they are. To ensure this is the case; An Australian solicitor needs to provide full name and State of Australia they are registered in (MAP can then do a search of the records to confirm), JP/CDEC needs to provide their registration number… Read More
