Empower Blog Lenders

Interest Rate Outlook for 2013 – Variable or Fix?

As a professional who makes a living out of helping people find the right lending option and loan structuring outcomes,  I know I will get asked what should ‘we’ meaning my clients,  be doing regarding our lending in 2013. Everybody got your Crystal Balls out? Good, because we are going to need them to pick what is going to happen with...

Read More

What does AFL, NRL and Mortgages Have in Common?

We love our sports; all the competitiveness and excitement that comes with it.  Have you ever wondered if the same spirit of sportsmanship also applies to scoring a good mortgage? Over the weekend we have seen the two major sporting codes Grand Finals.  These sporting contests are all about making ground on your opposition and putting scoreboa...

Read More

Alternative to the Big Four Banks

Ben Kingsley, CEO and Founder of Empower Wealth on Melbourne Property TV (MPTV) Panel speaking about the alternative to Big Four Banks, getting the best home loan, ways to deal with mortgage brokers and more. More often than not, property buyers would automatically turn to the Big 4 Banks (CBA, Westpac, ANZ and NAB) when they are looking to borrow ...

Watch Video

Chasing the Deal of the Day – Good Luck with That

Over the many years that I have been dealing in mortgage finance I have learnt a lot about this game, especially given the fact that at any point in time I’ve had access to over 600 different loan products at my disposal; from different credit policies, to loan structuring to maximising borrowing capacity etc. But the most important lesson in my ...

Read More

RBA Rates Decision – March 2012

The cash rate has been left on hold this month as the RBA believes it has adequately priced the access of money in the economy to ensure the long term growth of the economy. Meanwhile many economists argue the cash rate is too high to stimulate the economic growth, as soft market conditions in the two largest states of NSW and Victoria, have been o...

Read More

Loan Structuring

If you are not familiar with the term then this article is for you..... What is the definition of loan structuring:  In very simple terms it’s the way in which the loan product is set up to accommodate the borrower’s best interest, either in short, medium or longer terms depending on the client’s end goal, because we have to remember the go...

Read More

Lenders doing what they do – Lending Money

With all the global economic uncertainty and the flow on effect to the cost of funds for lenders and the risk of possibly a softening Australian economy, one might be thinking the banks will be considering tightening up lending policy. Our read of home loan lending policy is a little bit more macro, driven by the banks’ need to continue to str...

Read More

How Do Lenders Assess Loans?

Gone are the days when you can just go down to your local bank branch and get loan approval because of your longstanding relationship with the manager. These days lenders have become quite sophisticated in their method of assessing loans - it’s now all about Risk Assessment. For years, lenders have been compiling data about every one of their ...

Read More

Your Credit File – Part 2 Credit Dispute Resolution

If you have a credit dispute, meaning if your credit report is showing incorrect details on your report which is limiting your ability to get credit, your first point of contact is the creditor – the people you owe the money too or the ones who have made the mistake. Start by calling their customer service department and registering your dispute....

Read More

Consumer Credit Report & Risk Scoring

Credit Scoring is a complicated and weighted measure of a credit report profile which lenders use to assess credit-worthiness based upon modelled statistical analysis.  In other words, how others with the same credit characteristics tend to repay their bills and the likelihood of the creditor getting repaid. With the tightening of lending over th...

Read More

SPECIAL – Fixed Rate Mortgage Report

HOW ARE FIXED RATES FUNDED? Refresher from my comment in our May 2009 newsletter on fixed rates: Funding Fixed Mortgages - Lenders tend to outsource funding on money markets, via other banks/lenders – swap rates, through government bonds or via fixed savings deposits of similar duration which they collect from their own retail deposits, lockin...

Read More

Lazy Borrowings – Are they costing you?

Recently we saw CUA (the largest Credit Union in Australia) reduce their standard variable rate by 0.25% to 6.62%.  It was a marketing boon for them, as major media picked up on the story as part of what we will see as continued big bank bashing, given their recent profit results and also the overall market share they hold currently. The intere...

Read More

Mistakes Borrowers Make

With finance the flavour of this month’s newsletter I thought I’d pen a list of borrower’s mistakes. This list is not specific to investors or owner occupiers; they are basic mistakes or assumptions that lead to mistakes that all borrowers can make..... So lets take a look at them (in no particular order) Going straight to their current B...

Read More