Guides
What the bank is working out.
No jargon and nothing sold. What lenders actually assess, what the costs really are, and where people lose money without noticing.
- AffordabilityHow much can I borrow?Banks do not start from your salary. They start from what is left after everything else, and then they stress it. Here is the arithmetic, and the three things that move it most.Read →CostsWhat it costs to buy a houseTransfer duty, conveyancing, bond registration and the bank's initiation fee. What each one is, who gets paid, and when you have to find the money.Read →Self-employedA bond when you are self-employedNo payslip does not mean no bond. What a bank reads instead, why drawing a small salary works against you, and how to present an income a credit officer can actually use.Read →RatesWhat your interest rate meansWhat prime is, what a rate concession means, and what the difference between two offers costs you over twenty years.Read →DepositDo I need a deposit?Often not. What a deposit actually buys you is a better rate rather than permission to borrow — and sometimes clearing a debt beats saving one.Read →Vehicle financeBalloon payments, explained properlyA balloon lowers the instalment and does not make the car cheaper. What is due at the end, what it costs in interest, and when it genuinely makes sense.Read →DeclinesWhy a bank says noMost declines are about affordability, the credit record, or how the application was presented. Each has a different answer, and only one of them means waiting.Read →How it worksApplying to several banks at onceShopping around is right. Doing it by filling in the same form at four banks is not. What a credit enquiry is, why a cluster of them reads badly, and the way round it.Read →