FAQ

At loans.com.au, we charge no ongoing, monthly, or annual fees, and if you refinance to us the only costs you'll pay are a one-off $300 settlement fee plus a valuation fee, which for a standard property in a metropolitan area in a major city starts at $220. Depending on where you live, there may also be external government charges.

It's important to do thorough research so you know exactly how much you'll be paying to refinance your loan. Common refinancing fees and costs can include:

• Mortgage application fee
• Property valuation fee
• Discharge fee
• Break costs
• Settlement fee
• Lenders Mortgage Insurance
• Exit fees
• External government charges

There are no fees associated with viewing transactions, transferring funds or scheduling payments via your online services. There is a $10.00 fee for ordering interim statements.

We charge a settlement fee of $300.00 and in addition a valuation fee. The valuation fee for a standard property in a metropolitan area in a major city starts at $220.00 for properties valued up to $1million. The valuation fee is not refundable and is payable when the valuation is ordered. The remaining $300.00 settlement fee is deducted from the loan proceeds at settlement.

If you're making Interest Only repayments, then your repayments will be monthly. If you're making Principal and Interest repayments, then you have the option to choose between Weekly, Fortnightly, or Monthly payments. To discuss your repayment options further, please contact our Customer Care team on 13 10 90 (7am-7pm Monday to Friday). We'll be happy to help.

Please call Customer Care on 13 10 90 between 7am to 7pm AEST Monday to Friday to set a fixed amount as chosen by yourself or the minimum loan repayment required.

Additional repayments into a fixed home loan are allowed and are up to $10,000 per annum. There is no redraw or offset available unless there is a variable split.

You can make unlimited extra repayments and lump sum repayments on your variable rate home loan and up $10,000 extra repayments per year on your fixed rate loan.

Yes, please call Customer Care on 13 10 90 between 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday AEST to arrange the payout of the Home Loan. Our Team will provide to you payout figures and guide you through the process.

Yes, as long as you have available funds to redraw from. You can redraw on your variable home loan directly or your 100% offset sub-account.

You can use the First Home Owners Grant (FHOG) as part of your deposit, however, if you are borrowing more than 80% of the value of the property, mortgage insurers require that you have saved at least 5% of the purchase price as genuine savings.

Yes, you can split your home loan to have both variable and fixed interest rate payments. Splitting your home loan provides the certainty of a fixed rate, but lets you enjoy the benefit of any rate cut, make additional repayments and get access to your offset redraw facility.

Yes this is a compulsory part of the application process. It is important for both us as a lender and also our customers, as the security value needs to be accurate and correct.

Yes we have calculators available that you can use on our website. Please click the Calculators button located in the top menu of the website or you may choose to go directly via www.loans.com.au/calculators/

To access Smart Money visit https://money.loans.com.au/ or click the sign in icon in the top left hand corner of the website. You should have received a login number and temporary PIN during your loan approval. If not, give us a call on 13 10 90 from 7am to 7pm AEST Monday to Friday and our staff can set you up.

To access your current interest rate please log into Smart Money. Select the “Accounts” tab, then click on “Account/ BSB Details” (written in small text on the right hand side of the screen, next to the available balance figure). A pop up will appear showing your current interest rate and other repayment details.

Call our Customer Care Team on 13 10 90 (Monday to Friday between 7am and 7pm AEST) and we will update your Direct Debit immediately.

You  need to apply online at https://www.loans.com.au/apply

You  need to apply online at https://www.loans.com.au/apply

By calling in and speaking to someone in our payments team on 1800 651 898. You will need to complete a hardship application and return it with all the relevant supporting documents within 28 days.

To give a Third Party the authority to contact us regarding your accounts, please complete a Third Party Authority form, which you can request by contacting our Customer Care team on 13 10 90 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday. A Third Party can be given access to find out information about your accounts, but will not have access to Internet Banking, Cards, or to make any changes to your accounts.

If you're making Interest Only repayments, then your repayments will be monthly. If you're making Principal and Interest repayments, then you have the option to choose between Weekly, Fortnightly, or Monthly payments. To discuss your repayment options further, please contact our Customer Care team on 13 10 90 (7am-7pm Monday to Friday). We'll be happy to help.

Smart Money is secured by Geotrust. SSL certificates from Geotrust® are the ultimate security and trust solution delivering both 256-bit encryption and the True Site™ trust mark providing third party website identity validation. The presence of SSL means you can rest assured that communications (e.g. credit card numbers) sent between your browser and this site’s web servers are private and secure when the SSL session is activated.

You are eligible if you are an Australian citizen or permanent resident, building your first home in Australia, with the intention of living in the property as your principal place of residence within 12 months of settlement and for at least 6 months. It is important to refer to each state website for the grant eligibility as the state conditions vary.

We can lodge your first home owner's application on your behalf so that the grant is available for you at settlement. You must complete the state specific application form, and provide the original application and required documentation before this can be lodged.

You can setup a pay anyone account using our online money management service Smart Money, and clicking "Personal Payees". To make sure it's you setting up the pay anyone account, we will send you an SMS activation code that must be entered before you can send any money to the new pay anyone account. If you don't have a mobile phone or mobile signal to receive the SMS activation code, contact our Customer Care team on 13 10 90 (7am-7pm AEST Monday to Friday) and we'll send you a form to setup a new pay anyone account.

You can setup a pay anyone account using our online finance management service, Smart Money, and clicking "Personal Payees". To make sure it's you setting up the pay anyone account, we will send you an SMS activation code that must be entered before you can send any money to the new pay anyone account.

If you don't have a mobile phone or mobile signal to receive the SMS activation code, contact our Customer Care team on 13 10 90 7am-7pm AEST Monday to Friday and we'll send you a form to setup a new pay anyone account.

To track the status of your existing home loan application, login to onTrack

To track the status of your existing home loan application, login to onTrack

Using your offset to reduce the amount of interest you pay on your home loan is like earning high interest that’s tax free. In most cases, your home loan interest rate is going to be higher than your savings account interest rate, so you’re in front when you use your offset. Here are two tips to maximise your offset:

Pay your salary directly into your offset

Every dollar in offset saves you money every day. So to boost your savings, have your salary paid directly into your offset.

Throw in any savings

If you're saving for a holiday, new car or even school fees, you can use those savings to help pay off your home loan faster. Deposit them in your offset until you need the money so you will pay less interest.

At loans.com.au, we use a fast process to refinance your loan called FastTrax Refi.

FastTrax Refi allows you to pay out your lender quickly. You don’t even have to contact your old lender - we do the hard work for you. You simply apply online and talk to a lending specialist, upload your documents and then your work is done!

From the time you return the completed mortgage documents and Loan Agreement to us, it only takes days to switch to loans.com.au.

For more information, follow our step by step guide to how refinancing your home loan works.

The amount in your offset sub-account is offset against your loan balance and interest is only charged on the difference.

For example, if your loan amount is $350,000 and you have $50,000 in your offset, then you will only be charged interest on $300,000. Because you pay less in interest, an offset can help you pay off your mortgage sooner while still having the ability to access the money you have in your account.

When you get a car loan we lend you the money to buy a vehicle.

You then repay to us the amount you borrowed, plus a charge for interest and fees, in a series of instalments over a pre-agreed loan term of 3-5 years.

When you have finished all your repayments, your loan has been fully paid off and you own the vehicle, debt free.

Interest on our home loans is calculated daily and then charged to you at the end of each month. We take the outstanding loan amount at the end of each business day and multiply it by the interest rate that applies to your loan. Then we divide that amount by 365 days (or 366 in a leap year) and multiply the daily amount by the payment period.

Your borrowing capacity is a calculation of your total income less your monthly expenses, which include living expenses, other loans, credit cards and dependents.

To calculate your borrowing capacity, the following information is needed:

• Marital status, number of children and their ages up to the ages of 18
• Gross Taxable Income for each applicant (not including any Superannuation)
• Advise of all credit card limits, and any other monthly repayments for any other personal loans, car loans or any  HECS/HELP debts.

A monthly principal and interest payment is calculated on the number of years, the interest rate and the loan limit (i.e. the loan balance plus any surplus funds available for redraw).

Each monthly principal and interest repayment is calculated to cover the interest amount charged and the remainder will reduce the principal/balance of the loan.

Fortnightly and weekly loan repayments are based half or quarter of the monthly repayment amount.

To provide an indicative lenders mortgage insurance premium, the following information is needed:

• Loan amount
• The property value
• The state the property is located in, and
• If the property is owner occupied or an investment property.

When we receive your hardship application we will contact you within 5 days. Depending on your personal circumstances, it may take up to 4 weeks to have a final outcome on your hardship application commencing from when we receive your hardship application, complete with the relevant supporting documents.

From receipt of your signed loan application and all supporting documents, we will usually have a formal approval in place within 10 to 12 working days.

Once you have completed your application online we can generally get preliminary approval to you within 48 hours.

Before you can apply for a home loan, you must have 5% of the deposit held as genuine savings - that is you can show evidence these funds have been held in a bank account for at least 3 months. At loans.com.au we can only lend up to 90% of the value of the property, therefore you would need a minimum deposit of 12% for us to assist. When borrowing more than 80% of the value of the property you have to pay the lender's mortgage insurance premium, which is a one off premium. With a 12% deposit we can then add the LMI premium onto the loan and cap the loan at 90%.

loans.com.au requires a minimum deposit of 10% of the purchase price of the property, or the current value of the property if you are refinancing.

To avoid paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI), borrowers need a 20% deposit in most cases.

You can select weekly, fortnightly or monthly if you have a Principal & Interest loan. If you have an Interest Only loan you can select monthly loan repayments only

An offset can be a great way to save thousands of dollars in interest on your home loan. But it's still important to weigh up your individual circumstances to determine if it is right for you.

To get the greatest benefits of an offset sub-account, the amount of money held must be consistently at a reasonable level.

To maximise the amount that is offset, many people deposit all their salary into it. They can then spend the money using a linked Visa debit card, just as they would with a transaction account.

Our website provides information on a variety of our products including fixed and variable loans so you can make an informed decision before submitting an online application. Should you have additional questions about our products please call our Sales Team on 13 10 90 AEST 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday.

Customer with Principal and Interest accounts can view their next repayment amount using our Smart Money service, by clicking on the "Accounts" menu and selecting the loan account. Viewing your next repayment amount online is not available for Interest Only accounts.

All customers can find out their next repayment amount by contacting our Customer Care on 13 10 90 from 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday. We'll be happy to help.

Once you have received your final approval we will then send you your loan contracts to be signed. This will include a discharge document for your current lender. Once we have received all of your signed documents back, we will then forward the discharge form to your current lender requesting suitable day and time to payout and close your home loan with them.

We will require the following:

• Two (2) most recent consecutive payslips for each applicant
• Three (3) months bank statements showing regular salary credits, including most recent salary credits with the name of the employer evident
• Evidence of Salary Sacrifice or Packaging (if applicable)
• Evidence of Company Vehicle/Car Allowance (if applicable)
• Full copy of Contract of Sale signed and dated by all parties, including annexures/attachments where applicable.
• Three (3) months bank statements showing regular savings pattern or funds held for at least three (3) months prior to application

We will require the following:

• Two (2) most recent consecutive payslips for each applicant
• Three (3) months bank statements showing regular salary credits, including most recent salary credits with the name of the employer evident
• Evidence of Salary Sacrifice or Packaging (if applicable)
• Evidence of Company Vehicle/Car Allowance (if applicable)
• Six (6) consecutive months of home loan statements showing consistent repayment history

Please call our Payments team on 1300 784 434 between 7am to 5pm AEST Monday to Friday for further assistance.

In order to apply for our construction home loan, you will need to either own your land outright, be refinancing a land loan or have a Contract of Sale for the Land as well as fixed price building contract, which includes all plans and specifications.

You will need to supply documents to prove you can afford to repay the loan, including:

• PAYG Payers - last two payslips

• Self employed - last two years tax returns with an ATO Notice of Assessment

• Three months of bank statements

• Evidence of any rental income

• Six months of statements for your current home loan

• Three months of statements for any loans you are consolidating (ie. credit card debt)

• A copy of your current Rates Notice and evidence of payment

On our end, we’ll arrange a property valuation, credit assessment and all the paperwork with your current lender.

Get more information on what documents you need to refinance your home loan.

The Loan to Value ratio (LVR) is the amount of your loan compared to the value of your property. LVR is calculated by dividing the amount of the loan by the value of the property. For example, if the property is worth $500,000 and you have a deposit of $100,000, the LVR will be 80%.

It affects your loan application because lenders will not give you a home loan if your LVR is above a certain level, usually 90%.

If your LVR is between 80-90% (in other words, you have more than 10% deposit but less than 20%), you will usually have to pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI).

There are seven factors that affect how much you can borrow:

• Your income and commitments such as existing debts
• Your living expenses
• Your credit record
• How much deposit you have
• The value of the property you own or plan to buy
• Your other assets
• The type, term and interest rate of your home loan

The interest rate affects the amount you will be required to repay over the life of your home loan. If you have a variable rate home loan, when interest rates rise it will increase your mortgage repayments. In contrast, if interest rates fall your repayments will be lower. If you choose a fixed-rate loan, you do not have to worry about changes in interest rates until the fixed period is over.

For gifted funds, we will require a statutory declaration from the family member providing the gift, including the full name of the person receiving the gift, amount of the gift and confirming the gift is non repayable.

A comparison rate includes both the interest rate as well as any fees or charges associated with the specific home loan. The comparison rate helps borrowers understand the true cost of a loan when comparing products from different lenders.

Green cars are usually very fuel efficient, so not only are they good for the environment, but you are likely to enjoy lower running costs. To qualify as a green car, a vehicle needs to have significantly lower than average carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions when compared to other cars of its size.

A comparison rate is a single percentage figure that rolls all of the costs of a loan, including fees and interest charges, into one annualised rate.

This makes it easier to see the true cost of the loan and to compare between different loans.

Lenders are required by law to calculate and publish the comparison rate for their loans.

Under the National Consumer Credit Protection Regulations (NCCPR), the comparison rate reports the annual cost of the loan, including the assumptions and fees below:

• Loan amount of $150,000
• Loan term of 25 years
• Repayment frequency
• Interest rate
• Monthly account fee (if any)
• Annual fee (if any)
• Establishment fee (if any)
• Valuation fee (if any)
• Mortgage documentation fee (if any)
• Settlement fee

A secured car loan is a loan for which you offer the lender some sort of security, which is usually the vehicle itself.

The alternative to a secured car loan is an unsecured loan where no security is offered. Because this is more risky for the lender, unsecured loans generally come with a much higher interest rate than secured loans. loans.com.au does not offer unsecured car loans.

An offset sub-account is linked to your home loan where you can put money (e.g. from savings or your pay) and rather than earn credit interest on that money, you use the money to reduce the interest payable on your home loan.

You are able to redraw your money anytime you want, using your Visa debit card attached to the account.

A balloon payment is a one-off lump sum that you agree to pay your lender at the end of your car loan’s term. It is called a "balloon" because it is very inflated compared to your other payments.

This one-off final payment will account for a large proportion of your car loan so your regular car loan repayments can be reduced as a result.

It is important to note, however, that you are unlikely to save money in the longer term from a balloon as you still have to make the big balloon payment at the end with accumulated interest.

Many businesses like to use a balloon payment for their car loans, because they sell the vehicle at the end of the loan term, and use the money they receive to fund the balloon payment.

The equity in your home is the difference between its market value and your remaining home loan balance.

To put it simply, this is the value of what you currently own in your home. For example, the market value of your home is $350,000 and you still owe $200,000. When you subtract the loan balance from your property value, you have equity of $150,000.

The best thing about building up your equity is that it can be accessed through home loan refinancing, allowing you to use your home as security and use these funds for other expenses.

Refinancing can be a way to use the equity in your home to invest in home improvements, or in other real estate. However, keep in mind that increasing your loan will mean an increase in your loan repayments.

Find out more about accessing equity to buy another house. 

You can view your current interest rate using our online finance management service, Smart Money, by clicking on the "Accounts" menu and selecting the loan account. Alternatively, you can contact our Customer Care team on 13 10 90 (7am-7pm Monday to Friday). We'll be happy to help.

You can confirm your current redraw balance using our online finance management tool- Smart Money, by clicking on the "Accounts” menu and selecting the account. If you are making weekly or fortnightly payments, the available redraw balance may include some payments that you need to leave in the account for you monthly repayment due amount. Alternatively, you can contact our Customer Care team on 13 10 90 7am to 7pm AEST Monday to Friday. We'll be happy to help.

Loans.com.au has an Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) process to investigate and respond to all customer complaints within 45 days. Our IDR process is detailed below.
 
Referral
When we receive a complaint, the matter is referred to a manager with the appropriate knowledge and authority to undertake the investigation. 
 
Investigation
The manager completes a thorough investigation of your complaint and sources any supporting documentation if required. Once their investigation is completed, full details and results are returned to the Customer Relations team for assessment. 
 
Response
Once we receive the completed complaint investigation, we will then provide the outcome of the investigation and the reasons for reaching that decision to you in the same way you contacted us whether that’s by post, fax, email (if submitted via our website), or telephone. 
 
If you aren’t satisfied with our response to your complaint, you have the option to contact the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) with your concerns. 
 
Before you contact AFCA, you must give Loans.com.au the opportunity to investigate and respond to your complaint.

You can contact the Australian Financial Complaints Authority at www.afca.org.au or on 1800 931 678.

Most home loans are 'principal and interest', which means your repayments reduce the amount of debt outstanding (the principal) as well as covering the interest charges for the period. With a principal & interest loan, you will pay off the loan over time.

With an interest-only loan, you only pay the interest on the amount you have borrowed.

These loans are for a set period (for example, five years) after which the loan changes to a principal & interest loan.

With fixed rates there can be a rate break cost. Please contact Customer Care on 13 10 90 between 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday AEST to request for an indicative amount.

The interest rate on a variable loan may go up and down over the duration of the loan. You can make additional repayments at any time with no penalties or extra costs. You also can access any additional repayments. The interest rate on a fixed rate loan doesn’t change over the fixed period you have selected so you will know how much you need to pay each month and not affected by any interest rate increases. There are limits to the amount of extra repayments you can make, and you cannot access additional repayments until the fixed term has ended.

loans.com.au is an online lender, with our head office, loans specialists, underwriters and customer care team all based in Brisbane. We work with our customers directly using phone, email, fax, post and Skype. You have a designated lending manager and support specialist to manage your home loan from application to settlement. We do not have a branch network, so no expensive overheads or shareholders dividends, nor do we work with brokers or mortgage managers, so no trailing commission. These are the main reasons we can offer such a low variable home loan rate.

Please call our Payments team on 1300 784 434 between 7am to 5pm AEST Monday to Friday for further assistance.

The full discharge fees will be shown on your loan agreement. Typically, there will be $300 discharge fee and $250 discharge documentation fee. If you have a fixed rate loan, there may be a fixed rate break cost applicable as well.

A Target Market Determination is a document which sets out the target market for a financial product, as well as information regarding the distribution of that product. We’re required to have Target Market Determinations for each of our products under the Treasury Laws Amendment (Design and Distribution Obligations and Product Intervention Powers) Act 2019. Please contact us if you would like a copy of the Target Market Determination for any of our products.

Our Loan Specialists are available from Monday to Friday, 8:00 am until 6:00 pm, AEST. Please feel free to call us on 13 10 90 if you wish to speak directly with our Loan Specialists.

Our live chat hub hours are Monday to Sunday between 7am and 12am AEST.

As nominated by you on your direct debit form returned with the documents pack. Our Customer Care team will also confirm your repayment dates when calling you at loan settlement.

The next monthly repayment due date for your loan account is available using our online finance management tool - Smart Money, by clicking on the "Accounts" menu and selecting the loan account. Keep in mind that this is the monthly due date, and will not consider any weekly or fortnightly direct debits. Alternatively, you can contact our Customer Care team on 13 10 90 (7am-7pm Monday to Friday). We'll be happy to help.

It's a good idea to review your mortgage to see if it is still suitable for your circumstances and still represents good value. Whatever your situation, refinancing your home loan can have benefits including:

• Saving money in the long run with a better interest rate,

• Consolidating multiple debts onto your cheapest interest rate,

• Paying off your home loan faster if you decide to change your term.

With that in mind, you need to think carefully if it makes financial sense to replace your old home loan or not, so before refinancing, consider:

• Costs – loan application fees for new loans, mortgage discharge fees, or break costs if your home loan has a fixed rate.

• Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) – If you have less than 20% equity in your home, you may have to pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance. You cannot transfer the existing LMI to the new loan, despite the fact that your previous lender is no longer at risk.

Read more about when to refinance your home loan. 

You can call Customer Care on 13 10 90 option 3. Our Customer Care team are based in Brisbane and available from Monday to Friday 7am to 7pm. AEST.

All of our home loan, car loan and insurance products can be viewed on our website.
Click here to compare our home loans.
Click here to compare our car loans.

Loans.com.au welcomes all feedback from all our customers. If you have a concern that can’t be resolved straight away, we will investigate your case and keep you informed of the progress.

If you have a complaint, please contact loans.com.au at: customerrelations@loans.com.au

Taking out a home loan is an important step in the home buying process. You need to consider various factors that will affect the overall cost of your mortgage. Factors such as the interest rate, loan amount, term of the loan, repayment schedule, and the repayment type.

An online mortgage calculator can help you make an informed decision by comparing various home loan options, understand your financial capabilities and liabilities, and simplify the process of calculating your mortgage.