My Top 3 Tips for Dealing with Lenders
If you’ve ever been a little late paying a bill or like me, found yourself out of work and not in a position to pay your mortgage, you’ll understand how shameful this can feel. 
Or if you’ve ever tried to negotiate a better interest rate directly with your lender, you’ll know how small and powerless a person can be.
It’s at times like these that a broker can be invaluable, and that’s why the FiftyUp Club has launched a new Special Offer for members with People Power Loans^.
Or read on for my own story about why it can be good to have someone fighting your corner.
A few years back I was made redundant and it didn’t take long before my savings were gone. I did what the experts said and contacted my bank straight away. They gave me three months grace and luckily I found another job in that time.
There are buzz words in the finance sector to describe people who have a, perhaps, chequered credit history. My favourite at the moment is “credit impaired”. A person may become credit impaired if they continuously pay bills (more than $100) over 90 days past their due date, have previously been declined for a loan or have been declared bankrupt.
The bad news is, as well as defaults on repayments, every time you apply for a financial product, the enquiry and who made it is also recorded on your credit history.
For example, say you apply to Bank A for a credit card and they decline. You then apply to Bank B for a card and they check your credit history, see Bank A has declined you and they will also decline you assuming (rightly or wrongly) that Bank A had good reason to decline you. It saves Bank B from having to allocate resources to check you out. Now you find yourself with 2 declines on your credit history and it snowballs from there.
So how do you get around this? Simple. Here are my Top 3 tips:
- Consider using a mortgage broker. His or her job is to find out all about you and work out which lender is your best bet. Brokers understand the lending criteria and products of a whole range of lenders. Some lenders specialise in lending to people with a bad credit history. The good news is that even though you are unable to rewind the clock and change your credit history you now have the ability to create a clearer credit future.
- Ask your broker to check out your credit history for you as they can see exactly what your bank will see and if you have got a few black marks against your file you can start working on ways of fixing it.
- The other good thing about using a broker is that it doesn’t cost you anything directly. The broker is paid by the lender you end up going with so it’s a win/win!
THE SPECIAL OFFER:
Get up to $500 cashback* when you take out a home loan over $500,000 through People Power Loans
*If you take out a loan with People Power Loans you’ll be eligible to receive a cash back amount of $250 for settled loan amounts under $500,000 and $500 for settled loan amounts over $500,000.
^People Power Loans are provided through Finsure Finance and Insurance Pty Ltd. ABN 72 068 153 926 Australian Credit Licence Number 384704. By providing a means for members to contact Finsure Finance and Insurance directly FiftyUp Club is acting as an intermediary and not providing credit assistance or acting as a credit provider.
