Is there a Finance Checklist?

When you apply for a home loan, your lending manager will need certain information and documents from you. These will help clarify how much money you can borrow and make the approval process faster and easier.

Your income

The first thing we need to do is to understand how much you earn. Try and find as much of the following as possible:

• A recent tax assessment or tax return
• Current records of your salary and other income
• Your employment history
• A couple of statements of service (payslips) from your current employer
• Proof of identity like a passport and drivers licence
• Details of your current and previous addresses
• Bank account statements for the past 12 months
• Details of your current assets (things you own) and liabilities (things you owe)

Your costs

After checking your documents we'll calculate how much you can borrow. This is based on your surplus income after your regular costs have been deducted.

We will use a sample budget to calculate this surplus. however, it might be helpful for you to determine your real budget... to do this, write all your living costs down and add them up. Include things such as:

• Loan repayments
• Bills (electricity, gas, telephone)
• School expenses
• Credit card interest
• Car running costs
• Food
• Insurance
• Lifestyle CostsHolidays

Approving your loan

We'll help you complete a loan application based on your needs. Approval of your loan will take into account:

• Your ability to make the payments and service the loan
• The impact on you if there is an interest rate rise in the future to ensure you don't borrow more than you can afford
• Stability of your employment and income
• Your credit history and savings history
• The value and type of property you want to buy