BEYOND BANK HELPING FIRST TIME HOME BUYERS IN SA

Beyond Bank was yesterday recognised by Canstar as the best customer-owned lender in South Australia and Western Australia when it comes to helping first time buyers purchase a home.

The Canstar First Home Buyers Awards name the customer-owned lenders in each state offering the most effective products and educational material specific to first home buyers. This year, Canstar assessed 432 mortgage products from 62 institutions across the country to see how they stack up for first home buyers.

“We are proud to know we are helping young people and families fulfil the Australian home ownership dream and establish themselves for the future,” Beyond Bank Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Wayne Matters said.

Beyond Bank stood out because of its impressive loan features and great rates as well as its 90-day home loan pre-approval facility and specific education for first time buyers. Its use of financial gifts and the First Home Buyers grant as a deposit also rated a mention by Canstar.

“Beyond Bank prides itself on the time it spends with customers identifying the products and services that best suit them,” Mr Matters said. “This means we can often work out ways people can achieve their financial goals sooner – even if they are just starting out or have unusual requirements or situations.”

“One example of this is our parent equity option. It can be hard for a first time buyer to save a 20 per cent deposit. This is particularly true in somewhere like SA where the average loan amount has nearly tripled in the last 20 years. According to Canstar figures, average loan repayments in SA are 127 per cent higher today than they were in 1995.”

Parent equity allows borrowers to use the equity in their parent’s property to essentially act as a deposit for their first home and this helps them avoid having to pay Lender’s Mortgage Insurance.

Mr Matters explained, “Parents are sometimes concerned about their obligations under this product, but their liability is limited to the value of the ‘guarantee’ they provided and only in the case where their child in unable to pay the loan and the sale price of the property is less than the loan against it. We can work with buyers to get them income protection to reduce the risk of any first home buyer defaulting if they were to be out of work for any period of time.”

“We think our parent equity home loan product is great in helping make home ownership more achievable and helps get people into their homes sooner.”