You’ll be pleased to hear that there are a multitude of things you can do to try and decrease the interest rate on consumer loans as well as improving your chances of receiving an approval!
Some of these tips involve long term actions that would potentially be done before visiting your broker, whilst others are quite quick solutions to work in your favour.
What can I do before visiting a broker?
1. A history of stable employment
This is always attractive to lenders as it suggests that you have a steady income and are less likely to struggle making repayments.
Specifics:
Generally, lenders look at the last 6 months to see if you’ve kept the same job in that time. Overall, they often look at 3 years of employment history to determine how often you change employers.
Exceptions:
If you’ve changed jobs but stayed in the same industry in the last 6 months, it’s not a huge concern for lenders. It also pays to talk to one of our experienced finance brokers as there can be further exceptions.
2. Deposit Amount
How much money are you willing to contribute as a deposit? As far as loans go, the greater your deposit, the more inclined a lender is to approve your loan application and offer you a lower interest rate.
3. Credit Score
The higher your credit score, the better! As a general rule, anything over 600 is considered satisfactory. However, keep in mind that the standards change between lenders.
Specifics:
- By ensuring that all current loan/debt repayments are made on time for their entire lifespan means that they won’t incur any negative reporting on your credit file.
- Minimise loan applications as each one is listed as a credit enquiry, which can raise worry with lenders if there are an excessive amount.
4. Stay away from payday lenders
Payday lenders such as Nimble will have a detrimental effect on your ability to acquire a loan. Many banks and non-bank lenders refuse to lend to anyone with a payday loan within a 6 month period of that loan finishing.
5. Are you living with parents or renting?
Lenders often provide a better rate to someone who is renting rather than living at home with parents. The logic stems from the fact that renting is generally more expensive, so you’re already proving your ability to commit to those recurring expenses. Whereas, it is anticipated that people living at home will at some point move out and therefore incur higher living expenses. This could cause some people to no longer afford or prioritise their loan repayments. So the rate is higher because the risk for the bank is higher.
What are some quick solutions to improving my chances of securing a loan?
1. Delete your Afterpay account
Getting rid of your Afterpay (or any buy now, pay later accounts) increases your chances of getting accepted and could potentially increase your borrowing capacity. Finalise your repayments and close the account!
2. Cancel your credit cards
If you have the ability to pay off any outstanding debts on your credit card, it is a great idea to do this and then cancel them all together. It’s likely that your lender will ask you to do this regardless.
3. Age of your asset
If you’re getting a loan to purchase an asset such as a car, then the age of the asset will actually affect your interest rate. The newer, the better according to lenders.
Lenders generally have specified interest rates for assets of different age groups. For example, assets that are 3-6 years old may claim the same interest rate. However, these age groups differ for each lender, as do the rates.
Finance brokers, however, are privy to these specific policies for each lender. This is just another reason that our brokers here at ALG are able to get you the best loan. We compare lenders by their policies and rates, specific to you.
Recent Comments