Guarantor Home Loans

Most banks will only allow parental guarantees, that is, a guarantee from the borrower’s parents.

Some lenders can consider guarantees from immediate family members such as siblings, grandparents, spouses, de facto partners or adult children.

Check out the guarantor eligibility page for more information.

You should never feel pressured to enter into a guarantor loan.

Choosing to act as a guarantor is a big decision so it’s recommended that you seek independent financial advice. Ask yourself the following questions:

• How big is the limited guarantee that you’re committing to? Are you able to cover any outstanding costs should things go pear-shaped?
• Under what condition will you be liable to pay? Generally, banks will only look to take action if the mortgage is in arrears for 90-180 days.
• What is the character of the person that you’re guaranteeing? This may be difficult to answer if it’s your own son or daughter, but you should be honest in answering this question.

If your child is struggling to save a deposit, but you want to avoid some of the risks of acting as your guarantor, a parent assist home loan may be better suited to your situation.

To protect the guarantors, the Australian Banking Association has enforced a new Code of Banking Practice (COBP).

As part of these new guidelines:

• Guarantors must be given a minimum of three days to review their guarantee documents and to consider their obligations as a guarantor before signing and returning their guarantee documents.
• Guarantors will have a cooling-off period after signing the guarantor agreement.
• Guarantors will be encouraged to seek independent legal advice before signing, as is currently the case.
• As the guaranteed borrower, if you get into financial difficulty, or your circumstances change, your guarantor (parents) will be notified by the bank.
• The bank will first attempt to receive assets from you as the borrower before starting action against your parents to repay the home loan. If this is a concern to you, we recommend that you seek independent legal advice.

On paper, the guarantor is ultimately liable for your home loan should you default.

There is a big fear that banks move quickly to sell the guarantor’s home to cover the remaining debt, but the reality is that banks try everything to solve the problem before taking this drastic decision.

The reason is that there is often a significant process and cost involved in trying to sell the guarantor’s home.

The bank knows that it will struggle to break even by going down this path so they would much rather that you keep paying your mortgage.

To do this, they will want to work out why you’re having trouble managing your repayments and whether a solution can be found.

That’s okay but try and make this decision before your son or daughter receive home loan approval and sign the Contract of Sale.

The reason is that the borrower may default on the contract and be sued.

From the bank’s point of view, if you are borrowing more than 80% of your property’s value then there is a chance that they will lose money if you can’t make your repayments. Because of this they charge you a fee known as Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) to protect themselves if there is a loss.

This fee can be quite significant, costing more than $10,000.

However, with a guarantee as additional security, the bank considers your family pledge loan to be under 80% of the value of your property combined with the guarantee’s value. As a result of this, they waive the requirement for LMI.

If your parents already have a home loan secured on their property, then the guarantee will need to be secured by a second mortgage.

This isn’t a problem in most cases; however, it can be an issue if your application isn’t submitted to the bank correctly.

Do not commit to any property until:

• Consent for the second mortgage has been granted.
• A bank valuation has been completed on your guarantor’s property.
• Your lender has issued a formal approval.

The lender that already has a home loan secured on your parents’ property needs to consent to the guarantee being secured on the property. There is a small risk that they will deny or withhold the consent, which can leave you high and dry.

The method of calculating the equity in your parents’ property can be very complex if they already have a loan. Please use our guarantor loan calculator or call us on 1300 889 743 for more information.

Very few lenders will allow you to buy a home and consolidate your credit cards or personal loans at the same time. We know which lenders will allow you to roll everything into one simple, low repayment each month.

Note that you can only consolidate a few minor debts, and if your debts are over 5% of the purchase price, then you will not be able to roll them into the mortgage with any lender. Your repayments must be on time, every time, before a lender will allow you to combine them into your new mortgage.

The less obvious risk of going into a guarantor loan arrangement is you splitting up with your partner and the partner choosing not to make mortgage repayments.

This not only puts you at risk of default but can also potentially put your parents in a precarious position.

Playing with the mortgage in this way is quite common when couples get divorced. In fact, they’re often advised by their solicitor to do so!

If you can get past the legal stoush, please get in contact with us by completing our free assessment form, and we can tell you how we can help.

We’re experts at buying out ex partners and we can start the conversation with your bank as to how this will work with your parents providing a guarantee.

Every lender seems to have come up with their own name for guarantor loans! St George Bank uses the term ‘Family Pledge’, CBA uses the term ‘Family Support’ or ‘Family Equity’, Rams uses the term ‘Fast Track’ whereas ANZ and Westpac use the term ‘Family Guarantee’.

Confused yet?

Don’t worry, they all mean nearly the same thing. Most of these terms refer to a security guarantee, as only a few select lenders allow other types of guarantees.

There are big differences between the bank’s credit guidelines, loan types and discounts for family guarantee loans.

Yes, it is possible to borrow 100% of the land and construction costs if you have a guarantor.

However, be aware that many lenders do not allow “loan increases” on guarantor loans. This means that if you buy the land and then apply for the construction loan later, it may be declined!

Please call us on 1300 889 743 to discuss your situation, we know how to structure your loan to get it approved!

Low doc loans cannot be used with the guarantor’s support as lenders are very conservative with their assessment of no financials home loans.

It may be possible to get around this if the guarantor takes out a loan on their property and lends this to you to use as your deposit. Although this is not an ideal situation, it can work for some borrowers.

We call this the 80/20 method as you will borrow 80% of the property value and your family member will borrow the other 20% on their property. Many lenders do not accept this financing method so please enquire online to speak to a mortgage broker that understands this loan structure.

Guaranteeing somebody else’s loan is a major commitment so you should always seek advice from the appropriate professionals such as your solicitor before deciding to proceed.

We recommend that you have a preliminary discussion with your solicitor before applying for the loan and then take the ‘Guarantee & Indemnity’ documents to your solicitor for legal advice before signing them.

It also helps to seek out a specialist mortgage broker like Home Loan Experts because there are many aspects to consider when applying for this type of mortgage:

• Getting approval: Lenders are more conservative than ever, but they are particularly conservative with guarantor loans. We know which lenders accept which types of guarantees and which lenders will accept someone in your situation.
• Know the terms and conditions: Some banks have simple terms and conditions for their guarantor loans and allow you to limit the amount of the guarantee. However many lenders will not limit the guarantee which means the guarantor could be in a much worse position if you cannot make your repayments.
• The exit strategy: The loan may have a term of 30 years, however you don’t need to keep the guarantee in place for that long. We can help you work out a strategy of either making extra repayments, or refinancing to remove the guarantee in as little as 2 to 5 years.
• Protecting the guarantor: If you cannot pay your loan then how can you protect your guarantor from having to pay your loan and possibly losing their home? Did you know that you can reduce the risk to the guarantor by obtaining insurance?

If you don’t set up your mortgage in the right way, you maybe putting your parents at a higher risk, or you may not be able to remove the guarantee as quickly as you would like.

Please call our mortgage brokers on 1300 889 743 or enquire online to find out how we can help you.