FAQs

A really important part of the entire home buying process is understanding your borrowing power before you try to buy a property. Approval in principle (AIP) is the same as getting a pre- approval or conditional approval. Your lender will do a thorough credit and lending assessment so they can give you a rough estimate of the amount you can borrow.

Getting approval in principle helps you:

• Understand your borrowing power
• Be financially confident and ready to make an offer on a property
• Appear a serious buyer, both in front of the lenders and agents.

How do I get approval in principle?

You can get an approval in principle (AIP) by simply applying for it. Most of the lenders allow you to fill an application online with some personal and financial information, although some banks may ask you to provide physical documents.

Some of the details you have to provide when applying for AIP are:

• Employment details
• Income details (salary slips)
• Living expenses and existing financial obligations
• The amount you would like to borrow.

Each state provides various grants to assist first home buyers.

Checkout the assistance your state provides at:

Australian Capital Territory 

New South Wales

Northern Territory 

Queensland 

South Australia

Tasmania 

Victoria 

West Australia 

For our launch, we are providing the online application process, and ME Bank is providing the home loan products. The ongoing fees will depend on the ME Bank home loan package you apply for.

As an example the Flexible Home Loan has no monthly account keeping fees, but when you add their Member package for the $395 annual fee, you can access some great discounted rates

For more information, visit https://www.mebank.com.au/home-loans/

We are working on providing an answer to these FAQ questions for you. In the mean time you can contact us on click here to ask this question.

Stamp duty, also known as land transfer duty, is a tax or charge you pay to the state government when buying a property. The stamp duty you have to pay can be different depending on which state in Australia you live and is based on the property price, type of loan, type of property (primary residence or investment property), and whether you’re a first-time buyer.

There are some exceptions when it comes to stamp duty. If you’re a pensioner, a first-time homeowner, or you’re buying a cheap property, deceased property, or buying off-the-plan, you may qualify for some concessions on the stamp duty.

Who does the stamp duty?

If you have a conveyancer or solicitor working with you, they’ll help you through the process involved in the stamp duty payment. You have to pay stamp duty within a certain timeframe which is different in each state.

How much is it?

Stamp duty varies from one state to another and may also vary depending on the type of property you’re buying. Find out how much stamp duty you might have to pay with our Stamp Duty Calculator.

Buying a home can be complicated, especially if this is your first time buying property. A conveyancer specialises in property law and helps you throughout the transaction. You can engage a conveyancer at any point throughout the buying process, although we recommend engaging one early if you’re a first-time home buyer.

What does the conveyancer do?

A conveyancer is responsible for managing all the legal tasks involved in the buying and selling of a property. A conveyancer makes sure you meet all the legal obligations and will:

• Help prepare the necessary property documents
• Help with land title and property research
• Identify applicable tax rates and fees
• Deal with the seller’s real estate agent or advisor
• Help in the filing of stamp duty or other state charges, and
• Arrange property settlement.

When should I get a conveyancer?

If this is your first purchase or sale, we recommend hiring a conveyancer at the beginning of the process. Some of the things to look for when hiring a conveyancer include: 

• Fee structure
• Relevant state licenses
• Whether he or she provides solicitation services, and
• References, for a background check.

How much does a conveyancer cost?

Many conveyancers charge a flat fee for each individual legal task they have to do, and since the entire process of buying a property involves multiple legal obligations, this outline of individual tasks provides greater transparency on what you’re paying for. On the contrary, some conveyancers offer a complete package, providing all of the services at a flat price. We recommend hiring a conveyancer based on experience and reputation instead of solely focusing on the price.

Property settlement is the final exciting phase of your home buying process. Settlement is a combination of multiple processes that happen over a period of time, so if you hear the term ‘settlement day’, it can be a little misleading as it doesn’t all happen in one day! On settlement day itself, you sign the sale documents, financial papers, and become the legal owner of the property.

The settlement process overall may include:

• Final inspection of the property
• Signing of property sale documents
• Sending signed documents to the land title office, and
• Settling the final payment to the property seller.

Who does the settlement?

Throughout the process of buying your home, you will have engaged a conveyancer or solicitor to help with the transaction, and together with your finance provider, they work with the seller’s representatives through the settlement process. While both buyers and sellers can be present on settlement day, your involvement isn’t required by law. Your finance providers or representatives can complete the process for you.

If you want to keep the repayments on your loan the same over a specific period of time, a fixed rate home loan is a legal contract that guarantees the interest rate you’ll pay.

Break costs happen when you want to finish up the loan or if you want to:

• Repay the total amount of the loan before the end of the fixed rate period
• Switch to a different home loan product
• Make extra home loan repayments that are more than the amount agreed at the start of the fixed rate period

You can also be charged a break cost when the loan is in default and needs to be repaid immediately.

What fees do I have to pay?

There are two different types of fees:

1. Early repayment adjustment, break fee or early exit fee – these can be expensive
2. Early repayment fee or discharge fee – usually a couple of hundred dollars

How do they calculate the early repayment adjustment?

Lenders compare standard industry wholesale rates (known as BBSRs) from when you originally entered the loan and compare to the time you want to break. So, for example, if you have six months to go on your fixed home loan, the amount you’ll have to pay is calculated on the gap between the rate when you took out the loan to the rate on the day you ‘break’ the loan.

But, breaking a fixed loan doesn’t always mean you’ll have to pay a large break payment. For example, if all the interest rates currently on the market are more expensive than your current fixed rate home loans, then the chances are that you may have to only pay a minimal amount (or maybe none at all).

For the studious amongst us, Omni comes from Latin, means ‘all’, and is what is known as a prefix.

For Omni-Financial, the meaning defines how we approach finances. We’re building and providing services that you can use wherever and whenever you want, with all the features you may or may not want!