Making your Home Loan work for you

A home is a serious investment and, like all investments, it needs to be managed properly in order to ensure that you get the best possible return. But few people, once they’ve had their home loan registered and start repaying the loan, give their most important investment another moments thought. Yet there are a number of important steps that a homeowner can take to ensure that their hard-earned money is being put to good use:

Increase your home loan repayment:

When you borrow money “Home Loan” to purchase a home you are in effect taking out two loans. The first loan is to repay the capital amount (known as the principal sum) and the second loan is to repay the interest charged over the period of the loan. The majority of the money you repay in the first years of having a home loan goes towards paying back this interest, which will only marginally reduce the principal sum.

In South Africa, interest is generally calculated daily on your mortgage. In effect, this means that the amount you owe the bank increases every day. Because of the nature of compound interest, regular additional repayments made at the beginning of your loan term will have a much greater effect on the cost of your home loan than if you start paying extra cash into your home loan account five or ten years down the line. However, even if you are already a number of years into your loan term, you can still make a considerable saving by paying additional money into your home loan. By increasing your monthly instalments, you’ll reduce the term of your home loan, which means that you won’t be paying heavy home loan instalments in later years. The result is that you will have paid less money in interest over the term of the home loan.

There are a number of easy ways that you can put additional money into your home loan without really feeling the difference in your pocket:

• Put the additional income you receive from your annual salary increase into your home loan
• When interest rates decrease contact your lender “ Banks Home Loan Department” and ask them to maintain the instalment that you were paying prior to the drop on lending rates
• Put a portion of your annual bonus into your home loan, you may put extra money into your home loan anytime you want to. Every little bit helps. Making a prepayment ‘ Home Loan Deposit’ when the loan registers is particularly helpful, as you will reduce the capital amount immediately, significantly reducing the total interest payable over the term of the loan.

Use your home loan as an interest – bearing savings account:

Banks are in business to make profit so it makes sense that they charge a higher interest rate to people borrowing money from them than they do to investors who deposit funds with them. For example you might be receiving 2% interest on a positive balance for money in your savings account, but are probably being charged a much higher rate for the money you’ve borrowed to pay off your home loan.

By depositing your savings into your home loan, you are in effect receiving the interest rate that the bank charges you on your loan as positive interest on the money you invest For example, if you have a home loan for R1 million, and you deposit an extra R100 000 into your home loan, you are now no longer being charged interest on R1 million, but rather on R900 000. The money you save in interest over the time that you keep the R100 000 in your home loan is the positive interest you are in effect receiving on the money you’ve deposited. Plus you can withdraw this cash when you need it without being penalised ‘Banks Terms and Conditions Applies’

For further information contact Morne Prinsloo on 011 327 4489 or email morne@mortgagepluscc.co.za

If you would like to know more about your home loan services and mortgage requirements please phone the Mortgage Plus Head Office on:

Attached please find the Home Loan Application Form * - Short Home Loan Application Form

0861.11.11.93

info@mortgagepluscc.co.za

www.mortgagepluscc.co.za

How much can I borrow for a mortgage?

One of the first questions everyone asks when they are thinking of buying a property is ‘how much can I borrow?’ This is not an exact science and all banks have methods to calculate affordability. Since the introduction of the National Credit Act, this has become even more complicated. The most accurate method of establishing how much you are eligible to borrow is to contact a qualified mortgage broker – 011.327 .4489

Salary Multiples

A mortgage lender will lend you money based upon what they think you can afford to repay on a monthly basis. The calculation they used to use is broadly that 30% of your gross monthly income must be your maximum monthly mortgage repayment. Therefore if you earn R20,000 per month gross then your maximum repayments should be R7,000.

Under the National Credit Act, lenders now have to base your eligibility calculations on your monthly ‘disposable income’. To calculate this you need to take your gross income, less all the deductions like tax and UIF to get your Net income. They then calculate what your total monthly expenses are; groceries, car insurance etc, and finally they subtract all you month commitments to any existing debt you have such as credit card, vehicle finance, or loan repayments. The balance (if there is one) is your maximum monthly mortgage repayment.

The banks normally add in a ‘buffer’ for interest rate rises etc, so you may actually only qualify for 85% of this figure. You then need to work backward to get the actually bond amount these monthly payments will allow you to service.

A lender will look at your bank statements and your regular outgoings to check that the expenses you have declared are in line with your outgoings on your bank account. They also have access to the Credit Bureau’s information so they can check that the liabilities that you have declared are correct. If you run a tight ship with regard to your finances, you may be able to get a bigger mortgage than you would do under the traditional salary multiple guidelines. Conversely, if you’re already ‘maxed out’ with credit cards and personal loans, you may not get offered as much.

The National Credit Act (NCA) means lenders will be tightening their credit policy so as not to fall foul of the ‘reckless lending’ as laid out in the Act. This will not only mean that lenders will start using individuals net income for their calculations, but also they will look specifically at what other borrowings the applicant may have before they make a decisions on the applicants borrowing eligibility.

For a quick check to see how much you are eligible for please go to our mortgage calculators. The various lenders do vary in how much they will lend you depending on their individuals assessment of your risk.

Other Income

Lenders will take into account other income that you may have such as rental income, investment and dividends etc. Again, lenders do vary in how they view secondary income streams. Therefore you should always speak to your Mortgage Plus consultant to assess your full range of options.

As a rule of thumb lenders will take into account 50% of your rental income on a rental property. It is up to you as the borrower to prove this income. You must be able to show money going into your bank account and lease agreements. The longer the lease, the more they will value the rental income.

You can also take into account ‘contributions’ from other family members if they are living in your property. If a partner, or child is making a contribution to the ‘family finances’ then the banks will use it. Again, the onus is on you as the borrower to prove this.

Commission earner

If you are a commission earner the banks will take this into account. However, the best way to prove this to the bank is to provide six months payslips and calculate the average commission earnt.

Annual bonuses

These can also be taken into account but you will have to prove them with entries on your bank statements and letters from your employer.

Self-employed individuals

It is harder for banks to lend to self-employed individuals because it is often harder to prove the income. The better you manage your accounts (and the more accurately) the easier it is for the banks to lend to you. Proof of your income will have to be provided in the form of Audited Financial Statements, latest management accounts and six months bank statements, as well as a letter from your accountant verifying your income.

Partners / Spouse’s income

If you are purchasing with a partner or spouse then lenders will take their income into account.

Note: Remember that banks want to lend money. That is how they make money. The banks have come under considerable pressure since the introduction of the National Credit Act not to ‘lend recklessly’. Make it easy for a lender to grant you a loan by managing and recording your finances carefully.

Please contact us if you require any further information or would like to apply for finance:

Complete this short form online

011.327.4489 / 0861 1111 93

morne@mortgagepluscc.co.za

www.mortgagepluscc.co.za