As you are aware, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) increased the official cash rate by a further 25bps following their March meeting.
As a result, we will be increasing the variable interest rates for all Resimac-funded home loan customers by 25bps. We will also be increasing the new business variable rates across all our home loan products by 25bps – Prime (Full Doc), Prime Alt Doc and Specialist (Full Doc and Alt Doc).
These changes come into effect on Thursday 16 March 2023.
We’ll be in touch with your Resimac-funded customers shortly
For settled customers: For your existing customers with Resimac-funded loans, we will be notifying them of changes to their variable interest rates and repayments shortly. We will inform them of any specific changes to their interest rates and repayments via a letter carrying your business’ branding. There will be no action required on your part.
They will be given adequate time to prepare for the changes. We also have a dedicated team who will work with customers that may need hardship assistance in appropriate circumstances.
For pre-settled customers: For all applications not yet unconditionally approved as at the effective date, future conditional approval and unconditional approval letters and loan documents will be updated with the new interest rates.
Depending on when their loan achieved conditional approval and when it settles (and accounting for recent changes to living expense classifications and benchmarking), additional serviceability testing may be required as follows:
If conditionally approved before 1 January 2023, an additional serviceability review will be required accounting for the new interest rates at the time, before unconditional approval is provided.
If conditionally approved on or after 1 January 2023, no further serviceability review is required if the loan settles before or on 15 April 2023. If the loan is to settle after 15 April 2023, an additional serviceability review is required accounting for the new interest rates at the time.
For all customers who have reached unconditional approval – with documents issued and awaiting settlement – we will contact them via email to advise of their new interest rate. This email will identify Resimac as the funder of their loan, however customers will be directed to contact their mortgage manager for any queries they have. For those with unconditional approval, regardless of document status, no further review of their serviceability is required.
For any applicant that requires an increase in their loan amount following an approval, a new servicing test based on rates at that time will need to be undertaken.
New serviceability calculator
Resi Agility is introducing a new serviceability calculator that will be required for applications from 16 March 2023.
The calculator includes:
- Use of the Australian HEM lookup table for Q3 2022. The Household Expenditure Measure (HEM) is used for applicant expense benchmarking.
- The shading applied to rental income will reduce from 20% to 10% for new and existing rental properties
Click here to download the new serviceability calculator.
Please note it is a requirement to submit (as a PDF) a completed serviceability calculator for all applications from 16 March 2023.
These updates reflect improved policy and should offer you and your clients a significantly improved experience when dealing with Resi Agility.
The new calculator will also be available on the Wholesale Dashboard by 16 March 2023 from the ‘Downloadable Forms’ section.
If you have any questions, please contact your Resi Business Development Manager.
