Brokers..... What makes your life easier when getting applications and paperwork together. Submit your tips for love to flourish between broker and punter For me getting that half hour to sign forms and find statements can take a week to get to (unfortunately), but now with more practise I am getting quicker at doing more on the phone and in the run, so like anything practise makes (nearly) perfect! Are you guys used to getting the info info dribs and drabs? Or having to wait is all part of it and adjusting to each client differently? I gave my broker a call to explain what was going on, cause I thought we'd look like muppets for taking so long for the few requests! Hopefully painting the picture will make me look like less muppetty!
Not forgetting about that credit card you 'hardly use' is really helpful Detailed explanation of any quirks in your payslips is nice too, one client of mine who had a bit of an unusual pay package made notes on her payslips to explain everything which was brilliant - it made my day.
Here are my tips! 1) Drip feeding documents over an extended period makes for a disjointed experience all round. Print the list your broker gives you, compile the documents and try to send back in one or two goes. If you can't get a particular document ask if there are alternatives.The exact same goes when we submit to the bank. Its makes everyone's lives easier. 2) Sending poor quality documents. Photos in low res against a dark background is my pet hate. Once scanned in at our end to submit to the bank they look like mud. If taking photos of docs on your phone try an app called cam scanner and take the photo on a white page background. 3) Statements. More and more lenders are wanting statements on everyday accounts and other banks loans etc. Whenever you are required to provide a statement check the end date and check if it has your names on it. If the end date is more than a month old provide transactions history printouts as well to cover the dates required. Actual statements will have your names, addresses, account numbers and full list of debit, credits and balances. Usually we end up having to provide one statement to prove the account is yours and transaction history printouts which have the account number to match to the actual (out of date) statement. 4) Sending in multiple emails with just one document attached to each email. Invest in a pdf program that allows you to combine documents and re order if required and also convert some file types to PDF. I use a program called Nitro pro. There are plenty of similar ones out there. 5) If you are going to be doing a lot of back and forth with each other such as multiple constructions loans consider "drop box" to manage documents.
I've got another one - if possible, not sending documents that are scanned in one page per file, or multiple docs in one file. One doc per file is perfect, otherwise we have to split/merge files which is just time consuming and inefficient.
All in one go - less risk of documents going missing. Less work for everyone. To add to the above - when you receive your loan offer docs - sign and return them. Don't sit on them for weeks....it slows everything down. Cheers Jamie
Accuracy of information right up front. Applications are getting very tight at the moment, there's very little room for error. People leave out a lot of information that leads to bad analysis. * Not disclosing a line of credit. Believe it or not, a LOC is just another loan secured by a property. It's not free money, it has to be taken into account in any analysis. * Disclose the limit of each loan separately and be accurate. People frequently bundle multiple splits together, or state the amount owing rather than the limit, or the amount minus what's in the offset account rather than the limit. Like credit cards, lenders only really care about the limit, not what's owing. * Don't bother sending a long winded email with your financial details. It's rare that people provide enough info straight away to accurately convey their financial situation and it often confuses the analysis and is time consuming. It's much easier for everyone if we simply send you our fact find and have that filled in. * Current documents usually means issued within the last 30 days. Payslips and rent statements from 3 months ago are useless. * People often send an Excel spreadsheet with their transaction history when asked for bank statements. This is a spreadsheet with some numbers on it which could have been generated by anyone, it's not evidence of a savings pattern. * If you've got any doubt about the documents you're sending, pick up the phone and ask. Sending the wrong thing means we are receiving information ad-hoc and it only causes delays. Marty's comments are spot on.
How about when applicants tell you their CC limits are 2k when what they actually mean is that their balance is 2k and their limit is really 20k. Much difference?
