Member of Chartered Accountants

Hi can anyone advise if as a member of the Chartered Accountants the LMI is waived?. I have been told you have to be a partner or executive of a ASX Top 100.

Thanks

 

yes it could be depending on a few things

 

You don't need to be a part of the ASX top 100, but do need to be registered and earning over a certain threshold.

 

Yes several lenders have this such as CBA, Westpac, St George and BoQ. You dont need to be working for an ASX top 100.

You need to be registered to practice as a CA, CPA, CFA or FIAA and must have the relevant membership.

CBA do have a restriction where the maximum loan amount per application is no more than four times the total income amount.

They all have minimum income requirements of $150k (which can include salary and rent) however with St George and Westpac they have a minimum of $120k for applicants in SA, WA, TAS and NT.

Also you dont have to be an Accountant as such - the policy applies to Finance Managers, Actuaries, Auditors, CFO's, etc.

 

There are limits as to the minimum income and your position.. as well as the max loan per transaction is limited by a certain times by the income.

 

That’s what I understand as I meet the income requirements and are a member of CAANZ. but was declined by Westpac with the following.

“Westpac Policy states that in order to have the Mortgage Insurance waived the customer needs to be partner in certain qualifying Accounting and law firms, as well as senior executives in ASX Top 100 Companies. there is no authority to extend to other product types”

It took them 3 weeks to advise me, as I am a Financial Controller for a substantial national wide private Company and apparently with Westpac I don’t qualify, hence any other options?

 

This is incorrect and its not within their policy. We have done heaps for people not employed by ASX top 100 companies. I recommend you get the broker or banker to go and fight this by quoting policy. You would be surprised how many credit guys/gals don't know their own policies.

 

I can assure you that that part is rubbish. I've written plenty loans for accountants in small firms with the Westpac group. Push back, hard.

 

Does the ICA have any strategic partnerships?

I'm a member of CPA, and they've partnered up with Bank of Queensland, and offer all CPA's 90% lends with LMI waved as an option.

 

For CPA's. depending on your role and household income, there are other options for LMI waivers - see posts above.

 

Was just providing another option to what had been stated above.

 

Ah ok I read otherwise.

 

Typically a Practicing Cert is required to be current meaning CPAs in commercial roles may be declined BUT some lenders do. Some lenders limit it to Directors / Partners and others dont. Typically means a 90% LVR without LMI.

I had Westpac tell me they would waive the annual package fee for me because of a deal with CPA Australia some time ago. Havent seen it mentioned again but they still dont charge it. I checked recently and I still get all the benefits for no cost. I recall they said it was because accountants are a good referral source....You would think a mortgage broker is better ! !

 

I don't know all the acronyms, but if ICA is another professional accounting body, it is likely acceptable for LMI waivers with several lenders. I have gotten this sort of thing done for accountants that were not CPAs, but they held other memberships.

 

Chartered Accountants Australia and NZ (CAANZ) were once called ICAA or ICA.
Number 1 in Numbers cause they had better calculators.

 

St George and Westpac is $150K for the qualifying professional not the household ie CPA wife and CPA husband $75K each is no good. One must be >$150K

 

Whereas there is no minimum income criteria for BOQ, but it needs to go through their ‘specialist’ team.

 

I think STG will waive LMI under this scenario. I know when they first released ISP exclusively to flame brokers this was not the case, however, now I believe this scenario is eligible for the waiver.

 

See a broker or go via BoQ. I have even managed to have LMI waived for an ACCA.

 

Nah, St George / BOM policy is the accountant must be earning $150k or more (can include rent or other income sources). They've been consistently clear on this with me (apparently I'm listed as a Flame broker).

I did get BOM to make an exception on this policy when the accountant earned all the money via a trust, then income split between the couple. Each was earning about $100k from the trust distributions, but the accountant was clearly the income earner.

There are other lenders that treat it differently, looking at household income for the $150k threshold regardless of who or how it's earned.