3 Key Factors That Affect Your Home Loan Eligibility

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A home loan can put a prospective homebuyer on the fast track to owning their own home by giving them the resources they need to move into a new home, and lenders will commonly offer up to $500,00 in financing to qualified applicants.

However, not everyone is eligible to receive the same amount of funding from lenders based on their individual circumstances. There are a range of considerations that go into the borrowing power of a given applicant when seeking out a home loan such as amount desired and credit score, but there are a few less obvious factors that can make or break a person’s ability to secure funding for the home of their dreams.

Income and Resources

The income and resources of an applicant are perhaps the most important aspect of their eligibility for financing, as they give a good indication of a person’s ability to repay the loan when it comes due. Direct salary as well as investments, inheritances and other income types are all commonly considered, and good ratings in this area can often offset lackluster evaluations in other facets.

Banking History

An established history with a lender can give a prospective home buyer a fighting chance of securing the necessary funding. Banking institutions see each borrower as a risk of lost investment to a certain degree, but an existing banking relationship gives a lender familiarity with an individual and their financial habits, and so it can be a good idea to seek out a home loan at an institution at which there is an active bank account in good standing already in place.

Down Payment

The amount of an applicant’s down payment can give them tremendous flexibility where securing a home loan from a bank is concerned. Lenders will commonly finance up to 95 percent of a home transaction, and so virtually any applicant should have at least 5 percent of the desired loan amount available at the time of application.

Of course, any amount significantly above this figure bolsters the borrower’s leverage, and a larger down payment now can mean smaller monthly payments and a lower interest rate later. The house and land packages in Perth in particular, can be far more manageable, it’s worth doing some research to find the best deal.

While it is possible for prospective homebuyers to obtain a home loan even if these critical factors are not necessarily in their favor, the available options for these individuals are often unattractive, as they can include high interest rates, uncommonly extensive repayment periods, exorbitant penalties and other undesirable terms. The amount a person can borrow from a lender is effectively unlimited in theory, but in practice, the borrower can only receive what the bank is comfortable lending.

Lending Club Is Now Offering Business Loans

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You likely know Lending Club is a peer-to-peer lending site that offers personal loans to individuals as well as the chance for personal investors to invest by lending money to individuals.

Now, however, Lending Club is expanding their services and offering business loans.  This is of particular interest if you own a business.

If You’re Looking to Lend Money to a Business

If you’re already investing in Lending Club, you may want to lend money to a business as well.  However, ordinary investors cannot yet do that.  “For now. . .the program is limited to institutional investors such as hedge funds, insurance companies, and family offices that manage wealth for the very rich, but eventually the company plans to let anyone invest” (Bloomberg Businessweek).

How to Qualify for a Lending Club Business Loan

Business funding can often be very difficult to get, so Lending Club’s business loans offer businesses a nice alternative to traditional funding options.  In order to qualify for a loan, a business must meet these minimums:

  • At least $75k in annual sales,
  • a personal guarantor by at least one 20% or greater owner of the company, and
  • the guarantor’s personal credit must be at least “Fair”

What Are The Loan Details?

Businesses that apply for a loan can borrow up to $100,000 for 1 to 5 year terms.

The interest rate is fixed for the life of the loan and can be as low as 5.9% to as high as 29.9%.  The rate your business gets depends on a variety of factors including:

  • how long your business has been established,
  • how financially strong your business is, and
  • the credit worthiness of the business, among other factors.

“Lending Club Chief Executive Officer Renaud Laplanche says the average interest rate will be 12.5 percent” (Bloomberg Businessweek).

Lending Club offers a “check your rate” button on their website.  Simply enter how much you need and what you plan to use it for and then you’ll be taken to a form to fill out that will check your potential rate.  (Filling out this form does not affect your credit score in any way.)

One of the best perks of the Lending Club Business Loan is that you can pay it off early with no pre-payment penalties.

The Fine Details

When borrowing, checking the fine print is always best.  There are a few other fees attached to the loan.

Borrower Origination Fee

The origination fee can range from 1 to 6%.  That money will be taken off the top of the loan.  If you borrow $10,000, for instance, and your origination fee is 3%, you will receive $9,700 because the $300 origination fee is taken off immediately.

The borrower must pay the origination fee to cover the cost of issuing the loans as well as the screening process.

Unsuccessful Payment Fee

If your automatic payment fails, you’ll be charged $15.

Late Payment Fee

A borrower is given a 15 day grace period.  If your payment is later than that, you will be charged either $15 or 5% of the unpaid monthly payment, whichever is greater.

Check Processing Fee

If you opt to pay via check, you’ll be charged a $15 fee.  If you use direct debit, you are not charged a fee.

Funding your business can be difficult, especially if you go through traditional channels.  Lending Club is expanding their business to offer business loans, which is one more way you can potentially find money for your business, whether you’re using it for debt consolidation, marketing, or another purpose.

If you have a business, would you look at Lending Club as a potential lender?  If you invest in Lending Club, would you like to invest in their new business loans?

Lending Club Returns Update 4Q13

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Another quarter has come and gone, so it’s time for an update on the Lending Club returns I’ve been getting on my account.  At the end of the third quarter, my account was sitting at a return rate of 14.69%.  It’s actually improved a bit since then, but Lending Club has also added the ability to adjust the displayed NAR, which does some funny stuff (see below) and reduces the rate a bit.  I think that’s a good thing (again, see below) and that’s the rate I’ll likely be using for future updates.

Lending Club Adjusted NAR

A few months back, Lending Club introduced what they’re calling an adjusted NAR.  Basically, it uses the historical charge off rates of loans at the different stages of delinquency.  Obviously, the current loans have a historical rate of charge off of 0%.  Once they go into the Grace Period, about 23%, 16-30 days late, about 49%, 31-120 days late, about 72%, and in full default, about 86%.Beating Broke Lending Club Update

As an example, my portfolio currently has two notes that are in the 31-120 days late category.  So, when Lending Club is adjusting my NAR, they use the 72% figure and assume that 72% of the principle will be lost.  Using that number, they then calculate the new, adjusted NAR.  With the two notes late, my adjusted NAR is currently showing as 13.16%.  Still a very healthy number, and likely a more realistic number.  I like the new adjustment, as it should give investors a more realistic number to look at.

Lending Club Defaults and Late Notes

As I mentioned above, my portfolio currently has two notes that are 31-120 days delinquent.  And, if you go by the historical numbers, those two notes have about a 72% chance of eventually going into collections.  I’ve been lucky enough to only have had one note actually go that far to date, and the collection agency was able to get a bit of that money back for me.  It wasn’t the entire amount owed, but a significant portion of the principle, which I was happy for.  I could try and sell off the two delinquent notes, but at this point, I wouldn’t get much out of them, so I think I’ll just ride them out and see what happens.  The total principle involved is only about $35, so it would mean about a month and a half of lost interest payments.  That’s a risk I’m willing to take.

The Future of My Portfolio

With the rates I’m getting, I don’t foresee stopping my investing through Lending Club.  I may even start putting some more money into the account sometime in the future.  At the moment, I’m content to just leave it and reinvest the payments each month.  I’ve seen a few other investors that have either significantly changed how they’re using Lending Club, or have begun backing out of it altogether.  I think it’s something that you need to be able to change how you do it, but I also believe that backing out altogether is a mistake at this point.  The technology is still relatively new, and many of the changes that we’re seeing Lending Club make have been for the better.

I’ve created a page that consolidates all of the posts I’ve done on Lending Club, as well as the quarterly updates since I began doing them.  If you’re interested in starting to invest in Lending Club, you can read more on my Lending Club page, or you can sign up for an account and give it a go.