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The new loan product can be applied for entirely online, including the upload of all supporting documentation, with no extra fees or charges.
To be eligible for the new home loan product, New Zealand customers must be refinancing or purchasing a standalone house on a single section, and have saved a 20 per cent deposit, or hold 20 per cent equity in their current home.
Additionally, the product is only available to owner-occupiers intending to move into the home.
Fixed rates start at 2.89 per cent for one year, and 2.97 per cent for two years.
Australian SME finance expansion
The announcement comes shortly after the release of Heartland’s half-year results, for the first half of the 2020 financial year, in which the lender stated its intentions to expand its operations in Australia, and invest in “new areas of opportunity”.
According to the lender, its corporate restructure, undertaken in 2018, has provided the group with the opportunity to launch its existing products into other markets, notably, allowing for the expansion of its New Zealand small business lending branch – named Open 4 Business of O4B – into the Australian market.
According to Heartland, O4B was launched in Australia in November 2019, and is currently being piloted to ensure the product is “set up and operating well.”
The lender stated it will increase marketing activity to drive up leads for its Australian small business arm throughout the second half of the 2020 financial year.
Further, the company also stated that “further diversification of funding programs remains a strategic focus” in its Australian business over the rest of the financial year, to support business growth.
[Related: Heartland earnings bolstered by reverse mortgage growth]
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