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Resimac today (15 April) introduced new loan-to-value ratio (LVR) bands for its Prime Alt Doc product.
In order to make the offering “more accessible to self-employed borrowers” – and bring it in line with its other prime and specialist loans – Resimac has now expanded its LVR brackets to 90 per cent.
Previously, Prime Alt Doc was limited to 80 per cent LVR for self-employed customers.
According to the non-bank, the change aligns with the non-bank lender’s mission to support self-employed Australians with better lending solutions that recognise their unique attributes and requirements.
Chris Paterson, Resimac’s general manager of distribution, commented: “Self-employed borrowers make up approximately 15 per cent of the total workforce, yet they can still struggle to get their income assessed fairly with major lenders.
“We’re focused on offering better alternatives, and the changes we’ve made have really started to resonate, with self-employed borrowers accounting for about 60 per cent of our settlements since the start of the financial year.”
Paterson said that Resimac regularly reviewed its products and policies to assess their relevance within current market conditions, adding: “Higher LVR bands on our Prime Alt Doc product make sense in the current economic climate. As well as lowering the deposit required for purchasing property, it enables self-employed borrowers with as little as 10 per cent equity to refinance their home loan to Resimac and access features like unlimited cash out and debt consolidation.”
The addition of higher LVR bands followed other changes Resimac has made to its Prime Alt Doc product in the last 12 months, including increasing the maximum loan amount to $2.5 million and removing the cash out limit.
“This is a great opportunity for brokers to drive more deal flow,” he continued.
“Self-employed clients won’t necessarily know they can use mortgage-based finance to borrow money for their business, with lower interest rates than what they can typically access through traditional business loans.
“Self-employed borrowers refinancing with Resimac can access up to $500,000 to fund their business needs, which could be things like purchasing equipment, leasing an office space or buying inventory. This could provide a much-needed cash injection for businesses to help them ride out the current economic cycle.”
As well as tweaking its loan offerings, the non-bank lender last week launched a new mobile app to help customers manage their loan repayments directly.
Among a range of features, the app enables customers to change details such as daily transaction limits, loan repayments, and postal addresses.
The mobile application also allows customers to schedule one-off and recurring bill payments and transfer funds and gives customers access to e-statements and transaction history.
Customers will also be able to manage their Resimac Visa debit card, which is tied to the customer’s offset account, including activating and blocking a card and changing the card’s PIN.
The lender also revealed that it had plans to add a digital wallet to the app.
[Related: Resimac launches mobile app]
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