A mortgage broker is someone that can offer their clients custom-designed loans to suit their individual needs. A mortgage broker acts an intermediary between you as a borrower and a number of lenders. Their role is to assess your personal circumstances, find a suitable loan product for you and then negotiate the successful approval and settlement of the loan.

There are several reasons that you can lend money. Some of the more popular reasons people use our services are:

1. Buying a home

2. Purchase a residential investment property

3. Refinance an existing home loan

4. Consoliation of other debts

5. Investment purposes (other than property) where you provide real estate as security

6. Buying a car, caravan or boat

7. Purchasing commercial property for investment or the running of your business.

Every lender has a different set of rules and policies about how much deposit you will need to have but as a general rule, you will need 5% deposit plus other purchasing costs such as stamp duty and legal fees.

Some lenders will ask to show 'genuine savings' meaning that you can show for the past 3 months that you possess favourable financial habits. This acts as a good indicator that you will be able to afford your home loan repayments. If your deposit is less than a 20% you will also be required to pay lenders mortgage insurance to protect the lender. In some cases this can be waived for certain professions or under the governments First Home Loan Deposit Scheme.

This question depends on if you think rates are going to go higher or lower over the term.

Fixed rates give the borrower certainty as to what their repayments will be across a period of time allowing for easier budgeting plans. The borrower is also protected from sudden and potentially significant increases in monthly mortgage payments if interest rates rise.

A variable rate provides the borrower with flexibility around additional repayments whilst also taking advantage of any drop in interest rates that may be offered. Historically variable rates have been slightly lower than many fixed rates however in recent times this has changed where the variable rate is often higher than the fixed.

An offset account is a transaction account linked to one of your home loan accounts. You can make deposits or withdraw from it the same way that you would any other transaction account.

The big difference is that when you have money in an offset account over a period of time, you are reducing the amount of interest that is charged to your home loan account which can save you thousands and help you pay off your loan sooner.

As an example if an offset account had $20,000 sat in it against a home loan of $400,000, the home loan would only be charged interest on $380,000 so long as the offset account balance remained the same.

Generally speaking, the offset feature is only available on variable rate home loans (although some lenders offer an offset feature on selected fixed rate home loans).

Whether an offset account will save you money when compared to a low or no fee basic loan product is a conversation you should have with your broker.