How Much Can I Borrow With A Commonwealth Bank Home Loan?

Author: Nicholi Bartholomew

So, you have an idea of the area you would like to buy in. You have decided on the paint scheme for your bathroom and you know the product code for the laminate that you would like fitted on the bench in your dream kitchen. But do you know exactly how much you can afford when it comes to buying your first home with a commonwealth bank home loan? Getting a home loan was once a matter of arranging a meeting with your local bank manager and going through the sums with them in person. Now, thanks to a wealth of technology and an ever-expanding mortgage industry, there are literally hundreds of home loan products available with the click of a mouse. You can also use online tools, such as the Commonwealth Banks home loan calculator, to help you in working out how much you can afford.

The Commonwealth Banks home loan calculator allows you to calculate your choice of the approximate amount you can borrow, your regular loan repayment, or the term of your home loan if you already know the amount of your loan and repayments.You can use the Commonwealth Bank home loan calculator to select from their range of home loan products and see how each product affects your home loan repayments.

Commonwealth Bank home loan

While tools such as the Commonwealth Bank home loan calculator can be useful in approximately your home loan costs, they are often overly simplistic and should be us as a guide only.

There are a number of factors that lenders such as the Commonwealth Bank take into consideration when assessing how much you can borrow. Your monthly income is important, as obviously the more you earn, the more you are hypothetically able to repay, and so the more borrow.

The Commonwealth Bank, and other home loan lenders, would also take into account your living expenses, current debts such as car loans or credit cards, whether you have children and generally your serviceability, which means your ability to repay the loan. Online commonwealth bank home loan tools such as home loan calculators are widely available online. You should use these only as tools for estimations; your financial broker can help you with the real figures. Finally, bear in mind that the lenders with the most impressive technology are the ones with the biggest online marketing budgets, not necessarily the ones with the best home loan products so always shop around.

Nick wants to get people out of debt. Crown home loans helps people get out of debt faster and taking money away from banks. To see how commonwealth bank home loan can suit your needs please visit http://crownhomeloan.com.au/

Working Capital and Cash Flow Solutions: Should I Borrow From A Bank?

Author: Dave Nighswander

Recently, my newspaper reported that a local bank “...earned a four star excellence rating for the sixty-fourth consecutive quarter.” That’s sixteen years of four star excellence! The article went on to say that the “rating is based on a complex formula that includes …capital safety levels, quality of loan portfolio, and the ability to meet obligations…” The press release was designed to showcase the value of this bank and demonstrate its prominent position in the economy.

As a former banker with over seventeen years of commercial experience, I chuckle at this information being tossed around by the bank and its regulatory agencies for self promotion and marketing purposes. I suppose that if you are a blue-hair whose purpose is to find somewhere other than under the mattress to keep your retirement funds, this article was good news. But what does it mean to the business owner or entrepreneur looking for a Funding partner to participate in an opportunity to grow, increase jobs and profit? In a nutshell this type of information should be a wake up call to find another bank-here’s why.

Let’s explore the underlying meaning to business customers behind a portion of this “complex formula.”

Capital Safety Level

In layman’s terms this means that the bank has more than adequate reserves of Cash. Cash that is available, but not loaned out – its Capital Safe. Banks that have high reserves of Capital can be presumed to be low on the scale of aggressive lending. They hoard Cash - even though they cannot make the same return on reserved Cash as they can on employed Cash. But for the bank, it’s less risky to hoard Cash than to loan Cash, and therefore contributes to their four-star excellence rating.

Quality of Loan Portfolio

A high quality loan portfolio means that the bank’s loan loss experience is at or above levels set by regulatory agencies. One can infer that the bank therefore takes fewer risks. Bankers are not supposed to be entrepreneurial or take risk. A banker has never been rewarded for taking risk! The banking system rewards those who can decline any borrowing request outside of the underwriting parameters. Loan portfolio quality that’s high = low loan accessibility to business owners. It stands to reason that banks are not risk takers based upon the low returns they are willing to accept.

Banks with four star excellence ratings seek out commercial customers who are stable and have limited need to borrow. The other 72% of business customers are left outside the circle of these banks. Where do these businesses turn to Cash Flow the Working Capital needs of their business? Where do they go to fund opportunities for growth and development of new market niches? More often than not they turn to the widely accepted world of non-traditional funding sources - preferred SBA lending companies for real estate and fixed asset needs, leasing companies for equipment needs, and Factoring companies for Working Capital needs. These non-traditional funding sources evaluate opportunities to participate by lending funds to small & medium sized businesses. Non-traditional lenders rates on borrowed funds may be higher than traditional bank rates, but their mission is to employ funds to obtain a return, not to let cash sit idle on the sideline in order to obtain a four star excellence rating. Their pricing reflects the perceived risk. And, they are not restricted by regulatory bureaucracy or fear of losing their four star rating as banks are.

In this ever changing world, business owners are advised to explore opportunities outside of the traditional financing channels. Before a need arises a business should be familiar with alternative funding sources. And perhaps, when your bank informs you that they continue to achieve a four-star excellence rating…it would be wise to investigate your options pertaining to Working Capital and Cash Flow solutions.

About the Author: Dave Nighswander is the President and Founder of Capital Access, a business factoring company specializing in factoring accounts receivables, working capital, and cash flow solutions for businesses across the country. For more information on Capital Access, please visit http://www.capitalaxcess.com or call (419) 732-3174.

Lending and Borrowing While Bypassing the Bank

Author: Chris Robertson

For lack of a better word, "alternative" forms of lending and borrowing have lately gained momentum, in no small part to 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, who founded the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. Yunus discovered that micro loans - sometimes amounting to only a few dollars per loan - could lift entire communities out of poverty. Of course, the situation in the United States is quite a bit different, but alternative forms of lending and borrowing are gaining a foothold, and the result is that both lenders and borrowers are beginning to prosper.

In the United States, consumer debt is at an all-time high. Many individuals and families bought expensive homes with unconventional mortgages during the real estate boom and have maxed out their credit cards along the way. Now that the housing market is cooling, unemployment is up in some areas, and even Alan Greenspan has prophesied the coming of a recession, consumers are feeling the pinch. It's becoming more difficult for people to meet their monthly obligations, which can lower their credit scores and begin a downward spiral. As a result, many people are unable to obtain loans from traditional lending institutions.

Although behemoth banks may appear to have a stranglehold on the flow of loans in this country, there is a resurgence of the people to people lending that was the longstanding tradition prior to bank loans. A prime example of this type of lending and borrowing is Prosper.com, an online service that brings together lenders, who are interested in investing their money, and borrowers, who may seek funding to consolidate loans, start a business, make a film, record a CD, or any other venture one might imagine.

Fueled by the power of the Internet, this type of people to people lending allows borrowers to make their case for a loan while laying their cards - or in this case, their credit scores - on the table. Lenders, who can invest as little as $50 or as much as $25,000, bid on loans in much the same way a buyer might bid in an online auction. Once the bidding processes closes, Prosper.com awards the bids with the lowest interest rates, consolidates the funding, and administers the loan. Borrowers repay their loans as they would with a traditional lending institution, and if they default, the community knows about it. Lenders can diversify their investments and reduce their risk by lending smaller amounts to a greater number of borrowers.

In this type of people to people lending, groups (or communities as they're often called) form in order to establish a positive group reputation that will lead to greater trustworthiness and lower interest rates. A group's solid repayment track record, for example, will allow a community member to obtain a loan at a lower interest rate than an individual who does not belong to a group.

In the case of Prosper.com, the most popular group (with close to 6,000 members) is Two Millionaires. Started by - you guessed it - two millionaires, the group has loaned over $1.5 million to a wide variety of borrowers.

The concept of online social banking is a natural outgrowth of both the need of borrowers in today's economic climate and of the popularity of social investing. Doing well by doing good is a strong motivator for the lenders, who enjoy helping those in need while also gaining a significant return on investment. In the process, both lenders and borrowers are bypassing the banking on the road to prosperity.

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Learn more about Lending, Borrowing, and Prospering or Majon's FinancingInvesting directory.

Step By Step Tips On What A Bank May Want From You If You Want To Borrow Money For Your Business

Author: Makabongwe Maseko

If you need to borrow money, your bank manager and your professional advisers need to understand how you see your business developing. They can then assess the viability of your plans and forecasts and give you advice and practical help. But, first, what does the bank expect from you?

Broadly speaking before meeting your bank manager, you should be asking yourself some key questions:

(a) What type of business do you intend to start – and is it likely to succeed?
(b) Do you have the personalities needed?
(c) Will you need money to establish or expand your business?
(d) Do you need the bank to lend it to you?
(e) If so, how much?
(f) And when?
(g) How will you pay it back?
(h) Do you have any security you could offer the bank?

Your bank manager will expect you to know the answers to these questions on the outset.

Your bank manager will base the decision on whether or not to lend money to your business on his/her assessment of your business plan. Ultimately, the decision has to be a financial one. But if you present your plan on the back of an envelope it may indicate that you have a non business like attitude, which is unlikely to impress your potential customers.

Therefore, try to prepare your business plan in a clear, professional way. Consider typing it, or having it typed, and do not overcrowd the page. Ensure that your headings are clear and that all the figures used add up correctly. Clarity and simplicity are the key words. If your business plan is confusing, it is unlikely to convince your bank manager.

Your manager will also want to assess your personal qualities and your reliability, your capacity to stay in business and fulfill the promise of your business plan. You need to think carefully about these important questions, as your ability to answer them will determine the manager’s response to your approach.

Other considerations

Once you have made your business plan, checking every aspect of your business and deciding whether or not you need help with the finance, you need to consider some other areas, two of which are insurance and taxation.

It is important that you understand the implications of both of these from the beginning, as failure to do so could result in serious repercussions for your business later on.

Insurance

It is very important that you take adequate insurance to protect your business’ future. This should include protection against:

(a) The cost of replacing stock and equipment that is lost, stolen or damaged.
(b) To cover your premises against fire, floods etc.
(c) Damages for injury to an employee, customer or third party whilst on your premises.
(d) Any special risks that apply to your type of business.
(e) Loss of life. (What happens to your family in the event of your death)?

Without the right type of insurance the survival of your business could be threatened.

Taxation

It is very important to you to make sure that you pay no more tax than you are obliged to pay, although you are of course obliged to provide accurate tax returns. Poor record keeping and lack of the right advice can lead to pay excess tax.

An unexpected tax bill can kill a small business, so you must be able to anticipate your tax liabilities.

Makabongwe Maseko offers advice on the business industry on his weblog "Online Marketing Business Opportunity". To get more information and tips on business matters visit: http://online-marketing-business-opportunity.traders-online.net/