Contact An Adviser, Or Get Started Online
What is a Top Up?
A ‘Top Up’ is a Home Loan that is is redrawn against your property for personal, business, renovation or construction purposes. A Top Up’s loan amount is secured against an existing property the bank has a registered interest over.
Common requests for Top Ups include debt consolidation, emergency funds, holidays, vehicles boats, or for renovating a new kitchen, bathroom or house extension.
A top Up vs a Personal/vehicle Loan
Top Ups are becoming a popular option for existing home owners that are wanting to take advantage of home lending interest rates vs traditional personal or vehicle finance. Often these loans secured or unsecured can range from 10 – 30% p.a.
Most personal loans have a maximum term of up to 7 years. Depending on your eligibility, the loan term for a Top Up can range from 1 – 30 years. This allows you have greater control over the cost of your loan repayments.
What's the Maximum I can Borrow for an owner occupied property?
For an owner occupied property the maximum you can Top Up on your property is up to 80% of it’s current value. This is also known as an 80% LVR (Loan to Value Ratio)
For example if you have an existing mortgage of $350,000 and the value of your property today is worth $500,000, your existing LVR before applying for a top up would be 70%.
As this falls below the maximum limit of 80%, you qualify for this scenario and can apply for a maximum top up of up to 80%. Any LVR that exceeds this level does not qualify for a Top Up.
In the above scenario an LVR of 80% would equate to a new total mortgage of $400,000. If the current mortgage is $350,000 the difference being the ‘Top Up’ is $50,000.
This means your maximum available top up is $50,000.
Keep in mind, even you if you have the equity available the Top Up is still subject to the banks servicing and lending criteria. Maximum lending limits for Top Ups varies from bank to bank. Valuations are either obtained via the Bank’s online valuation system or by a Registered Valuation.
Contact us if you would like further clarity for your bank.
What's The Maximum I Can Borrow For An Investment Property?
For an investment property the maximum you can Top Up on your property is up to 70% of it’s current value. This is also known as an 70% LVR (Loan to Value Ratio)
For example if you have an existing mortgage of $300,000 and the value of your property today is worth $600,000, your existing LVR before applying for a Top Up would be 50%.
As this falls below the maximum limit of 70%, you qualify for this scenario and can apply for a maximum top up of up to 70%. Any LVR that exceeds this level does not qualify for a Top Up.
In the above scenario an LVR of 70% would equate to a new total mortgage of $420,000. If the current mortgage is $300,000 the difference being the ‘Top Up’ is $120,000.
This means your maximum available top up is $120,000.
Keep in mind, even you if you have the equity available the Top Up is still subject to the banks servicing and lending criteria. Maximum lending limits for Top Ups varies from bank to bank. Valuations are either obtained via the Bank’s online valuation system or by a Registered Valuation.
Contact us if you would like further clarity for your bank.
Our Partners
Benefits of Getting a Top Up
Mortgage rates are constantly changing in today’s market. Broker departments in banks are known for providing competitive interest rates upfront for Mortgage Advisers
Fixed, Floating or Variable? 5 or 30 year loan term? Understanding your goals and situation can help us to structure your mortgage to allow you to pay it off faster but still have the flexibility and freedom to live
Don’t find yourself stuck waiting on hold listening to the same 80s song on repeat after calling your bank’s 0800 number. We will answer your call or get back to you in good fashion
Our online application system allows you to create your own MOOSE account and input your information without the hassle of tiresome paperwork. Once it’s all uploaded, we do all the running around so you don’t have to
If you’re applying for a Top Up up with a major bank there’s no fee for our service. The major banks will cover our costs on your behalf as long as your new loan stays in place with them for a minimum of 27 months. This reduces your outgoings during the process
Re-explaining yourself can be frustrating when the last banker has moved on. We document all our client conversations & advice so we’re always on the ball. You can depend on us to be there for the a small Top up, annual mortgage review, loan refix, refinance or new purchase
Is A 'Top up' Right For Me?
If you are going to apply for a top up, it’s good to understand that you will be taking on more debt which may increase the amount of time it takes you to become mortgage free.
Working with an adviser at Moose allows us to crunch the numbers and give you solid advice around whether you will be better off or not. This will save you time and money to focus on what truly matters.
Why Should I Use A Mortgage Adviser?
A mortgage adviser will be able to run through a series of questions with you, to gather enough information to understand your financial position and goals. From here an adviser would aim to provide you with an indication of your borrowing power in line with your needs. If your borrowing power is not inline with your goal, we will provide you with a plan to work towards.
Moose is accredited with a broad range of lenders. This enables us to provide our clients with a range of solutions as every bank’s lending policy differs.
- Needs based approach to a tailored mortgage plan
- Access to a broad range of lenders
- Solutions for customers that don't have a straight forward situation
- Advice from a qualified licensed adviser
Use our link ‘Get Started’ to create a profile and complete a series of questions to identify your home lending goals, and statement of position. This will take only a couple minutes.
Once you’ve completed our online fact find an adviser will be in touch to arrange a time to meet you in person or online through video call to discuss the information disclosed in the fact find and add any additional information that may be fit for purpose along with a needs analysis to determine suitability of lenders and whether they can meet your goals.
An adviser disclosure document will be provided outlining the adviser’s scope of service, personal details including FSP (Financial Service Provider) registration number and how we are paid by our lenders. If a fee applies for our advice this would be disclosed upfront prior to you engaging our services
After we’ve gathered all the information from our meeting we will begin the process of research and analysis. This will include comparing different lending provider’s policies around your maximum borrowing power, product benefits and suitability.
We will use our research findings to tailor a recommendation that is aligned to the needs based information gathered in our first meeting.
Once our recommendations are ready we will arrange a time to catch up with you to review the document either in person or online through screenshare.
In this second meeting in person, or through screen share, the adviser will talk you through the options in our statement of advice (recommendation) document and answer any questions you may have.
If the advice provided requires variations, the adviser will take notes and rework the recommendations to ensure your needs are met prior to you either accepting, or declining the recommendations.
If you accept the recommendations provided by the adviser, we will work on creating an application to the agreed lender(s) on your behalf.
Your completed application will be reviewed by yourself to ensure all information is true and correct prior to submitting it off to the lender.
If a conditional offer of finance is obtained we will work with you to satisfy all conditions. A final statement of advice document will be provided to you, with your loan structure recommendations prior to arranging any loan documents to be sent to your solicitor.
Your adviser will contact you annually to review your mortgage. This is to ensure that your mortgage remains fit for purpose through the changes in your life.