Relevant Questions (FAQ)
1. Are you doing this for charity, how do you people get paid?
When a loan is settled, subject to The Lenders requirements, we will get paid a brokerage fee by the bank - normally this fee is payable within 90 days of settlement and can take up to 2 years to clear depending on the lender (the bank always needs to make a profit). We also may receive a referral fee or commission for certain partners. However, we will disclose any fee that we may receive and will not send your details to anyone without your expressed consent.
2. Why don't you advertise or recommend any property groups?
In order for us to recommend to a client to work with a particular property group, buyer's agent or financial planner we need to ensure that they get results for their clients and not just for themselves. We've seen developers pay commissions between $40,000 and $80,000 to the salesman for an off-the-plan or house & land package and when they're built the client has lost that money because it didn't perform. We do not intend to play Russian-roulette with your financial future. Unfortunately, when the incentive on commission can be that high the industry attracts a lot of unruly people who may not have your best interests at heart. A brochure and selective data for suburb growth do not mean anything, we need to verify that our referral partners have consistently outperformed the market due to real strategy and knowledge by presenting us with verifiable data of the median performance of their clients. Nobody is going to spend your money better than you so please do research and find a property expert you can trust, we will do our best to assist you as well.
3. We don't like budgeting and find the word gross, can we still work together?
We don't like a lot of things but if you're coming to us it's for a reason. If you have a mortgage on a home you live in and want to pay it off but don't want to budget for a fixed period to reach your goals then we should not work together. We do not have the time to say 'bad boy' or 'bad girl' for spending outside of your means. Life can and always finds a way to get in the way and that's completely fine, we'll deal with it but if you're buying Italian clothes and German cars when we're trying to pay off your bad-debt and build your wealth it's bad for business. We are not refinancing you for the sake of it and going through a strategy for you to not feel like budgeting. We want to call you in 12 months and see the weight that is being lifted off your shoulders and that you have direction for your goals. Budgeting doesn't have to be this big thing, change your mentality from limiting what you can spend to maximising wealth you can grow. Of course, don't be an idiot, if you need to go to the doctor or get surgery or take your little one for school camp then do it, but don't be a consumer to buy things you never had to impress people who don't care. Your budget is your weekly food (i.e. take out and groceries), travel (i.e. petrol & public transport) and other (i.e. hobbies & date night) - no need to overcomplicate it.
4. We're rentvesters can you still work with us?
Of course! We do not take a cookie cutter approach.
5. We know that we can pay off our mortgage faster with extra repayments, why speak with you lot?
Not all lender products facilitate the banking structure that we propose for a strategy involving paying off your mortgage quicker. For example, fully-featured home loans that have free redraw (with no limits) on variable rate loans may give someone the flexibility to overpay and minimise their interest repayments, whilst being able to access their funds in case of emergency. This is not advice, but if you are unsure whether your product can facilitate this method or whether you should overpay your mortgage it's better to have a chat and be safe than sorry. Sorry for sounding like a politician, but in short let's have a chat - if we can get you a product that suites your goals with a lower interest rate then you've got nothing to lose.
6. We own our home outright but want to look at investing is it worth meeting?
Definitely, we can work with a licensed tax agent to ensure that your future loans for investing purposes are set-up for your needs. However, please note that we can but do not typically touch properties held in trust due to scalability reasons and lender risk assessments. If your tax agent and adviser recommends this approach then we will try to help.
7. Can you help with commercial lending/business loans?
We may be able to assist and provide a few options. However, this service will not be free and additional fees will be charged subject to the request.
8. Why and how should we trust you?
Every lending strategy that is proposed is created using mathematical methods to minimise our biases. With almost a decade of financial services experience, we have developed methods similar to what the wealthy SME individuals would use and apply it to our clients for their benefit. Now, there are assumptions that are made within these calculations such as property growth rate and interest rate so it is important to note that there are various external factors that can impact you (i.e. medical emergency, war, market crash, inflation etc.), but this method provides a general guideline based on previous data. These formulas do include similar methodologies to what most lender's use except they are applied to show you how you can reach your goals.
9. Why choose XA Finance and not someone else?
XA Finance was born from seeing too many people with little financial literacy get rorted from people with ulterior motives, get cheap misinformed guidance or pay an arm-and-a-leg to get great solutions completed by 20 something-year-old graduates in the background (grateful for the experience, not bitter). We will tell you like it is and may give you another perspective that you haven't considered and explain the how, the why and to what end. Having us in your corner ensures that you will get a professional solution for your lending needs and objectives. We handle the financial strategy, assessing your position & borrowing capacity, cross referencing your situation with multiple lenders policies to get you the best possible result, handle the application and assist with the settlement process. Think of us as your spiritual mortgage guide. We only work with partners who are genuine in seeing our clients as people and not numbers, we want to see you succeed just as my advisers wanted to see me succeed.
10. What does the XA stand for?
Growing up Chris had two informal advisers (or enforcers if you ask his parents) who provided him with wisdom and insight about life when he did not want or expect to hear it. These people only wanted to see him succeed and get the best out life. When things looked bleak he would get a phone call in broken English where the right words would still always somehow come out and he'd keep going with his goals in mind. Chris' grandmothers Xrisanthi & Athanasia are the inspiration behind this name (have fun trying to pronounce that).