Had a meeting with my lender today about accessing a offset facility with my existing home loan. After satisfying the loan officer as to why I needed to access such a facility, I was told that I would need to switch loan products away from my uber cheap no frills variable loan to the standard variable loan package to set up an offset account. This would cost $300 an incur a slight interest rate bump.
No problem, says I. I asked about retaining access to the $$$ currently sitting available for redraw. I was told to transfer the cash to the account I wanted to make the offset account and then email the loan officer to process the switch. This would ensure I didn't lose access to these funds. So I went ahead and transferred the $$ out when I got back to the office.
I called the loan officer to ask her to process the paperwork. She then informed me that the whole process would take at least 2-3 days and that I would have to fill out additional paperwork (this is after asking at the meeting if there was any other paperwork to be done - I just filled out an application for an offset account).
So I guess this means I will be slugged with a chunk of extra interest while this is being processed. Was I naive to think this would be a quick and painless changeover? I did think it was a bit suspect when the loan officer suggested I wait a few days after transferring the $$$ out of the redraw before contacting her ("to make sure the transfer is OK..."). Yeach, so you can charge me some extra interest, I thought!
Comments please!
No problem, says I. I asked about retaining access to the $$$ currently sitting available for redraw. I was told to transfer the cash to the account I wanted to make the offset account and then email the loan officer to process the switch. This would ensure I didn't lose access to these funds. So I went ahead and transferred the $$ out when I got back to the office.
I called the loan officer to ask her to process the paperwork. She then informed me that the whole process would take at least 2-3 days and that I would have to fill out additional paperwork (this is after asking at the meeting if there was any other paperwork to be done - I just filled out an application for an offset account).
So I guess this means I will be slugged with a chunk of extra interest while this is being processed. Was I naive to think this would be a quick and painless changeover? I did think it was a bit suspect when the loan officer suggested I wait a few days after transferring the $$$ out of the redraw before contacting her ("to make sure the transfer is OK..."). Yeach, so you can charge me some extra interest, I thought!
Comments please!