The client is an experienced physiotherapist and sole director of a physiotherapy practice. His wife is employed in the business in general admin and management of the practice.
The requirements of the client were to purchase their family home before selling their owner-occupied apartment. The purchase of the family home was a related party transaction because the owners were the male client’s parents. As the clients were planning the move, a bridging loan had to be established and the existing mortgage over the apartment refinanced.
The peak debt was estimated to be $1,200,000 made up of $550,000 for the existing apartment loan plus $650,000 for the new purchase.
There were a few aspects in the client’s file that presented challenges to servicing:
The client was temporarily stood down by employer during COVID-19 and received Job Keeper payments.
To establish servicing, we went about looking for lenders that would accept the latest income year, as well as a bridging loan.
We identified the a major bank that would accept the scenario. However, to be eligible for a bridging loan, the bank required either minimum 6 months credit history or 3 months salary credit accounts.
Hence, the client moved all their transaction accounts to this bank in advance. They also closed all credit cards and paid off their car loan.
Nevertheless the client had a small shortfall in order to pass serviceability. To make up for the shortfall, the bank policy accepted current savings during the entire bridge period.
Despite a 4-week period during which the client was stood down, it was argued that the client voluntarily closed the practice at the initial outbreak of Covid-19, and he was receiving Jobkeeper payments.
On review of the client’s financial statements, since the practice re-opened after 4 weeks, business was more busy than ever. We were able to extrapolate the annual income had the same level of income for the quarter continued. This added to the strength of the client’s file.
The bridging loan was successfully approved with the desired loan amount of $1.2M.
