Refinancing Car Loan Balloon, but Partner Is on Jobkeeper

roarer on 25/09/2020 - 18:30

I want to refinance the balloon payment on my Car Loan from 2015. It's just $7000, but I can't afford to just pay it out.
I have a pretty good income of around $70k, and my partner is on the now reduced jobkeeper payment of $650 a week. She also has some casual work, but it's only like $300 a week, and has only been there for a month.

The loan is through Macquarie, and I went to them directly to try to refinance the remaining, but due to her being on jobkeeper, and not having been at her casual job for more than 6 months, they are considering her to have no income.

The biggest issue this is making, is that now our $400k home loan is being considered entirely my responsibility.
I wanted to keep it just in my name, but they are only willing to take the full monthly payment as my obligation, rather than just my half, so logically adding another name should help, but they don't consider her to have an income.

I have also spoken to Loans.com.au and they essentially said the same thing.
Is there a provider anyone knows that would be able to help me at a reasonable rate, or any other ideas I can look at? I'm getting really frustrated that the payment will be more than halved, but they don't consider me a reasonable candidate for a loan.
I have good credit, and so does my partner. We haven't missed any of the car payments.

Appreciate any help

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Comments

  • brendanm on 25/09/2020 - 18:35

    You must have other loans, credit cards etc if you can't get a $7k secured loan. Doesn't add up.

    • roarer on 25/09/2020 - 18:59

      Of course, but nothing since A) Getting a home loan, ad B) My partner going on to jobkeeper. She works in the travel industry, so there's no work there for her. And her casual work hasn't existed long enough

      • brendanm on 25/09/2020 - 19:07

        Since A or B doesn't matter. It's the total amount you owe, and total repayment they take into consideration. What other loans and credit cards do you have in total, the both of you?

        • roarer on 25/09/2020 - 19:14

          Ok, so we owe $400k on the home loan, in total have $11k in credit card limits, but only about $4k total owing, and this and one other car loan.
          They said they were all fine with that, but since the misso is casual, and on jobkeeper, that they basically couldnt take any of her income in to account.

          • brendanm on 25/09/2020 - 19:18
            +1

            @roarer: They aren't fine with all that. Two people off one wage, with that home loan and an $11k credit card would be enough of a worry for them. They don't care about amount owing, they assume you will use the full amount.

            How much is the car with the $7k balloon actually worth?

            How much is the other car actually worth, and how much remaining to be paid off?

            How much do you have in cash?

            If you can answer these there may be options, it will likely involve selling both cars, buying one used car in cash. Depends on whether you are upside down or not.

            • roarer on 25/09/2020 - 19:56

              @brendanm: It's just frustrating that we aren't living on 1 wage. We have 2. They just don't count the second one.

              The $7k Balloon car is worth about $14k.
              Second car is has about $12k remaining, and is worth about $12k.

              About $3k in cash

              • brendanm on 25/09/2020 - 20:19
                +4

                @roarer: Ah ok then. What's the house worth? Might be worth talking to a broker and trying to get the lot rolled into the mortgage so you can get a bit of headroom at the moment. The balloon car would then technically be "payed out", you could sell it, put the difference in with your savings. When your wife can work again, buy a reliable used car with cash, no loan.

              • Pelicannn on 25/09/2020 - 20:24
                +1

                @roarer: Dump the credit card limits down to an absolute minimum, an $11k limit with $3k in the bank makes zero sense to me. That might help. I am about to apply for a home loan and have cut up all my credit cards 3+ months out so they aren't considered. My Missus also dropped her two cards of $4k limit to one card of $1k limit.

              • snooksy on 26/09/2020 - 09:57

                @roarer: I agree with Macquarie. Your partner is unemployed. Her income is coming from government debt not employment. Cancel the credit cards. Then you might just be able to ask Macquarie for $10k equity back out of your loan. Credit is difficult to come by at the moment because of the pandemic. The banks want to see permanent employment for last 3 years. Casual / government assistance / secondary income is all off the table at the moment. If jobseeker were to finish tomorrow then your partner would have no income. She would be on Newstart on $40 per day. Banks won’t lend to people living on government assistance. It’s too risky. Also I don’t think your $70k income would be enough to service $400+$11k+$7k=$418k. Macquarie is also one of the least strict lenders at the moment.

  • Hithere on 25/09/2020 - 18:43

    Have you used the £12,000GBP you received from the UK?

    That would have more than covered the pay out.

    • roarer on 25/09/2020 - 18:58

      Lol. I wish. That was a loan from my in-laws. That's all paid back and back in the UK.

  • Quantumcat on 25/09/2020 - 19:01

    You don't have $7k in offset in your home loan? Can you pay off any credit cards and then get a higher limit on one? Commbank was always trying to get me to up my limit, I don't think they would have cared if my income had gone down they just really wanted me to have a higher limit. Had to tell them I never wanted to up it and to please stop asking me every six months!

    • roarer on 25/09/2020 - 19:15

      I reduced all of my credit cards to minimum limits before we did our home loan application. Their balance is only around $4k total, and Macquarie said even if I paid them off, because of my partner's income, it still wouldn't be enough

      • Quantumcat on 25/09/2020 - 19:21

        Darn, sounds like you're in a tough situation

  • hoey888 on 25/09/2020 - 19:07
    +1

    Maybe lending will be relaxed with the changes to responsible lending >.<
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-25/government-responsibl…

  • [Deactivated] on 25/09/2020 - 19:19

    You're in a pickle, either bank of parents or friends , put it on thr credit card, or just suck it up and move on.

  • Associatedavocatto @ Macquarie Bank on 25/09/2020 - 19:20
    -4

    pm me. i can help with this.

    • brendanm on 25/09/2020 - 19:23
      -1

      Loan shark plz no

      • Associatedavocatto @ Macquarie Bank on 25/09/2020 - 19:27
        +3

        not a loan shark, not offering anything but words.

        • roarer on 25/09/2020 - 20:10
          +2

          So type them here?

    • roarer on 25/09/2020 - 19:58

      Lol. If it's nothing private I shouldn't need to PM you. Only willing to work with reputable businesses

      • Associatedavocatto @ Macquarie Bank on 25/09/2020 - 20:23
        +5

        i work in the bank u have ur loan with so there's some things i don't wish to talk about on a public forum. i'm not selling anything. just providing a few bits of advice.

  • websterp on 25/09/2020 - 19:50

    I'm not sure about the exact rules applicable but can you wife dip into her super for $7k since her income has dropped?

    • roarer on 25/09/2020 - 19:57

      We already did, unfortunately.

      • CheapandUsed on 25/09/2020 - 20:05

        This might actually be the real reason. There were a few articles about how banks were rejecting any loans for people who had accessed their super (can't seem to find it again on the business insider website, that site is a mess).

        I would also test if getting rid of the credit card might allow the loan to go through…the difference in balance to limit is exactly the amount you need.

        • roarer on 25/09/2020 - 20:09

          Super can't be why. On the phone we get to telling them her name, dob, etc, then income they go 'oh, ok. I dont think we can help you'

  • a2swin on 25/09/2020 - 20:18

    Your wife's casual income doesnt really count unless she have been getting it for at least 6 months. JK is to help survive the covid thing so it doesnt help either. From what you mentioned about your income I don't see topping up for home loan is an option for you too.
    You could just wait until job keeper finishes before consolidate your financials. It's just tough situation that a lot of people have to deal with right now, not just you. I understand that you feel it's not fair to see you 100% liable for the home loan but that's the bank policies which we cant change. All the best mate.

    • snooksy on 26/09/2020 - 10:00

      Maybe get a new GF?

      • watertight on 01/10/2020 - 01:09

        Probably not the trade in he had in mind. Lol.

  • Seraphin7 on 25/09/2020 - 20:42
    +9

    Without attempting to go over the totality of your circumstances (I assume you have done this with your existing lenders and relevant others), sometimes you find yourself in a sticky situation when you have "maxed out" your credit.

    On the assumption that you've been over everything with lenders you "want" to deal with, it seems you're down to two options.

    You can either attempt to get a $7k loan through a lender that may not be one of your "preferred" lenders, but it will at least buy you some time until your finances are more settled at which time you can refinance in a more optimised way.

    Or you can sell the vehicle for $14k, pay out the $7k and bank the remaining $7k into mortgage offset, and again see where you stand when your finances are more settled.

    The unfortunate fact is that as things stand you don't look good from a bank's perspective. As you say, they will effectively only recognise the $70k income against which you've got a $400k home loan, $19k in car loans, and $11k in credit card limit. Just taking this on face value you've got debts of more than six times your income and if your missus is also now being treated as a "dependant" in addition to her income not being counted, it just doesn't look good on the bank's credit engines.

    You may need to seriously consider dropping back to one car at this point. Not only will that effectively reduce your current overall debt by $14k and therefore bring interest savings, I'm guessing vehicle run costs of about $4k a year will also be saved.

  • dasher86 on 25/09/2020 - 21:18
    +4

    Sell the car.
    Make do with one or get one for like $2k

    • Jugganautx on 26/09/2020 - 08:28

      but but i nedd my caaahhh

  • tsunamisurfer on 25/09/2020 - 22:14

    OP… you have had five fking years of $70k income with the knowledge that this was coming.

    Yet somehow you couldn't come up with a mere $7k.

    Five years.

    Where did the money go?

    • roarer on 25/09/2020 - 22:29

      I haven't had 5 years of a $70k income at all. I've had about 1 year. I'm really fortunate to have found the job i did. I bought a house last year with a whole lot of my savings. The rest of my savings were depleted over Covid as I work in hospo, and my partner works in travel.
      Shit happens, dude.

  • conan2000 on 25/09/2020 - 22:24
    +1

    Not sure if it will apply to lending criteria for car loans, but my mortgage broker said that CBA were our best option for getting an investment mortgage as my partner was on probation at a new job, so a lot of banks wouldn't accept her income, but CBA were happy to accept it after she has her first pay slip. Might be worth trying them.

  • haha1 on 25/09/2020 - 22:52
    +2

    Ask for 6 months hardship, pause the repayments and balloon and save 7k in the 6 months

  • whooah1979 on 26/09/2020 - 06:50

    This may be difficult to hear, but the bank has clearly put you guys in high risk stack. Your current income doesn't support your current lifestyle.

  • Mechz on 26/09/2020 - 07:35
    +1

    It's a pity you don't have the higher cc limits still. Could have cash advanced from one then done a low rate balance transfer to the other so it didn't cost you a mint.

  • Ashbargin on 26/09/2020 - 09:14
    +1

    Why not put it on the credit card and then do a 0% balance transfer. Depending on who your CC is with (such as Citi bank), you can bpay to another lender.

  • OzHunterNSW on 26/09/2020 - 10:53
    +3

    Hahahahahahaha…. you are trying to tell us that you earn 70k pa, and have a car loan since 2015, that now suddenly you struggle to pay.

    It is us, the tax payer providing your wife with a BONUS.

    Something is drastically wrong if you both can not live on 100k… combined income.

    Look in the mirror and ask yourself "what is wrong?"

    Sell the car… cut your losses… sell the car. Stop eating out. Cancel your Foxtel or other pointless movie packages.

    Re-assess your priorities…. wake up man wake up

    • websterp on 26/09/2020 - 17:40
      +3

      Somewhere above he mentioned that they withdrew their super as well. So another (upto) 20K just vanished in the last 6 months. Couldn't have been that hard to put 7k of that aside to settle the balloon when he already had a steady income in the form of his job regardless of the partner being on jobseeker or not. Something here does not add up.

  • Bob Svargis on 26/09/2020 - 11:29
    +2

    You have to question in today's tough times whether you really need a 5 year old car (I assume you have 2 cars). Your wife is effectively unemployed with no fixed income. Dare I say it, but you might need to sell the car and live with a shtbox car for a while. (I mean, a vehicle of 10 years age is hardly a shtbox but some may see it that way).

    Banks will use the full potential maxed-out balance of your credit card when calculating your loan risk, so maybe cancel the credit card too. Can you use the equity in your home loan to pay off the credit card? That'd look a heck of a lot better to a potential lender.

  • Choc0 on 01/10/2020 - 10:20
    +1

    let's break it down…

    If YOU took money out of your super, give up now. No bank will want to touch you for new lending.

    If it was only your wife, read on.

    The issue is that Macquarie knows both your circumstances, but the other banks don't. Use this to your advantage.

    Another bank will presume your home loan liability as half (not full) as they are unaware that she's out of work.

    If you're lucky, some of the credit cards has your wife as the primary account holder. This would mean you are totally excluded from the calculation another bank makes.

    Apply to another financial institution for a personal loan/car loan (solo) and you might be in luck.

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