Question 1

How does my offset account work?

Accepted Answer

Certain Well Money home loan product can be provided with an offset account. The product that you have will determine how your offset account works.

Well Balanced and Equity Plus products

For our Well Balanced and Equity Plus products, the offset account is an ADI (Authorised Deposit taking Institution) backed offset account. This is provided through our wholesale funder, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd.

To understand how this offset account works, here's an explainer video for you:

${youtube}100% Bank Backed offset account explained

Question 2

Natural disaster assistance

Accepted Answer

Experiencing a natural disaster? There’s help if you need it.

Customers affected as a result of an emergency may be offered financial relief. Our funding partners, often extend assistance packages in response to a current natural disaster which has seen homes lost and businesses impacted.

For affected customers, some key features of Assistance Packages may include:

Customers can apply for relief on their home loans for up to three months.
Credit cards can apply for deferral of repayments for up to three months.
Waiver of interest rate reduction for early withdrawals on term deposits prior to maturity.
No 'loan break' costs for customers with a fixed rate who use an insurance payment to pay out their loan.

Who do I contact for help?

For customers on our Well Balanced or Equity Plus products The best phone number to call is to call this funder directly as they have setup their Mortgage Help Centre specifically to help deal with this current disaster.

Contact details:

Call on 1800 652 146

Email: mortgagehelpretail@bendigoadelaide.com.au

To apply for relief on home loans, contact the Mortgage Help Centre on 1800 652 146.

The people at the help centre will be able to advise you regarding financial hardship and applying for assistance.

For customers on all other products (Ultimate, Next Step, Launchpad) The best phone number to call is to call us and we can dire

Question 3

SMS Authentication with Adelaide Bank Internet Banking

Accepted Answer

Adelaide Bank recently introduced the requirement for Two Factor Authentication (TFA) when logging in to Online Banking.

Once customers have provided their customer number and password upon login, they will be prompted to request via SMS an authentication code to be sent to their registered mobile device.

The bank has become aware of some customers unable to be provided their authentication code whilst overseas or with an unregistered mobile device.

To resolve this, Adelaide Bank Customer Care Team needs to be contacted on either 1300 652 220 (within Australia) or +61 8 8300 6000 (outside Australia) to discuss long term support options going forward.

The bank will also be able to provide immediate access to Online Banking by issuing a code over the phone.

Question 4

How do I move my loan to a fixed rate?

Accepted Answer

Well offers great variable and fixed-rate home loan options. If you are currently on a variable rate home loan and are looking to take advantage of fixing your home loan, it’s pretty simple.

How to get started

First, you’ll need to work out what Fixed Rate you would like. You can view our current fixed rates right here (opens in new tab)
Make sure you have your Account details ready (you can find this in your internet banking).
Send an email to WellCare@wellmoney.com.au
Relax and we’ll give you a call to confirm your request and prepare the appropriate paperwork to let you know the confirmed rates that you’ll be locking in.
Sign the paperwork and send it back – done!

Things to consider

If you have multiple facilities (split loan)

If you’ve chosen to have multiple facilities on your home loan (ie splits), then you will also have multiple account numbers. It’s important to note that we will need a form for each facility that you want to lock-in. If you’ve already got a fixed facility, then only a variable portion can be fixed. Once a fixed rate expires, then you can always look to re-fix again.

Disclaimers

Please note that any request to fix your home loan is subject to approval by our funding partners. Any request to fix a home loan may be denied for any reason. You will need to have your home loan in good standing order and not be in arrears to request to convert from variable to fixed

Question 5

Can I repay my loan early?

Accepted Answer

A lot of lenders (well, all reputable ones at least) will give you the option of repaying your loan early, though there are a few things that you will need to be mindful of if this is what you’re looking to do.

Each loan usually has a fee when the loan is finished. This means that if it’s fully repaid and discharged, you might have to pay a fee. This fee is always disclosed in your loan contract and tends to represent the costs involved in wrapping up your loan. For a home loan, this isn’t a lot of money and can usually range in the $500-ish mark plus any additional legal fees.

For a more accurate amount, ALWAYS check your loan contract. You’ll find it under the section on fees and is most often called a “discharge fee”.

Additional repayments or Early Repayment of loan?

Paying more that you’re supposed on your scheduled repayments is different from paying out your loan. While it’s good practice to make additional repayments if you can do it (as you will build up a buffer) it’s not repaying your loan early.

What to be wary of?

You can get caught out with an unexpected cost of paying off your loan early depending on the type of loan that you opted for.

If you have a Fixed Rate home loan and you are looking to pay off your loan, a fee can be charged by the lender called a Fixed Rate Break Cost and it will apply to any portion of a loan that is on a Fixed Rate.

This fee can be fairly significant as it represent the loss the lender experiences when they agree to len

Question 6

What is a pre-approval?

Accepted Answer

Pre-approval

At Well, we do offer the ability to get yourself pre-approved for a home loan. There are different types though, so let's go into the different types of pre-approvals below.

| Pre-approvals come in different shapes and flavours depending on who you talk to.

Indicative Pre-approval

An indicative pre-approval (or indicative approval) is a type of approval given to customers in order to make them feel a little more secure in what their home loan scenario entails. The name literally tells you everything - it's an indication.

It's simply a way of saying to you - based on these rough numbers, you look like you could be approved for your home loan.

An indicative approval doesn't take into account much about your true situation. There's no credit checks involved, there's no verification of your information, the assessment criteria uses basic averages and benchmarks.

What is an indicative pre-approval good for?

When you're ready to start the home loan process, this is the perfect way to get started. It's usually fast and simple and will give the right start to look around at your options. There's no point shopping for a home that's simply too far outside your budget.

||| If you're putting in an offer on a purchase with only an indicative pre-approval you could find yourself in a situation without finance. We highly recommend getting a fully assessed conditional approval prior to finalising your offer.

Fully assessed conditional approval

This i

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