Scott Toynton | Financial consultant

Scott Toynton

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22.01.2022 I've been working on a guide to help you save thousands on your home loan for much of this and got to see the final draft this week which is exciting! It includes some great contributors too which I look forward to sharing more about soon. In the meantime, here are some first home buyer tips: 1. Understand your money and how much you can afford; 2. Understand how much a bank will lend you; 3. Get the cheapest debt you can or have a plan to switch to the cheapest debt as soo...n as possible; 4. Know if you're buying a forever home or if it's a stepping stone property; 5. Understand the government grants available. Please don't rely on anyone to tell you how much you can afford. Sure, people (like me, a bank etc) can help and guide you but no one knows your position and your future plans better than you. What banks approve you for and what you can afford are two different things. Your future income and future plans are unique to you so it's really important you establish what you can afford yourself. The cost of debt is one thing I see the majority of people get wrong and underestimate it's long term impact on their wealth. If you don't qualify for the cheapest lenders now, have a plan to get there and switch asap. If you're buying your forever home the price at which you buy doesn't hold as much significance than if it is a stepping stone to your dream home, in that case you are going to want to sell it and make as higher profit as possible. So make sure you buy the right property for the right price. There are a lot of government grants at the moment depending on which state you in. For example NSW have increased no stamp duty to $850,000, they have the $10,000 new builder scheme and the $25,000 new builder scheme. So there are some big saving to get. I've written about first home loans for @homes__etc which you can read more about here: https://www.homesetc.com.au/blog/house-deposit If you have any questions let me know below or send me a DM.

14.01.2022 2020 has been a tough year for people financially and difficult to navigate in terms of knowing what support to access and when. I've been asked "Will freezing my mortgage payment damaged my credit score?" so thought I'd write a post to reassure you. The answer is no. The banks have agreed not to register people that have frozen their mortgage payments so it won't effect your credit score. ... That said, it will effect your ability to borrow now. There have been a lot of people (mainly businesses) that have frozen their payments and are now applying for loans to which the banks are stating they have to catchup on their payments before they will lend them more money. Does that help? Feel free to send me a message on Instagram @scott_toynton if you'd like me to clarify anything.

14.01.2022 I wrote a post for Homes Etc for those interested in the connection between the fossil fuel industry and banks - if you're interested in switching banks or can't switch but want to know what else you can do to support climate change, I hope it helps:

13.01.2022 Step One: Work out the cost of your current debt; Step Two: Work out your alternative options; Step Three: Understand the cost of combining them into one Loan;... Step Four; Compare the proposed new loan with the other loans. Consolidating debt is when you combine the debts you have into one loan. For example you might have two credit card debts, a personal loan you used to buy furniture and another personal loan for a holiday; they are all at different rates and repayments. Let's assume they all total $15,000. You could do a balance transfer on the credit cards combining them into one and combine the personal loans to the lowest rate loan you can find. Now, you only have two debts - consolidated debts - making it much more manageable. If you have a question you'd like to see answered in an instagram post send me a message or look for the question box in my stories.

11.01.2022 Credit card debt can feel really stressful if you don't have a plan for how to manage and clear it. Your first step is going to be deciding upon a strategy that is realistic and, if you have a partner, you both agree on. Following that it can be a good idea to explore one of these options: 1. If you have a significant debt (which is relative to your income and financial circumstances) look into getting a balance transfer and an interest free period.... 2. If you can't do a balance transfer it might be worth looking at transferring the debt into a personal loan or your home loan (and cut up your card). This will be cheaper for you over the long term and you will be forced to stick to principal repayments. 3. If you have a small credit card debt (again, relative to your personal circumstances) commit to regularly paying off the debt and not using the card again. At the moment ANZ have a balance transfer for 25 months at 0% interest rate. Be aware though that this offer exists because many people do not use this period to pay off their debt and continue to use their card. So switch and stop using your card. Remember, a good plan that you stick to is better than a perfect plan you don't. And, if you feel tempted to put something on your credit card again ask yourself the following questions: :: How many hours am I willing to work to buy this item? :: Do I need this now? Why? :: Is it an emergency? :: What is my plan for repaying this debt? :: What does buying this now mean I'll have to miss out on in the future?

07.01.2022 A split home loan is when you divide your home loan into sub-loans falling under the same overall limit. You might look to split loans if you want fix some loans and leave others variable. It can also be helpful for clearly identifying what the debt has been used for. For example, you could use redraw to purchase a car but you want to pay the loan off as soon as possible so you create a split making it easy to see your progress. You might also use it for investing and splitting the investment portion to make accounting much easier. As always, if you have any questions you can leave a comment below or send me a DM.