Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 24, 2009 12:37 pm Hi everyone,
I'm in a world of hurt at the moment but the least I can do is make sure it doesn't happen to someone else. My loan was approved by St George with no issues other than some missing paperwork that was quickly replaced. This should have been an indicator of things to come as I saw my mortgage broker put the supposedly missing paper work in the envelope and seal it. Fast forward to two days before land settlement and St George advise my solicitor that settlement cannot proceed due to the following issue. In my loan applicaiton, which St George approved, I'm using a portion of the First Home Owners Grant to settle the land. St George have decided now that they don't do things this way and don't provide FHOG money until after the slab stage. They are refusing to change the loan so that the FHOG falls later in the process. This leaves me $32,000 short on my land settlement two days before it's supposed to happen. No matter who I, or my mortage broker, talk to at St George they won't budge on this. Be very careful when dealing with St George as they will tell you everything is fine right up until settlement, at which point they'll change the rules. Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 2Jul 24, 2009 12:47 pm This is not a StGeorge fault. This is your mortgage brokers fault. He/She would have filled in the application form and used FHOG as part of the deposit. You cant get FHOG at land stage. It's always at slab. The broker is only passing this off as the banks fault so he doesnt look stupid. Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 3Jul 24, 2009 12:49 pm elastic This is not a StGeorge fault. This is your mortgage brokers fault. He/She would have filled in the application form and used FHOG as part of the deposit. You cant get FHOG at land stage. It's always at slab. The broker is only passing this off as the banks fault so he doesnt look stupid. I've checked around. St George is the only lender who does this. I've checked myself and my solicitor is expressing the same level of disbelief. EDIT: Furthermore, why was this not picked up on when the loan documentation was submitted and why can't I just move it further back in the process. There's more than enough money in the loan to cover the land settlement. Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 4Jul 24, 2009 12:53 pm Smurph elastic This is not a StGeorge fault. This is your mortgage brokers fault. He/She would have filled in the application form and used FHOG as part of the deposit. You cant get FHOG at land stage. It's always at slab. The broker is only passing this off as the banks fault so he doesnt look stupid. I've checked around. St George is the only lender who does this. I respectfully disagree with you on this. I am in the industry and building my own house and its common at slab stage, not land. Otherwise it would be called a First Land Buyers Grant. There are other avenues for you to pursue. I suggest you go talk to your broker and bank ASAP Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 5Jul 24, 2009 12:57 pm elastic There are other avenues for you to pursue. I suggest you go talk to your broker and bank ASAP As I posted in the first post I have already done that, as has my broker, as has my solicitor. They are refusing to do anything to fix this. Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 6Jul 24, 2009 1:00 pm elastic This is not a StGeorge fault. This is your mortgage brokers fault. He/She would have filled in the application form and used FHOG as part of the deposit. You cant get FHOG at land stage. It's always at slab. The broker is only passing this off as the banks fault so he doesnt look stupid. I have to agree with this statement also, the new banking criteria came in, in March where you could no longer use your FHOG AT ALL for a deposit, let alone for the land component of your loan. I'm so sorry this is happening to you, there seems to be more and more incompetent brokers out there then I originally knew about, finding a great mortgage broker is the key when dealing with finance issues. Good-Luck Building Thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=13002 Site start: 8th July 2009 Handover: 11/12/2009! 5 months total build time. 40 sqs of luxuary...Bliss! Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 7Jul 24, 2009 1:02 pm Smurph elastic There are other avenues for you to pursue. I suggest you go talk to your broker and bank ASAP As I posted in the first post I have already done that, as has my broker, as has my solicitor. They are refusing to do anything to fix this. Your broker should never have submitted this application using part of the FHOG for land settlement. It's that simple. They didnt know their product. There are other avenues such as family pledges that may be availiable. Has your broker spoken to you about these? Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 8Jul 24, 2009 1:13 pm Westpac not only wouldn't give us the FHOG until slab down (ok them's the rules apparently) but when they did, they put it into our loan account instead of our offset savings account so we couldn't access it for deposits on carpets etc until the final payment was made to the builder I'm so sorry you've been lead into a huge disappointment on this. You can get an extension on land settlement and look for another lender... and broker!! Maybe Keystart will help you? Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 9Jul 24, 2009 1:16 pm elastic Your broker should never have submitted this application using part of the FHOG for land settlement. It's that simple. They didnt know their product. There are other avenues such as family pledges that may be availiable. Has your broker spoken to you about these? No, I've accepted the fact that my broker is rubbish. St George didn't mention anything about Family Pledges either. Fortunately for me I have some very understanding relatives who have agreed to help me out. Hopefully others can learn from this post and not end up in the same situation as me. Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 10Jul 24, 2009 1:18 pm Smurph elastic Fortunately for me I have some very understanding relatives who have agreed to help me out. Remember to read the fine print in that contract before accepting money from relatives. Lots of hidden clauses/fees involved in those. Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 11Jul 24, 2009 1:20 pm I concur your agent stuffed up.. From the OSR website: Quote: How and when will the grant be paid? When applying through an approved agent for the purchase of an existing dwelling, payment will be made at settlement. For a contract to build, payment may be made on the first progress payment to the builder provided that the first progress payment is not less than the grant amount payable. For an owner builder the grant will be transferred into the account of the approved agent upon completion on your behalf. http://osr.nsw.gov.au/benefits/first_ho ... s/payment/ Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 12Jul 24, 2009 1:22 pm yes be very careful accepting money from relatives. It could make you in-eligible for FHOG if they ever checked. EDIT: Is there a related person, who is ineligible to receive the grant, who has provided or will provide financial help to an applicant directly or indirectly to buy, build, own or maintain the home? this was the qn i was thinking of, that I saw on the application for FHOG. But this only relates to the building portion. so you can get financial help for the land PHEW!! Living in Caloundra Thread****** Lovin my house all finished!!! Now tackling the HUGE task of the Garden- viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14782 Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 13Jul 24, 2009 1:23 pm What I don't understand is that there is enough money in the loan to cover the land, why wouldn't St George allow that to be used in the settlement and then use the FHOG when it became available? Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 14Jul 24, 2009 1:24 pm It never ceases to amaze me that when a Broker does the wrong thing / gives the wrong advice then it becomes the fault of the Bank. As others have posted you will never never never get the FHOG until your slab is poured. So your Broker was in the wrong to let you know that you could use it as part of your deposit on the land. If you have sufficient funds then your Broker should have structured your loans differently - ie used a larger deposit on the land purchase and then the fhog / remainder deposit on the construction loan. And to the other poster who said Westpac is in the wrong - again your Broker should have advised you differently. If you have any excess funds during construction they will never be released until after the settlement / handover on the house is completed. People seem to believe that everything their Broker tells them is gospel truth - sorry guys but they are human, make human mistakes unfortunately they seem to mysteriously "blame" the Bank when something goes awry. Some things are worth waiting for. Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 15Jul 24, 2009 1:24 pm Smurph What I don't understand is that there is enough money in the loan to cover the land, why wouldn't St George allow that to be used in the settlement and then use the FHOG when it became available? Simple answer is you may never build, even though you may have committed to it. Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 16Jul 24, 2009 1:27 pm mellybuilding yes be very careful accepting money from relatives. It could make you in-eligible for FHOG if they ever checked. Good catch. I just checked with my solicitor and she said it was fine as the house and land are only in my name. Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 17Jul 24, 2009 1:29 pm elastic Simple answer is you may never build, even though you may have committed to it. I only have one loan and it's for the house and the land, I would have thought that if I didn't build it would invalidate the loan totally. Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 18Jul 24, 2009 1:31 pm Dont the OSR only pay the amount of the FHOG to the bank when the slab is laid???? And you are only eligible for FHOG on the building portion so they cannot use it toward land. Living in Caloundra Thread****** Lovin my house all finished!!! Now tackling the HUGE task of the Garden- viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14782 Re: St George and the FHOG - Be careful! 19Jul 24, 2009 1:33 pm Quote: yes be very careful accepting money from relatives. It could make you in-eligible for FHOG if they ever checked EDIT: Is there a related person, who is ineligible to receive the grant, who has provided or will provide financial help to an applicant directly or indirectly to buy, build, own or maintain the home? this was the qn i was thinking of, that I saw on the application for FHOG. But this only relates to the building portion. so you can get financial help for the land PHEW!! Living in Caloundra Thread****** Lovin my house all finished!!! Now tackling the HUGE task of the Garden- viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14782 I recently went through a similar renovation and move scenario when updating our family home. We also swapped some rooms around and tackled a major… 2 10031 Unless the room is for storage then it's non compliant BCA V2 2019 S3 P3.8 You have 2 options 1. 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