nedrom Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Hi all I would to know if any of you have come across my situation and if so any hints and tips would help. Have been in Oz on a CPV 143 visa for 4 years now and have a mortgage on our house. Applied for credit card and overdraft with the bank that gave us our mortgage and both got turned down. The reason given was "you don't have a job and you have no earnings". To my reply of "we have our UK pensions and Company pensions" the reply was "they don't count". My reply "how come you gave me a mortgage then", their reply "we shouldn't have we wouldn't give you one now". O/K "how about a loan secured on the house because I have 60% equity in the place" - "no that would breach financial regulations???" Final advice from this well known South Australian bank was "sell your house and buy somewhere else within the equity you have". SO I thought **** you lot and enquired what to do with 2 well known financial adviser organisations (you see them on the telly). Both started off "no problems" but quickly came back with the same response. I thought I must have a problem with my credit file so got a copy and there are no problems with that. So back to the first line .... any comments or advice would be welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortlepuss Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Is that a permanent visa? I can't help much but do empathise. I was offered a $3K limit on a credit card with Commonwealth on a 457 despite having an annual family income of $150K plus, and $20K in my savings balance. Even after transferring to PR, they continued to refuse to raise my limit. I think a lot of it was to do with my lack of credit history in Oz but it was v annoying have to get cash out the bank to pay for flights home etc.. eventually went with another card supplier with a proper limit. At the same time I think it was Commonwealth who were exposed for lending huge loans to unemployed immigrants - Lenders are not always logical about these things! Now the bank keeps spamming me to give me a higher limit...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammygirl Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Surely they should consider pensions. They are more reliable than a salary, you can't be made redundant or sacked from a pension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 A pension is really only enough to pay current bills for the month. If you are relying on it to pay back debt it could easily get out of hand. A debit card is probably more suitable for someone on a pension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammygirl Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 That would depend on the pension. An aged state pension maybe but some final salary pensions can be very generous. plenty of pensioners have credit cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Yes I mean a government pension. Although a CC with a small limit like a $1000 would be useful I expect for a pensioner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nedrom Posted July 28, 2015 Author Share Posted July 28, 2015 Exactly what I said, the reply was that is wasn't money from an Australian source and therefore didn't count Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nedrom Posted July 28, 2015 Author Share Posted July 28, 2015 Exactly what I said rammygirl, the reply was that is wasn't money from an Australian source and therefore didn't count Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nedrom Posted July 28, 2015 Author Share Posted July 28, 2015 Yes I mean a government pension.Although a CC with a small limit like a $1000 would be useful I expect for a pensioner. When you want to refit a kitchen or when the stuff you shipped across starts to wear out $1000 is not that much good I'm afraid. I meet the required earning thresholds to get the credit I requested they just say the source of those earnings doesn't count therefore my earnings = $0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flybyknight Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 im afraid i don't have the complete answer to your current issue however i would urge you not to apply for any more credit until you have the complete picture. failed credit applications go on your file and will make it even harder to get credit even when you have the things a lending organisation needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike@Bonbeach Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Yes I mean a government pension.Although a CC with a small limit like a $1000 would be useful I expect for a pensioner. Pc That sounds a bit condescending. My wife and I are pensioners, we both have top level CCs, (cleared each month), and with many times that limit of your suggestion, no matter how much is on them. I would imagine a pensioner has more idea how to budget his/her income as well as any wage earner. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommie Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 A pension is really only enough to pay current bills for the month.If you are relying on it to pay back debt it could easily get out of hand. A debit card is probably more suitable for someone on a pension. That depends on your level of Pension income.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungo Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 A lot of people are very quick to blame banks for all the problems in the world, but when they try to enforce stricter lending criteria that is not right either! It strikes me as perfectly sensible not to extend credit to pensioners (or anyone else) that does not meet income requirements, whatever those may be. Mortgages might be bigger but they are secured debt and in fact people make more of an effort with their mortgage versus credit card. Presumably OP is not thinking of living on credit, in which case a visa debit would be perfect and OP should have no problem getting one, which brings all the convenience and flexibility of visa and may save on some charges too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramot Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Life changes when you become a pensioner, even in UK and especially here in Oz as a UK pensioner, because if all your income comes from UK, you don't fit the "norm". Our income is guaranteed, and is possibly more than some who are employed and post here, but that makes no difference here as the banks don't seem to be able to process UK pensioners situation. We had no problem getting credit cards, but we have been here since 2003, but like the poster when we wanted to update the kitchen, bathroom etc. our only option was cash, even though we have plenty of asset in our house, good guaranteed index linked income, no loan was available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Have been in Oz on a CPV 143 visa for 4 years now and have a mortgage on our house. Applied for credit card and overdraft with the bank that gave us our mortgage and both got turned down. The reason given was "you don't have a job and you have no earnings". To my reply of "we have our UK pensions and Company pensions" the reply was "they don't count".. You're discovering the challenges of retiring to a foreign country, I'm afraid! Your UK income doesn't count, just like our Australian income won't count if we try to get credit here in the UK. Unfortunately it's a case of back to our parents' day, when you just had to wait and save up the money before you could fix the kitchen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramot Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 As I am in UK for a while I will ask friends if they can get a loan here as pensioners. I know you can't get a mortgage easily if at all when retired these days. it was no problem for us to get a mortgage in Oz in 2003 when we retired there even though British on a temporary retirement visa, how things have changed. Proof of UK income was fine then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 As I am in UK for a while I will ask friends if they can get a loan here as pensioners. I know you can't get a mortgage easily if at all when retired. Mortgages are generally contracted at 25 years duration for the loan. If you are say 65 the bank doesn't want to sign you up to a 25 year loan. Who knows whether you would even live that long. It is a bit of a sad state of affairs if pensioners are in the financial situation where they need to borrow for things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nedrom Posted July 29, 2015 Author Share Posted July 29, 2015 Thanks for all the replies and comments so far, the thing I found most interesting was that no-one would consider a secured loan on the house. I have plenty of equity in it so if I do drop dead they have a guaranteed return. In response to one of the comments I have become a budgeting expert recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 It's not just your UK pensions that they don't count. A while ago (and things have possibly toughened up by now) I cancelled a card with one of the big banks but discussed a different card with them and when they did the credit assessment - they didn't knock me back but offered me a $1000 limit - my previous card had $15k limit. I'd never been late paying, owed our own home outright, had a good pension and substantial savings. They eventually upped the limit but it took some discussion. I don't think they want people who aren't going to pay interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammygirl Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Sounds like computer said no! Have you tried some of the smaller banks/ credit unions? I guess foreign income is subject to fluctuation due to exchange rates, maybe that is why it doesn't count! doe seem a bit silly. They should look at individual cases more closely, even if they start with a low borrowing amount. Plenty of pensioners have cards after all. banks can be funny sometimes, they do more and more tick boxing and less thinking! A mate of mine in UK was refused a request to re mortgage a flat to buy land to build a house. When she asked to borrow the same amount for a car and a world cruise they lent it!!!! She bought the land with it. So using equity in homes to buy more property was a no no but frivolous spending was OK. Go figure. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 It would be very frustrating having all that equity with no way of accessing it. I can't u dersta d why they won't consider a secured loan against the house, that seems absurd as they have nothing to lose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Do you think banks like publicity of forecloseing on pensioners and kicking them out of their home when they can't make the repayments. No they don't. But there are some banks (not all) that do reverse mortgages. They lend you money and get an agreed share of your estate or property when you die. Bendigo and Adelaide Bank are probably the biggest into reverse mortgages so contact them if interested. I would never do it though myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scuffythetugboat Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Mortgages are generally contracted at 25 years duration for the loan.If you are say 65 the bank doesn't want to sign you up to a 25 year loan. Who knows whether you would even live that long. It is a bit of a sad state of affairs if pensioners are in the financial situation where they need to borrow for things. No one knows how long they will live. Australian banks have and are lending a lot of money over 30 years no matter how old you are. It will be a big problem in the not too distant future as they've been doing it for decades. There seems to be this assumption that everyone retires debt free. It's a financial time bomb in this country but no one wants to talk about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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