Conditional approval

I rang Virgin Home Loans to see how things were progressing with my loan application. They said it had been conditionally approved, and I was put through to someone else; to my customer relationships manager, and David from Virgin Home Loans was a very pleasant chap, and seemed good to work with. Actually, everyone I’d been dealing with at Virgin has been good. He wanted me to fax some documents before the approval was finalised; just some very simple tasks. He began to talk about getting a property valuation, but I asked for that to be put on hold for a few days, lest they charge me, and should I go with Westpac in the end. But, the loan seems to be in the bag. That’s a relief.

So, it was time to get the Bond Guarantee arranged. I rang Mal at Westpac. He apologised for not getting back to me. I asked if he’d read the material I sent that I got from Virgin. He said he had, but wouldn’t be able to beat their rate. It’s a different type of package, he said. Afterwards, I wondered what he had meant by that.

I asked him if I could have the Bond Guarantee back, as he had been holding it for me. I wanted to organise a replacement for the property I’m about to purchase. The bond has to indicate ‘Private Treaty’ instead of ‘Auction’ as on the current document. He was happy for me to call by.

So I called by at lunch time, and was invited into his office. I was expecting only the briefest meeting. Essentially, to be given the document and be on my way again, but he had prepared a letter for me. It was an offer of rate reduction. If I were to take up Westpac’s ‘Premier Advantage’ loan, which has an annual fee they offered a discount of 0.4% off the standard home loan rate. Mal’s deal was to offer me 0.5% off instead. And then while I was there in his office he made a call, presumably someone in the bank who was authorised to endorse special rates, and the word was that I can have the loan at a rate discounted by 0.6% below the standard rate. It was nice that he was actually doing things to encourage me to take out a loan with Westpac. But why so late in our relationship? Virgin’s rate was lower. No commitments were made.

I said to him that I would be going to Melbourne on the weekend and would be discussing the situation with S, but promised to get back to him. On the way out of the bank, with his letter, and bond certificate in hand, he said in parting that he only negotiates reduced rates only after the second knock back to try to keep a customer. I may be wrong, but it seemed to me that he said that with a boast in his voice. I only negotiate reduced rates only after the second knock back to try to keep a customer. Perhaps had he been negotiating rates with me a lot earlier I wouldn’t have tried so hard with Westpac’s opposition. His comment floored me. As I walked back to the car park I found myself repeating his comment over and over.

His comment surprised me to say the least. I made no response. But upon thinking about it my interpretation of his comment went as follows: I don’t give a stuff about you. I’m only interested in my own commission. I’m not going to bother with you until I see you back here sometime later. If I think I’ll loose you to another bank I’ll throw you a crumb.
I wasn’t feeling happy with Mal, despite his better offer. Not happy at all with Mal. I felt insulted.

I started to organise the new Bond Guarantee. I telephoned Deposit Power to confirm the documents I needed. The property title was not required; just the two contracts and the loan approval. But they need both of our signatures. This involved a rush job by S to print the appropriate form, sign it, and fax it back to me. Things are difficult with me in Canberra and S in Melbourne. Of course, the person faxing it at her local chemist in Eltham goofed, and it had to be faxed again, which is kind of funny as the fax didn’t come through properly. One of the tick boxes got left off the fax. And then while looking through the Contract for Sale document for the property I noticed the amount shown for the deposit was not the agreed amount. When we put our offer to the real estate agent, I said, or rather, asked if I could use the existing bond certificate that I had (ie. 5% of purchase price), and she said that would be okay. So, here I am about to send this stuff to Deposit Power, and they’ll see that the amounts don’t match. B must have forgotten that little bit. Happy that I caught it in time and fixed it. I bundled it all up in an express post envelope and it was in the post, and out my hair.