This guide will teach you everything you need to know about ANZ’s pre approval. We will also walk you through pre approval basics and some cool features specific to ANZ. As a bonus, we have included 3 new case studies we have never shared anywhere before.
Let’s get started…
Table of Contents
Pre approval basics
A pre approval is an indication from a bank that they are comfortable lending you a certain amount of money, subject to a couple of terms and conditions.
Different banks call pre approvals by different names., ANZ refers to a pre approval as an Approval in Principle (AIP) or an Approval Subject To (AST). Don’t get confused; all these different terms mean the same thing.
An in principle approval means that the bank is happy to approve your loan provided you meet all of the principles they outline. These usually include a bank valuation, credit and LMI approval.
What are the benefits of an in principle approval?
A pre approval, or Approval in Principle, gives you a certain level of comfort about the amount the bank is willing to lend to you.
The negatives of a general pre approval are:
- You don’t yet know if your new home meets the bank’s criteria
- The approval is usually subject to further conditions
- Not every bank’s pre approval can be 100% relied on
However, if you get pre-approval with ANZ, there are some benefits.
Benefits of a pre approval with ANZ include:
- The bank has taken time to assess your loan application (provided they do a full approval and not an ‘on the spot’ approval).
- It is valid for between 90 to 180 days (3 to 6 months)
- It gives you a maximum purchase price.
- You can have confidence your situation meets the bank’s credit criteria.
Different banks offer various types of pre approvals, ranging from a 90-second online home loan application to a formal approval letter signed off by the bank’s credit team.
If you need to arrange an approval in principle, we can help out. Get in touch with us at 1300 088 065 or enquire online, and one of our expert mortgage brokers will give you a callback.
Read More: What Is Pre Approval? Here’s A Simple Plain English Answer
Common ANZ Approval in Principle conditions
As we mentioned, pre approvals (or, as ANZ refers to them, Approvals in Principle) are a conditional approval based upon you meeting some conditions before the bank can fully approve your loan. These conditions have mostly to do with the home you are going to buy because you haven’t found it yet.
Take a look at this example ANZ pre approval letter below (they call it Approval Subject To).
This is NOT a final approval. A final approval is sometimes called a formal or unconditional approval.
ANZ has approved this example loan subject to the following conditions:
- Suitable property to be located – In other words, you find a home to buy.
- Funds to complete to be furnished once property located – You show the bank your savings and deposit in an account once you find the place.
- Contract of Sale for the property is required – When you find the right home to buy, you will sign a contract of sale, which is the legal document binding the buyer and the seller to the terms of the sale. This includes your name, the sale price, the date of settlement, and a bunch of other stuff.
- Valuation for the property – Once you find the right home, the bank will arrange a valuation through one of their panel valuers—nothing for you to do here.
- Title search to be completed by ANZ – Again, once you find the right place, the bank will do a title search. A title is a government registration document that confirms who currently owns the property—nothing for you to do here.
- Rental income from TBA property to be verified within ANZ policy. (if an investment) – This doesn’t apply if you don’t own any other properties.
- LVR, UMI (this is what ANZ call LMI) & Security to remain acceptable. This means that if you have been pre approved for a certain LVR, it doesn’t change. In other words, if your pre approval is for a loan of 90% (i.e. 10 % deposit), the bank will approve the loan if you come back and ask for a 90% loan. On the other hand, if you want to change to a 5% deposit loan (i.e. a 95% loan), ANZ bank will want to look at everything again.
Case Study: The benefits of an Approval in Principle
Joanne is single, earns $60,000 per year, and has no credit cards or other loans.
She contacted us last year after missing out on a unit in Brisbane because she didn’t have her finance organised.
Based on an online calculator, Joanne thought she could only borrow up to $329,134.
Joanne made an offer on a property at what she thought was the maximum she could borrow. Unfortunately, the vendors knocked back her bid because it was $10,000 under what they were after.
A few days after Joanne had her offer knocked back, she got in touch with Hunter Galloway to arrange an approval.
After running the figures through our calculator, Joanne discovered she could borrow as much as $369,971.
(That’s $40,837 MORE THAN ANZ)
As you can see from the table, different banks lend substantially different amounts.
In Joannes’ case, Westpac could potentially lend her over $20,000 more than ANZ would consider.
These figures fluctuate regularly, but the point is without a pre approval you’ll never know exactly how much a bank is willing to lend you, which means, like Joanne, you may miss out on the perfect property.
But with a pre approval, you can make more competitive offers with fewer days for finance, therefore giving you a better chance of getting your offer accepted.
Read More: Multiple offer Situation: 8 Tips to make your contract stand out
Documents needed for ANZ home loan pre approval
The documents required for an approval in principle are more or less the same as those required for unconditional approval. So whether you are buying a home or applying for a pre approval, you’ll need to get together the following for ANZ to complete their assessment:
- A completed ANZ Home Loan Application form (our brokers help you with this)
- Identification documents, like a driver’s licence or Australian passport
- If you are employed full-time or part-time—One most recent payslip (no more than 60 days from the date of the signed application form) plus evidence of income credited to a transaction account for the last 3 months.
- If you are self-employed—Income evidence is required in the form of copies of personal and all associated company/trust/ partnership tax returns for the most recent financial year, accompanied by ATO assessment notices (most current year’s figures no more than 18 months old)
- Copy of bank statements or accounts showing your deposit funds.
- If you receive rental income—a lease agreement, rental statements from the real estate agent or tax return.
These documents are fairly standard across the board and will be used to verify your income.
If you receive a bonus or income from a second job, the bank might also ask for your PAYG Annual Summary (also called a group certificate).
Our guide on the end-to-end home loan process will help increase your chances of getting your loan approved quickly.
Read More: Home Loan Process [Step-by-step guide]
How much can I borrow with ANZ?
ANZ’s credit criteria are subject to change at any time, and all lending is up to credit verification and satisfactory approval. However, as an indication, we have run the following scenario through their borrowing calculator:
- A single person living in Brisbane (In the 4000 postcode)
- Earning $70,000 PAYG salary income
- Average monthly expenses of $2,000
- Has a credit card of $5,000 and no other debts
- Assuming this person has a 20% deposit as genuine savings
- Figures as of 28 December 2022 are subject to credit criteria and will change without notification.
We ran the figures through our serviceability calculator and got the following results:
In this scenario, ANZ is at the lower end of how much you can potentially borrow compared to some of our other lenders. In fact, they will lend over $44,000 less than the lender at the top!
How long does a pre approval take?
The pre approval process involves the first 4 steps of the traditional home loan process.
- You will need to make an appointment with a mortgage broker or the bank to discuss your situation.
- It will then take them 1-3 business days to prepare your loan application.
- The loan application will then be submitted to the bank’s credit team.
- After this, your approval in principle will take approximately 3 to 5 business days. (Sometimes, this is even faster with ANZ)
And from that point, hooray, you are pre approved and can go shopping!
How long does ANZ pre approval last?
One of the biggest advantages of ANZ pre approvals over other banks is that their approvals in principle are valid for 6 months! This is much more than other banks whose pre approvals are only valid for 3 months.
The only drawback is that once your approval in principle expires, your mortgage broker will need to submit an entirely new application.
When should I get a pre-approval?
You should only get a pre approval if:
- You are looking at buying a home in the next 3-6 months
- You have a lease due for renewal soon
- You have at least 8-10% in savings to cover deposit and stamp duty costs
- You have a stable job and income.
You shouldn’t get a pre approval if:
- You aren’t looking at buying for another 6+ months
- You have just renewed your lease for another 6-12 months
- You do not have any deposit or savings funds
- You might be changing jobs soon
Read More: First Home Buyer Guide to buying a home in Brisbane
Mistakes to avoid with ANZ
Overall, ANZ is not a bad lender, with good products and offers that ultimately depend on your situation.
The only mistake we suggest avoiding is going ahead with them (or any bank) without first understanding what the market can offer.
Case Study: The phone call that put $1,192 into Dave's pocket
Dave had found a home to buy and went straight back to his childhood bank, ANZ, to get a loan.
He’d signed a 21-day contract, so he had a little time up his sleeve for finance approval.
ANZ got all of Dave’s information, quoted the rates that were advertised on their website and sent him the forms to sign.
A mutual friend of Dave’s suggested he chat with us just to run a second set of eyes across the loan offer before he signed his life away…
We spoke to Dave on the phone and found out ANZ had quoted him $7,887 in Lenders Mortgage Insurance.
After quickly checking our system, we saw that we had another bank that would only charge $6,695 for LMI.
…$1,192 cheaper
Not only that, this lender had a special for first-home buyers offering Dave a really sharp rate.
Dave decided to go with our lender, and use the $1,192 he saved on a couch for his new place!
If you would like us to run our eyes over your bank’s offer or give you a second opinion, book a free assessment or call us on 1300 088 086.
Read More: 10 [simple] Tips for Choosing the Best Home Loan in Brisbane
Can you be denied a loan after pre approval?
Unfortunately, approval in principle is no guarantee that your loan will get unconditional approval.No bank in Australia will provide a final unconditional approval until you have found the home you would like to buy.
The reason for this is a bank will provide a home loan to you based on the following:
- Your income and capacity to repay the loan
- Your expenses and how much it costs you to live day to day
- Your deposit and how much savings you put into your home
- The home itself. This is the only security the bank holds should something go wrong.
In summary, should anything change with your income, expenses or deposit from the time the bank has given you an approval in principle they might not give you the unconditional approval.
So there is no guarantee your bank will approve your pre approval.
Equally, if the home you are buying doesn’t fit the bank’s credit policy, they might also say no.
Not that you would, but you could get a pre approval for $500,000 and want to buy a houseboat.
It’s a house, after all, right…?
Yes, but unfortunately, it wouldn’t meet any bank’s credit policies.
Examples of properties the banks limit home loans on
The banks can be fairly strict about both units and houses. But they are even stricter regarding units and will put limitations on the suburb or postcode where the property is located.
Sometimes the bank can put the following restrictions based on inner-city locations.
- How many floors a block of apartments has, sometimes with restrictions when it is higher than 4 stories.
- The total floor area inside the apartment, with restrictions if it is less than 40 square metres.
- If the bank already has too much lending in the building you want to buy in.
It pays to check with your Mortgage Broker before signing a contract to ensure your (potential) new home fits within the bank’s criteria.
We’ve seen situations where a bank has knocked back a property because it was too close to some power lines!
We’re more than happy to have a quick check for you—get in touch online or give us a call on 1300 088 065.
Read More: Loan Declined After Pre approval | 26 Ways to get Unconditional Approval
Home loan pre approval online
And what about online pre approvals…?
These are also known as on-the-spot approvals, where some banks might advertise being able to get an approval in principle via their branch or online in under 30 minutes. This is a sales tool used by some banks to lure in people to apply for a loan.
On the spot approvals like this are not sent to the bank’s credit department for full mortgage assessment, and for that reason, they generally aren’t worth the paper they are written on.
Most branch managers and staff these days are sales staff, so do not assume they are familiar with all of their bank’s credit policies because their job is to bring in new loans and not to assess them.
ANZ is one of the banks that provide on-the-spot approvals in principle via their branch network, so they aren’t always reliable as the credit department has not assessed them.
They also provide some pretty neat property valuation reports using their Buy Ready service to give you an idea of how much the property you want to buy is worth—but most respectable brokers can help you with these.
At Hunter Galloway, we have a subscription to RP Data, so we can provide you with as many free electronic valuations as you need.
With access to over 30 lenders, we have a panel of banks who will complete a full assessment of all pre approval applications making sure you have a reliable pre approval. Talk to our team online, or give us a call on 1300 088 065 to discuss your situation.
You can also access our free 7-Step Course on owning your first home. Check it out here.
Read More: What questions can I ask to ensure I have a real pre-approval?
How we can help you
Our team here at Hunter Galloway have worked in several of Australia’s major banks and even had credit authorities of up to $2M.
We are here to help make your home loan journey easy.
Unlike other mortgage brokers who are just one-person operators, we have an entire team of experts to help make your home loan journey as simple as possible.
If you want to get started, please get in touch here, and we can book a time that suits you – either a phone call information session or a face-to-face meeting (which doesn’t cost anything for you).
Further reading for Home Buyers…
- For our comprehensive guide for First Home Buyers, check out this page here.
- Looking at getting a loan? Check out our Complete First Home Buyers guide.
- Home Loan Guide to Brisbane
- And don’t forget the costs of buying, which we covered in detail here.
The information provided in this article is intended to provide illustrative examples based on stated assumptions and your input. Calculations are meant as estimates only, and it is advised that you consult with a mortgage broker about your specific circumstances
Start again
