FAQs

The quickest we’ve ever fully approved an applicant from the time they submitted their application (including assessment, verification, and running all our digital checks) was 58 minutes.

Because our application process is entirely online, we’ve been able to streamline it right down to the basics. We reimagined home loans from the ground up, making it more efficient and easier to understand. Because home loans should be simple.

Generally we’re pretty quick, but the time it takes us to get to your application can change depending on how many applications we’re currently receiving and the complexity of your application.

If your application is time-sensitive or if there is a deadline you’re trying to meet, please speak with our team to get an understanding of our current turnaround times. You can chat with us over LiveChat or on 1300 842 405.

It’s the cost of borrowing money. There's a lot of information out there on interest rates, but it can be hard to understand. This article will help you understand the types of interest rates and how they are calculated.

Wondering about comparison rates? They exist as a way to more easily compare home loan products between lenders. Comparison rates consider the extra fees associated with the home loan over its lifetime and factor those costs into your interest rate.

Set a goal for what you’d like to get out of refinancing. Some refinance to save money or to access new features, while others might refinance to set a new loan term or to change loan types entirely.

Then, compare whether you would be better off by refinancing.

If your goal is to save money, compare whether you will be better off financially by refinancing. Make sure to account for any exit fees from your old lender, and any establishment fees from your new lender. You can use our refinancing calculator to find out what your new repayments could look like.

If you’re still unsure, consider seeking financial advice from a professional.

What is a good deposit on a house? The simple answer is as much as you can possibly get together. The larger the deposit you have, the smaller the loan you’ll need, the easier the approval process will be and the better the interest rate and loan terms you’ll be able to negotiate.

The minimum home loan deposit normally required is 10%, but you should try and get at least 20% together if you can. That’s because if you borrow more than 80% of a property’s value, your lender may require you to take out Lenders’ Mortgage Insurance.

It’s also worth checking if you’re eligible for any grants or government schemes (like the First Home Owner Grant), as they can help to bolster your deposit amount.

Despite common belief, you don't always need a middleman - you can complete our online home loan application all by yourself!

Tiimely Home's world-first technology allows you to apply for a home loan wherever you want, whenever you want. We perform the loan assessment utilising our technology and brilliant home loan experts' expertise - which is how we keep our rates an fees low and your savings high.

Our home loan application is simpler and easier, so we do things a bit differently from the traditional home loan process. Tiimely Home is a completely digital, 100% online application. Meaning you don't need to dress up and pop into a branch or go see a broker. To get started check over our eligibility, read up about what documentation you may need, and then you can start the application when you're ready.

Keep in mind: our application is the real deal. It's not just a form that captures your details so we can call you back later. We'll be assessing you in real time, running a real credit check, and asking you to verify your financial information.

It's a true DIY home loan. So go at your own pace, in your own time.

But, you don't have to go it alone. If you just want to have a chat, our all-star cast of home loan specialists are here to help 7 days a week.

All you need to do is apply, provide any information we need, post back loan docs and get your loan settled. Take a look at our application process here - it doesn't get any simpler than that! So let's get started.

Our eligibility criteria looks across a range of factors including:

• Property: value, location, and type
• Your contributions (aka deposit or equity amount)
• Employment: current and previous history, and type
• Identity: forms of government ID, and citizenship

Check our eligibility page to see if a Tiimely Own home loan, or a loan via our in-house broker service is best for you.

Is Tiimely Home a bank?

No, we’re not a bank. But we’re bank-backed.

So what does it mean to be bank-backed?

Tiimely Home has the backing of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, and they help us out in a few ways, like funding our home loans, providing our offset accounts and importantly, giving our customers the protections a bank has in the unlikely event something goes bad. Read more on the Financial Claims Scheme (FCS) and why it’s important our offset accounts are covered under the FCS.

More than that, we have an agreement with them to fund our Tiimely Own home loans. This means when you get a Tiimely Own home loan, any funds we loan you come from the Bank. Because our tech is so efficient at assessing customers for a home loan, we get market-leading pricing on those funds, which means we can offer customers bank-grade products but with really low rates and no fees. It’s a no-brainer.

Us and the bank? We go way back. As an initial funder in our early days, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank continue to be an important shareholder, too. They’re invested in our future.

All of this means you’re still a Tiimely Home customer, though.

What’s in it for Tiimely Home?

Partnering with a bank enables us to:

• reduce our overhead costs and offer lower interest rates
• focus on being a tech company to innovate in the home loans industry
• combine the best features of a bank (like offering a real offset account) with the best features of a Fintech (like applying 100% online).

A fixed rate home loan is one where the interest rate is locked in for a certain period (usually 1-5 years). At the end of this period you can either commit to another fixed rate or revert to a variable interest rate.

A fixed rate loan is useful for budgeting because your repayments are the same every time, but it also means you’ll have to pay the same interest rate, even if market rates drop.

Fixed rate home loans also usually come with less features than variable rate loans and you may not be able to pay your loan off early.

The exception to this is a Tiimely Home fixed rate home loan. Unlike most lenders, our fixed rate loans come with an offset account as standard. This lets you use your savings to lower the amount of interest you pay and reduce the overall cost of the loan.

Be assured there are options available to help, but what exactly is financial hardship? It’s when you’re finding it hard to make your loan repayments.

When financial hardship comes up it’s often associated with an unexpected change in your circumstances. These changes could include job loss or reduced hours, a relationship change, a family death or major illness, or a natural disaster. These are major life events and can affect your finances.

If you have trouble keeping up with your loan repayments, you can call our funder, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, on 1800 652 146 and talk to a member of their Mortgage Help team. The sooner you contact them, the sooner they can try to help you.

The team member you speak with will consider your personal circumstances and suggest the most suitable option for your situation. The kinds of things that they’ll consider are your income and expenses, your assets and debts, and what’s likely to happen in the future. They may offer any of the following options depending on your situation:

• Pausing or reducing your payments for a set time period
• Extending your loan period so that you can lower your repayments and pay off your loan over a longer period.

The sooner you contact the bank’s Mortgage Help team, the more options they are likely to have to help you.

These useful resources are also available:

• Money Smart – a federal government initiative with free tools, tips and guidance to help Australians take control of their money. It also includes information on government support and other support organisations. Visit moneysmart.gov.au.
• National Debt Helpline – you can call them on 1800 007 007 to speak to a financial counsellor and their website (ndh.org.au) has easy to use, step-by-step guides on how to tackle debts.

This will depend on many different factors, like your income and your current living expenses. To get an estimate, check out our borrowing calculator and run the numbers.

There are a couple of ways you can make your loan repayments. If you have an offset account, repayments will be deducted from it. If you don’t have an offset account, you can fill in the Loan Repayment Authority form that comes in your settlement pack and set up a direct debit for your repayments.

Tiimely Own home loans are the smart choice for a low-rate loan with fast approval, but they may not be suitable for everyone. If you have a complex situation such as a split loan, guarantor loan, or construction loan, a Tiimely Own home loan may not be the best option for you. Additionally, each lender has different eligibility criteria.

If you are not approved for a Tiimely Own home loan, don't worry. Tiimely Home has an in-house broker service that can help you find the right home loan for your needs. We will match your application with a lender from our panel of 30+ lenders and 1000s of home loan options, all without you having to reapply. You'll receive expert guidance from our friendly in-house broker team every step of the way.

You can do any of the following by yourself, anytime by logging into your online banking:

• Change your online banking password
• Change your daily limits for online banking
• Set up automatic payments
• Request redraws
• Make one-off payments
• Change your email address
• Change statement preference (i.e. switch from paper statements to online)
• Transfer funds from your offset account to your home loan redraw account

You’ll need the following things when buying your first home:

• A deposit for your home loan (usually 20% of your loan amount, or 10% if you pay LMI)
• Funds to pay for government and third party fees
• Your bank statements
• PAYG summaries
• Income statements
• Details of any other debt or financial responsibilities you currently have

This differs from lender to lender and depends on the offset product that is offered. If you have a Tiimely Own home loan, you can’t have more than one offset account attached to your home loan, but we offer 100% offset accounts on all of our home loans (variable AND fixed).

We offer a form of conditional approval, where we assess everything we can without knowing the final property you’ll be purchasing. Learn more about conditional approval subject to property.

Stamp duty is a state government tax levied on home buyers and it varies depending on the state or territory you’re buying in. It's generally 3-4% of the property’s value. You can use our calculator as a guide. Keep in mind your actual stamp duty cost may vary depending on your own circumstances. Our calculator does not take into account stamp duty exemptions.

It’s like a traditional home loan, but done completely digitally, online. It’s more than a digital form you fill out — we’ll assess your application as you fill it in, and we’ll verify your information as we go.

Never applied for a home loan without help before? Don’t worry. If you have questions, have a read of our FAQs, or contact us. We’ll be glad to help.

Yes. Making additional repayments can reduce the overall repayment period. Tiimely Own home loans allow unlimited additional repayments on all variable home loans, and up to $20,000 of additional repayments per year on all fixed home loans.

For Tiimely Own home loans:

Your loan provider is Tiimely Home, which makes you a Tiimely Home customer. The funder of your loan is Bendigo and Adelaide bank.

What the bank does

If we approve your Tiimely Own home loan, the Bendigo and Adelaide bank then provides the online portal where you can make your loan repayments and access your offset account. They also process any changes you might want to make to your loan.

We partnered with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank because they’re a trusted bank, protected by the Australian Government's Financial Claims Scheme (FCS). Read more on the Financial Claims Scheme (FCS) and why it’s important our offset accounts are guaranteed under Financial Claims Scheme (FCS) for up to $250,000.

For loans from partner lenders via our in-house broker service:

Your loan facilitator will be Tiimely Home, and we’ll partner you up with a lender from our lender panel. The loan will be funded by the lender that you choose. Read more in our credit guide.

What Tiimely Home provides across both

Tiimely Home also takes care of the assessment process once you’ve applied for your home loan, requesting a credit check from a credit reporting agency and using it to assess your eligibility for the loan.

You’ll still be supported through your home loan journey will receive top-notch customer service from the same team of Home Loan Experts and our in-house broker team, who are based in our Adelaide HQ.

Login to your online banking, here.

Setting up online banking

1. If you haven’t registered already, call 08 7109 9010 so we can help you set it up. Make sure you have your Customer Number and account details ready (because we hate wasting time). You’ll find this on an email from Tiimley Own or in your settlement pack.
2. Login above, using your Customer Number and the temporary password we’ve given you.
3. You’ll be prompted to change your password.

If you’ve forgotten your password or Customer Number, give us a call on 08 7109 9010.

What ID documents are required for a Tiimely Own home loan?

If you are applying for a Tiimely Own home loan, we’ll be verifying your face against your identification documents (preferably with a photo of you).

It’s a pretty simple process that involves you, your phone camera and just the usual forms of ID; one original government-issued photo ID document is required:

• A passport (from any country); or
• an Australian driver’s license

Copies are not accepted (including certified copies).

If you don’t have access to valid ID documents, please get in contact with us.

What ID documents are required for a loan through our in-house broker service?

For a loan through our in-house broker offering you’ll need at least 2 forms of government ID:

• Medicare card (must-have); and
• A passport (from any country); and or
• Australian driver’s license

Redrawing on your Tiimely Own home loan is simple. Just select your home loan as the ‘From account’ when performing a funds transfer. Then, if you have an offset account, transfer the cash there and use your Tiimely Own Visa Debit card to immediately access the funds. Or you can transfer the cash to another account and withdraw it in up to two business days.

What is a redraw facility?

Redrawing simply means accessing any extra payments you’ve made on your home loan. With Tiimley Own, you can do this whenever you want for free, using online banking.

Home loan redraw pros and cons

A redraw facility can be handy to have if you ever need cash at short notice to cover unexpected bills. Making extra payments also reduces the interest you pay on your home loan, earning you more than you would in a savings account and without the tax.

On the other hand, some lenders limit the number of extra payments you can make on your home loan in a certain period or how much you can redraw at any one time. A redraw facility is also not usually offered with fixed interest or interest only loans.

Things to know about Tiimely Own redraw

• Redrawing on your loan won’t increase your repayments or extend the term of your home loan, as you’re simply withdrawing the extra payments you’ve made into your home loan.
• You need to be one month ahead (you can redraw any additional funds paid beyond the current month).
• The minimum redraw amount is $1 per transaction.

When accessing a redraw where there is more than one person on a loan, you (and your plus one) both need to authorise the transaction. If this is inconvenient for you and you would both rather transact independently. Please contact us.

There are no fees to use our in-house broker service. Depending on which home loan you choose, there may be some associated lender fees.

There are some unavoidable third-party and government fees, like title fees and stamp duty. Some lenders may also charge fees (for example, application fees) but we’ll point these out if they’re identified as loan options for you.

Our proprietary technology. Our in-house broker service is accessible through the same seamless and efficient Tiimely application process - there is no separate form or manual process for customers who apply for a Tiimely broker product. We’re the only online home loan lender that has built their own tech. It’s also what sets us apart from our competitors. Our platform is in effect a matching engine, able to assess our customers’ information in real time and against multiple products.​

Your loan will be funded by one of our 30+ panel lenders​ which may allow you to unlock additional loan features that better suit your financial situation​, including guarantor loans, land and construction, and split loan facilities.

Regardless of where you get your Tiimely Home loan from, you’ll have access to the same superior service we’re famous for - that means the application experience, and access to our experienced Home Loan Specialists and Broker teams, who all work under the same roof.​ Plus, our in-house brokers don’t get paid commissions (because they’re salaried home loan experts). This means they’re not incentivised to stretch your budget for a bigger payday, or have lender preferences that may not align to yours. They’re working to find you the right deal, no matter what. Read more in our credit guide.