Frequently Asked Questions

I like my existing Bank and don’t want to change.
No problem, we are not lenders nor brokers. We work with all major lenders to ensure you receive the best products, best price and provide you with our unique software and service to obtain the earliest possible exit from your mortgage.
What's involved? How do I get the Equitus Advantage?
Contact us and one of our consultants will show you an obligation-free presentation in your own home. If you want to go ahead, they will get some data from you.

We will analyse the data, design your custom-built loan facility to release the absolute maximum amount of unnecessary interest for your circumstances, and develop the plan to achieve this.

Your consultant will then come back with the information to show you what can be achieved.

We will then arrange for your restructured loan facility to be approved and documented.

Your Finance Manager will meet with you when the loan is ready to draw down, with your personalised Equitus Handbook, which shows you how to achieve even more savings. 
How long does it take to get this set up?
It does take some time to get your data, analyse it, design your custom-built loan facility, get it approved and show you how to use it to your best advantage.

Depending on your circumstances, it should take no more than around a week from when you decide to go ahead. Some people are concerned that changing their banking over will take a lot of time. We will show you to get it done in under one hour.
What do we need to qualify?

We have worked hard to bring this service to as wide a range of people as possible, and the vast majority of the people we see do qualify.

Circumstances vary, but the key points are:

  1. You have to be committed to getting ahead. While this is a straightforward programme, it will take some years to complete, and it is not set-and-forget.
  2. Our service cannot help people are addicted to living on credit.
  3. You need to have a good credit history and a good recent history with your bank.
  4. You will need to meet some lending criteria, principally relating to income and equity. If you already have a home loan, it is likely that this won't present a problem.

Is there a cost involved?
We do charge a fee for our services, but the fees are paid for many times over from what we save for you. That's why we say 'growing wealth out of debt at no net cost'. Typically, our fee comes to less than 5% of what we save you.

If you decide to proceed, we charge an upfront fee for the initial analysis, design, setup and the first year's support. This fee is built into your new loan so you don't have to save it up or get it out of the bank, nor will your outgoings be increased. There is also a monthly service fee to cover our ongoing service and support until your loan has been discharged.

In other words, you get years of guaranteed service to release the absolute maximum amount of unnecessary interest so it can be used for your benefit, not the lenders, at no net cost to yourself.

Do we have to increase our mortgage repayments?
No. The good news is that you pay exactly the same for all your debts as you do now - not more.

The difference is that we turn as much as possible of that debt-paying money from down-the-drain interest into get-you-out principal.

The best news of all is that you have exactly the same amount to spend on your lifestyle as you do now. However, you could well have the option of using some of this freed-up debt-paying money in order to improve your lifestyle now, delaying your exit slightly. Your Finance Manager can advise.

Are you available outside Christchurch?
We are Christchurch based but due to demand we are now offering our mortgage management program throughout NZ. This includes our client specific mortgage design and all the on-going monitoring, managing and mentoring required to minimize both the amount of interest and the time you spend in your mortgage.
 
So, do you want to own your home sooner rather than later? And do it without paying the lender more then just register on line and we will do you a free consultation. You will probably be surprised at just how much interest you are giving away unnecessarily.
Can't I just increase my repayments or get a cheaper interest rate?

You can get out of your mortgage faster (and save some interest) by doing these things, and these are the generally the only methods that people know about, as they are the only ones that lenders advertise. However, to make the extra payments you have to give up something else.

With us, you don't need to give up anything. We can show you how much faster you can exit your mortgage, and how much more interest you can save, without giving up anything.

Doesn't the bank do the same thing?

No, they don't. Your lender might give you the same sort of loan facilities, but that's where the similarity ends. Even then, they won't set out to structure your loan facility as we do - to unlock the maximum amount of unnecessary interest.

Once you have the loan, you would then have to design and maintain a financial plan so you can predict and track your progress out of debt. This can't be done without the right tools and formulae.

Without a plan, you would probably get some interest back, but it would be only a fraction of what's available to you. That's because there are ways of using a wide range of ordinary bank products to generate even more savings and we will show you how.

Also, you'd need to be able to keep correctly adapting the plan to account for any periods where you needed to increase your living expenses temporarily or where there is unplanned income or expenditure.

Above all, what differentiates us from your bank is our dedicated ongoing support and guidance. Lenders simply don't employ people who do what our Finance Managers do.

Couldn't I do this myself?
Equitus has spent 10 years developing our unique range of tools – our mortgage management system is designed to get the very best offset interest results out of a line of credit system. Experience shows (and Bankers know) that over 95% of people who embark on a line of credit system without a plan, flat line it. In other words they turn a principal and interest loan into an interest only loan and effectively go backwards.

If you are to succeed in making the principle of off set interest really work you need to be able answer all these questions with confidence.

  1. Would you know how to calculate the optimum split between your line of credit facility and your Principal and Interest loan? This is important if you are to maximize your savings.  
  2. Would you know what calculations you would need to use to establish an accurate start point and then make accurate projections about where you should be on a month by month basis?  
  3. How would you calculate how many years you have left because it will be impossible to plan forward if you can’t accurately establish this?
  4. How will you know when to transfer funds from your LOC to the fixed P&I portion and if you don’t know that then how will you know what term to fix/re-fix for?
  5. Finally, do you know the formula for the future values of a loan?

The danger of guessing any of these calculations means it’s unlikely you’ll achieve anything like the savings you could achieve if you were using a professionally developed mortgage management system.
    
At Equitus we provide a mortgage management program which means nothing is left to chance. For instance at our clients’ first (one Month) review, our Finance Manager has over 30 calculations to input to check and if necessary adjust the program to get our clients the optimum results. It’s these adjustments which are vital to ensure our clients reach their target.  

Not only does Equitus use our specifically designed software to calculate our clients’ numbers but our finance managers work with our clients throughout the time they are in their mortgage to ensure those vital necessary adjustments to enable our clients to get maximize their results in their changing circumstances.
I'm on a fixed rate and I'm concerned about paying early repayment fees

How the early repayment fee is calculated depends on which bank you are with. It some cases it can be worth while to pay the break fee on some, or all of your loan depending on the cost/benefit outcome.

The cost could be offset by the advantage of being able to immediately access the better interest rate. In some cases staying on your existing interest rate until maturity can end up costing you more, especially if you have missed out on locking into an attractive lower fixed rate in the meantime.

Interest rates can be a lottery. Acting now can give you certainty rather than gambling that rates will still be low when your existing rate matures.

We'll calculate the early repayment fees and build them into the proposed plan that we show you. If you go ahead, the ERF is financed into the new loan facility and blown away along with everything else.

What happens if I lose my income?

This has happened to many of our clients, and they tell us that they are delighted that they had the Equitus Advantage to fall back on.

Call us and we will tell you exactly how long you have in which to find a new source of income while maintaining your lifestyle, and meeting your mortgage commitments. Your Finance Manager will then stay in touch with you till you have a new source of income and your plan has been updated.

We can show you how you can afford to protect your income stream and ensure your mortgage repayments can still be met in the event that you are unable to work, providing you with control, certainty, and cash-flow

We're no good with money
All you have to do is:

  1. Continue to live within your means. Even that is made simple because you have exactly the same day-to-day living expenses that you do now, and each month you can compare where you ought to be (on the plan) with where you are at (on your statement).
  2. See us before you borrow any more. We'll make sure it fits into your plan., and can show you how to finance the borrowing as cheaply as possible.

Do we have to stick to a tight budget?
This is not about you going without. You have exactly the same amount to spend on your lifestyle as you do now - not less.

And it could be more. If your current expenses are a bit tight, then we can use some of the free-up debt-paying money to enhance your lifestyle spending, as long as it is done on a managed basis through your plan.

This will hold your exit up slightly, but in the meantime you will start enjoying a better lifestyle straight away.

However, if you feel that budgeting will be an issue, we have a number of unique tools that help you keep within your budget and get the maximum available benefit from the facility.

What do I have to do as time goes by?

Spend one minute a month comparing the closing balance on your loan statement with the closing balance in your plan. That way, you can check if your are on track (or like most of our clients, ahead).
Other than that, we ask you to call your Finance Manager if you are behind the plan or if your financial circumstances change.

We do the rest. It's that simple.

Can you help first home buyers?
Yes, many of our clients are first home buyers. These are the people we can save the most. It is quite common for first home buyers to be able to clear their mortgage in 10 years or less.
What if we have no deposit?
Most buyers, especially younger people, don't have much deposit these days. What this normally means is that they then become saddled to an expensive low-equity loan.

We specialise in using the equity in parents' homes to fund the new purchase, with the parents being paid back far faster than they would normally be able to.
Can you help property investors?

The faster the equity in your investment property builds up, the more capital gain you will enjoy.

Building equity up quickly is what we specialise in. This will give you an advantage over other investors.

Why isn't everybody doing this?
Not everyone realises how much potential wealth is locked into the totally unnecessary interest in their home loan, and that they can do something about it. That is changing.

We also find that some people simply aren't interested in getting ahead.
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