Squirrel has today announced the launch of its 24-hour home loan approval service—leveraging its combined advisory and lending expertise to give buyers confidence to move fast on the right property.
Designed to work as a backstop to traditional bank funding, the service sees borrowers receive a committed approval for a Squirrel home loan in the first instance, before being placed with a traditional bank lender once a signed sale & purchase agreement has been received.
Squirrel’s Group Head of Advisory, Callan Wayne-Bowles, says slow financing can be one of the biggest headaches for Kiwi buyers—and it’s one that Squirrel, as both a broker and lender, is uniquely placed to solve.
"Buying a house is stressful enough, and slow financing can make it that much harder—having to make offers conditional on finance, or potentially missing out on bidding at auction if their bank or mortgage broker couldn’t turn things around in time. This is about giving buyers an edge, so they can jump on the right property as soon as it comes along.
“Our experience as advisers means we know what a lender wants to see in an application—so we’ve got a good sense for what will work, and what won’t, right off the bat. We’ve also invested heavily in building our own in-house, market-leading technology to back that up, so we can effectively run all the same checks and balances a bank would and really validate the numbers. Combined, that lets us look at a borrower, their financial situation—and the property in question—and say, ‘yes, we’re confident we can get bank approval across the line for you’.
“Then, rather than having to wait for that bank approval to come through, we can back the borrower with our own funding within 24 hours. That means the buyer can move with confidence, knowing that they’ll be placed with the best bank lender for their situation once they’ve secured their property,” adds Wayne-Bowles.
Squirrel 24-hour home loan approval key information:
- Each Squirrel approval is valid against a specific property, rather than a blanket lending limit issued in advance.
- Once all necessary paperwork has been provided, approvals are typically issued within 24 hours (excl. weekends and public holidays), once the property and borrower’s application have been assessed and met Squirrel's lending and credit criteria.
- Once the property purchase is going ahead, Squirrel’s mortgage advisory team will then place the borrower with the bank lender offering the best terms for their circumstances.
- Squirrel 24-hour home loan approval is available to individual and joint borrowers who:
- Are New Zealand citizens or permanent residents currently residing in New Zealand.
- Are in permanent, PAYE employment.
- Have a minimum 20% deposit—with at least 5% in genuine savings, which can include KiwiSaver, savings, shares or other investments, or equity in an existing property.
- Approvals are subject to Squirrel's standard credit and lending criteria—full eligibility details and T&Cs available via our website.
Wayne-Bowles says, “The way it works makes the application process more efficient for everyone involved—saving time for the customer, and meaning banks aren’t wasting time assessing deals that were never going to go anywhere. All while still making sure the buyer ends up with the best lender for their situation. It's all part of how we're working to make finance fairer.”
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For more information, please contact media@squirrel.co.nz.