How these simple mistakes could be stopping you from buying your first home 

• Mortgage broker offers advice to first-home buyers
• Bad spending habits can sink a home-loan application 
• READ MORE:  How Aussie bloke built up a property empire worth $5.2million

Late-night cash withdrawals, gambling or silly jokes in bank transfer descriptions could sink your chances of buying your first home, according to a mortgage broker.

Quang Huynh, a Sydney-based home loan expert, urged prospective home buyers to treat their bank statements like their ‘public LinkedIn profile’ because credit assessors will not look kindly upon bad spending habits. 

‘Credit assessors are very old school and conservative when lending money,’ Mr Huynh told 7Life.

‘Just remember anything your mother will frown upon should not be in your bank statements.’

Quang Huynh (pictured), a Sydney-based home loan expert, urged prospective home buyers to treat their bank statements like their ‘public LinkedIn profile’ because credit assessors will not look kindly upon bad spending habits

Mr Huynh urged first home buyers to do their research 12 months in advance to allow them to plan properly and avoid any nasty surprises (stock image)

Examples of bad spending habits Mr Huynh gave were random cash withdrawals at strange times and in-jokes when transferring money to friends.

Even if a client has a good mortgage deposit and strong borrowing power, they could be rejected for these small details because ‘first impression matters’.

‘To keep a clean record, you must treat your home loan statements as if it’s your public LinkedIn profile,’ Mr Huynh said.

‘It must be professional and you will be judged as a person based on what you put on there.

‘Your bank statement prior to the submission to the bank should not be treated like your personal social media account where you put your racy photos or politically incorrect jokes there for your mates to have a laugh.’

Mr Huynh gave the example of a friend using a silly description like ‘OnlyFans’ when transferring money.

‘If the ongoing joke occurs very often in the last three months, it’s really hard to explain to the bank credit assessor that the client is just joking,’ he said.

‘The bank will seriously think the client is spending money on a sexual content subscription – and treat this as an ongoing liability or straight out decline.’

The mortgage broker, who styles himself as ‘that home loan dude’ on social media, said prospective homebuyers should also avoid the use of the word ‘loan’ in the description of a bank transfer. 

Examples of bad spending habits Mr Huynh gave were random cash withdrawals at strange times and in-jokes when transferring money to friends (stock image)

‘The bank may see this as an undisclosed loan that was not made upfront in (the) home loan application,’ Mr Huynh said. 

‘Even though it’s a small transaction or repayment, it will affect the “character” component of your application process. Undisclosed loans are a big no no.’

He also warned would-be homeowners to avoid any gambling activity on their bank statment if they do not want to be turned down. 

‘Banks will put a strike against a borrower’s character score if they see gambling, as it may have a negative impact on their home loan application,’ Mr Huynh said.

‘Lenders see them as a gambler and question whether their gambling habits will affect their future repayments.

‘Usually, if we (mortgage brokers) see gambling transactions in the last three months of a client’s bank statements and it’s occurring almost weekly, we will tell them to stop this activity for three months and then come back to us (later) for lending.’

Mr Huynh urged first home buyers to do their research 12 months in advance to allow them to plan properly and avoid any nasty surprises. 

READ MORE: Mortgage broker reveals the biggest mistakes first home buyers make – from forgetting about added costs to not building a pest inspection into your contract 

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