WLTH Home Loans

WLTH, pronounced “wealth,” is a digital non-bank lender and payments provider based in Brisbane. The company was founded by brothers Brodie and Drew Haupt in 2018 (pictured below), with a mission to provide smarter and more sustainable financial products.

Since its official launch in early 2021, WLTH has aimed to simplify the home loan process and promote environmental sustainability through strategic partnerships and innovative products. As seen above, the product offerings are very streamlined, with only a handful of different products and features. However it is one of a few lenders offering SMSF loans.

WLTH Home Loans on Offer

WLTH only dabbles in variable-rate home loans, with no fixed rates available. This means your interest rate and repayment can go up and down with the tides of the wider interest rate environment. However, it also means you’ll likely get greater flexibility in repayments and additional features.

Owner Occupiers

• Borrow up to $1 million

• Pay principal & interest

• LVRs (loan-to-value ratios) of <70%, <80%, or <90%

• Differing interest rates depending on LVR

• Included ‘e-offset’ redraw facility

Investors

• Borrow up to $1 million

• Pay principal & interest, or interest only

• LVRs of <60%, <70%, <80%, and <90%

• Differing interest rates depending on LVR

• Included ‘e-offset’ redraw facility

SMSF

• Borrow up to $2 million depending on LVR

• Pay principal & interest, or interest only

• LVRs of <60%, <70%, or <80%

• Differing interest rates depending on LVR

• Optional ‘e-offset’ redraw facility

• For residential property, or commercial with interest rate premium

SMSF loans are for the purpose of buying property to be held as an investment within your self-managed superannuation fund. They are technically called Limited Recourse Borrowing Arrangements, or LRBAs. They are ‘limited recourse’ because, if in the event of default, the lender cannot come after assets held within the fund - such as shares, or other property - only the property the loan is secured against.

WLTH co-founder and CEO Brodie Haupt

WLTH Home Loan Features

While WLTH doesn’t have a lot of home loans on offer, it offers a couple of nifty features, including:

E-offset account

WLTH's e-offset account is essentially a redraw facility with a debit card attached. It works like an offset account in that customers can offset interest payable, and use the funds to transact through the debit card.

However, as WLTH is not a bank, it’s not a true offset account, meaning it’s not a separate bank account to the loan. Rather, it’s housed within the loan structure, and excess funds can be ‘redrawn’.

• There is no minimum balance requirement, allowing borrowers to deposit and withdraw funds as needed without penalty.

• The balance in the e-offset account directly offsets the principal amount of the home loan. For example, if you have a home loan of $400,000 and $50,000 in your e-offset account, you only pay interest on $350,000.

• As an "e-offset" account, it is managed electronically, allowing easy access and management through WLTH's digital loan portal.

On many loans this feature is included by default with no extra fees. This can be a handy way to reduce your interest payable at no additional cost burden.

Quick application and settlement

Applying for a WLTH home loan is a simple five step process and can take as little as 15 minutes:

1. Loan: Select your loan and input basic info

2. About you: Tell WLTH about you by inputting more details

3. Income: Link your bank accounts and evidence of income

4. Assets: Identify other assets such as shares, property and more

5. Expenses: Break down your expenses, such as bills, transport, existing loans and debts and more

To speed up the process, WLTH recommends uploading documents such as payslips and bank statements.

WLTH Home Loan Fees

WLTH emphasises minimal fees and often waives application fees to provide a cost-effective loan process. By default there are often no application fees, however certain other fees may apply

• Annual Fee: An annual fee of $395 applies to all investment loans and owner-occupied loans where the LVR exceeds 80%.

• Settlement Fee: A one-time settlement fee of $590 is charged at the completion of the loan process.

• Account Variation/Facility Variation Fee: This fee is $250 for standard variations and $450 for more complex variations. This may include changing repayment frequency.

• SMSF Fees: A legal and document preparation fee of $595, plus additional costs depending on the complexity of the loan.

Additional Fees

• Re-document Fee: If documents need to be reissued through no fault of WLTH, a re-document fee of $100 is applied.

• Urgency Fee: For urgent processing of documents or loans, a fee of $100 is charged.

• Additional Securities or Guarantees Fee: Preparing additional securities or guarantees incurs a fee of $250 each.

• Additional Company or Trust Review Fee: Reviewing additional companies or trusts costs $200 each.

WLTH co-founder Drew Haupt

Parley for the Oceans: WLTH Sustainability Explained

In partnership with organisation Parley for the Oceans, WLTH pledges that for every settled home loan, it will clean up 50 square metres of ocean.

For reference, the average three bedroom townhouse floorplan is about 100-150 square metres, while a studio apartment is about 40-50 square metres. So, WLTH is cleaning up a studio apartment’s worth of plastic for every settled loan.

Debit card

WLTH’s debit card attached to the e-offset account is made with sustainability in mind. Three quarters of it is made with upcycled recovered plastic from the ocean or coastline. Five per cent is made of recycled plastics, while the remaining 20% covers the essentials such as microchip, mag strip and core security features.

SailGP Team Sponsorship

WLTH sponsors the Australian SailGP team, and part of the sponsorship includes cleaning up further coastline for race wins. First place in a final means WLTH will clean up 1500 square metres of ocean and coastline; regardless of race or place, WLTH will clean up at least 100 square metres.

WLTH Home Loan Eligibility

• Residency: Borrowers must be Australian residents, either citizens or permanent residents.

• Income Verification: Proof of income through payslips, bank statements, or other financial documents is required. WLTH doesn’t lend to low or no-doc customers.

• Credit History: A good credit history is essential.

• Property Type: There may be restrictions on the type of property used as security, such as minimum floor plan sizes (square metres), restrictions on studio apartments or rural areas.

• Property Valuation: The property must be valued to determine the LVR. If the valuation comes in lower than the purchase price, borrowers may need to increase their deposit, or opt for a higher-LVR home loan.