CityLife Magazine Second Quarter 2020

FINANCIAL
SUPPORT
GUS SOPER
YOUR LENDING SPECIALIST
: 0400 636 953
: (07) 4041 3100
: 136 Mulgrave Rd, Cairns QLD 4870
: astutefinancial.com.au/members/northqld
Well Cairns, I reckon we will look
back on the first half of 2020 as being
a period in our lives where everything
seemed to shift off its axis. We are in a
time where COVID-19 is reshaping the
way our world is interconnected from
how we conduct business and how we
simply live our lives. We are beginning
to understand what a global pandemic
potentially means for our country,
community, businesses and our families.
What makes this shared experience so
challenging is that, at the moment, we
have more unknowns than knowns and
this is what makes us feel uncomfortable
and sometimes anxious as human
beings. What is needed most in these
uncertain times is clarity.
To that end, at Astute we have been
focused on making sure we are doing
everything we can to keep on top of
all bank and government changes and
know what benefits may be available so
we have, or can find out the answers to
your questions. In this article I wanted
to let you know that despite all the
craziness, most financial institutions
are working hard to help people get
through this and not trying to make
things any more difficult than necessary.
Of course, there will be frustrations in
getting solutions as quickly as you would
like, mainly due to the pure volume of
inquiries these institutions are receiving.
However, if you can be patient, there is
assistance available. I have listed below
a few options available that may relieve
some financial pressure until some
stability returns to our community.
Right now, all mortgage and business
loan holders can do any of the below to
improve their position.
CityLife FINANCE
• Reduce your repayments back to the
minimum if you are paying more than
required.
• Start a budget. Yes, an oldie but, one
that very few actually do. There are a
heap of apps or tools that you can use to
work out where your daily and monthly
spend is going. Time to reign in the
spending!
• Look to reduce your interest rate or,
where appropriate consider short term
interest-only strategies to reduce cash
flow strain.
• Utilise your offset accounts to reduce
interest costs and store any excess funds.
• Understand your redraw facilities and
what is or is not available. What other
access to credit do you have?
• Use government incentives that may
become available to you.
• Utilise bank loan repayment deferral
options offered by your individual
lender if necessary. Remember in most
cases the interest is still capitalised back
onto your loan but, it could be a shortterm
solution.
Hopefully, you don’t need to use any
of these but, acting early is the key to
managing your household finances
through these uncertain times. There
is plenty of support out there from
your banks, so no one needs to stress,
just communicating with the relevant
team within your bank is the key to this
working out well.
CityLife 39 Magazine