Letters to the editor: Don't blame banks for mortgage woes

Brokers are reporting difficulties gaining home loans for buyers. Photo / Getty Images

As a mortgage broker of nearly 20 years' experience in Rotorua, I read with interest an article about the time it takes for banks to assess a home loan application (News, January 8).

Someone stated 30 days, another 27 days, and how banks require so much information and are declining more loans. I haven't had the same experience.

Any new conditions the banks are imposing - including making it virtually impossible for people with less than 20 per cent deposit to get a home loan - are government imposed.

As for time to get a loan approved, I find the maximum is usually 7-10 days.

I believe it comes down to presenting the loan correctly, having all relevant information, including knowing what paperwork each bank requires.

Yes, it is more difficult to get a loan, but that is due to the lack of supply, and the ridiculous price of homes in Rotorua and NZ.

Don't blame the banks.

I hope this balances out some of the negative information about banks.

Perry Bell
Rotorua

Behaviour on our roads

Kiri Gillespie makes some valid points in her editorial (Opinion, January 6) about driver behaviours that deserves more attention from the cops.

Here's a point that can be poo-pooed but I tend to find that drivers that do speed are actually paying more attention than those that don't bother doing the legal speed and hold up people who do want to go at least as fast as the speed limit.

These slow drivers need to have the rear-view mirror's function pointed out. They also need to be informed that courtesy costs little and won't add too much time to their trip.

The logic of Waka Kotahi is unexplainable. All the cheese cutter and Armco barriers must have cost many millions of dollars and most of them leave a question, in my mind anyway, as to who made the decision to put them in some of the places you find them.

If all the millions of dollars spent on those things were put into giving the road surfaces priority that would save people who can't drive from diving off the roads.

There will always be motor vehicle-related deaths.

See what this year brings. It hasn't started too well despite those barriers and speed reductions.

Rod Petterson
Rotorua

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