Mortgage provider RAMS Home Loans has joined with real estate data provider Residex to give property investors access to residential sales information.

Westpac-owned RAMS said the partnership would allow prospective investors to access Residex reports once they identify what suburb or suburbs they are interested in.

The reports include information such as median sale price, median rent, historical and predicted growth as well as a list of current properties for sale.
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Calculating your potential monthly repayments while you’re out viewing prospective properties just got a lot easier thanks to RAMS new mobile website.

The website, 13RAMS.mobi, optimised to use on any internet enabled mobile phone, lets users calculate what their indicative monthly home loan repayments would be when they’re out and about. The website also includes a call-back option where users can request a call back from a RAMS customer service representative simply by entering their phone number.

RAMS Head of Franchise, Clive Kirkpatrick said, “RAMS mobile website is incredibly easy to use and provides potential home buyers with useful information when they need it, regardless of where they are.
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Westpac Banking Corporation has tightened its mortgage loan criteria and realigned its funding towards high-quality mortgage intermediaries, as subsidiary RAMS Home Loans prepares to quit the mortgage broker channel.

Westpac spokeswoman Jane Counsel confirmed the bank lowered its loan-to-valuation ratios (LVR) for new full-documentation mortgage customers on Wednesday from 92 per cent to 87 per cent including two per cent for lenders’ mortgage insurance.

The LVR for new low-documentation customers has been lowered by Westpac to 80 per cent including LMI, said Mortgage Choice spokeswoman Kristy Sheppard.

Mortgage Choice is the nation’s largest mortgage broker.

Westpac will also quit funding RAMS’ broker channel, which is scheduled to close on February 26 and was responsible for just under a third of Westpac’s broker-originated new mortgage growth in 2009.
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New research announced today by specialist lender, RAMS Home Loans suggests that the vast majority of people looking to buy their first home would still be in the market regardless of the First Home Owners Grant (FHOG) Boost even if interest rates were higher than at present.

According to RAMS First Home Buyers’ Pulse Check, less that 40% of people looking to buy their first home in the next 12 months are trying to secure a property before the Home Owners Grant Boost ends on 31 December 2009. What’s more, only one in five (21%) suggested their search for a first home was reliant on interest rates remaining at the low levels we have had since February.

RAMS Head of Brand and Marketing, Lynne Wyatt was encouraged by the findings. “Earlier this year we saw an unprecedented number of first home buyers entering the market. At RAMS the number of first home buyers settling loans peaked in May. Since then we have seen their numbers return to a more sustainable level as the pent up demand of the last few years has been satisfied.
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RAMS Home Loans today announced the introduction of paperless processing for all its home loan applications.

The successful implementation of the new technology marks the end of desks piled high with paper, filing cabinets filled with pending home loan applications and daily dispatches of archive boxes to off-site storage facilities.

Tony MacRae, Head of Operations, RAMS Home Loans is delighted to see the end of paper based loan application processing:

“The move to a paperless loan application process will improve the processing capability of RAMS by reducing manual touch-points throughout the loan application process. This, in turn, will lead to faster processing times, a better experience for RAMS Franchisees and Brokers and ultimately a better experience for RAMS customers.
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Mortgage provider RAMS Home Loans says it will offer the fixed rate component of a new home loan product at half a percentage point below the variable rate.

The Westpac-owned RAMS is making the offer just three weeks after raising the interest rates on some of its existing fixed rate mortgages.

The new spilt home loan allows new customers to fix up to 50 per cent of the loan for two years at an interest rate of 4.99 per cent, with the remaining half charged a variable interest rate of 5.49 per cent.

RAMS said the split loan would be available to low-documentation loan applicants, who would be charged a fixed rate of 5.49 per cent and a variable rate of 6.69 per cent.
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Specialist mortgage provider Rams Home Loans says it expects to double its franchise distribution network over the next two years to cater for increased demand.

Rams currently has 44 franchise-owned home loan centres across Australia.

The Rams brand and franchise network was acquired by Westpac Banking Corporation in January 2008 after the group went into meltdown in late 2007 as it faced tighter credit market conditions.

Rams chief executive Melos Sulicich said on Thursday that despite the challenging market conditions, Rams had rebuilt it customer base from zero to over 15,000 settled loans by the end of May.
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Australia’s leading home loan specialist, RAMS Home Loans today announced it is proud to be recognised as the winner of Money magazine’s 2009 Non-Bank Lender of the Year in the annual Consumer Finance Awards.

RAMS outperformed all other non-bank lenders to win the prestigious title based on its consistent performance across all home loan categories including fixed rate, variable interest rate and line of credit home loans that deliver broad appeal across the mortgage market. The RAMS 2-year, 3-year and 5-year fixed rate loans were highlighted as offering strong product features, low fees and affordable rates.

RAMS Chief Executive, Melos Sulicich said: “We are proud to achieve the highest status as Money magazine’s Non-Bank Lender of the Year - an honour which clearly demonstrates we have maintained our strong position as a valuable alternative to the major banks in the Australian home lending market.”
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Specialist lender, RAMS Home Loans today announced it will once again move quickly to reduce its variable home loan rates by 0.1% p.a. passing on further savings to new and existing customers effective from Friday, 17 April 2009.

This rate reduction follows the latest decrease to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s official cash rate, taking the RAMS Standard Variable Home Loan rate to 5.59% p.a. and the RAMS Basic Home Loan to only 4.99% p.a. - some of the most competitive rates in the market.

RAMS Chief Executive, Melos Sulicich said RAMS has taken a long term view of its pricing decisions to continue to offer a valuable alternative in the lending market and deliver competitive home loans for everyday Australians.
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According to industry news sources, RAMS Home Loans is no longer allowing brokers to take advantage of the 100 per cent home loans because of extremely high demand

The new lender requirements which were announced yesterday has also menat that broker’s clients are now responsible for contributing a genuine savings deposit of 3% for LVR’s greater than 90%.

RAMS has also announced that the maximum LVR available through the broker channels will be reduced to 95% plus LMI capitalisation.
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Specialist lender, RAMS Home Loans today announced it will reduce its Standard Variable Rate (SVR) by the full 1% p.a. to 5.69% p.a.* effective Monday 9 February, following the latest drop to Reserve Bank of Australia’s official cash rate.

The latest rate reduction now means the popular RAMS Rate Relief home loan offers customers an interest rate of only 4.69% p.a. for the first two years of the loan, making RAMS one of most competitive in the national lending market.**
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RAMS Chief Executive Officer, Melos Sulicich, today announced the appointment of Mr Clive Kirkpatrick to the position of Head of Broker, effective early January 2009.

Mr Kirkpatrick joins RAMS following a distinguished banking and finance career built over 25 years in Australia and overseas.

Mr Kirkpatrick is currently working at BankWest’s Financial Planning, Retail division and previously was Head of Financial Services and Third Party Distribution at Clearview Retirement Solutions (part of the MBF Group).
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Specialist lender, RAMS Home Loans today announced it will once again move quickly to reduce its Standard Variable Rate to 7.59% p.a to remain lower than major banks.

This rate reduction follows the latest decrease to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s official cash rate and takes the RAMS Basic Home Loan to only 6.99% p.a*, making it one of the most competitive in the market.

RAMS Chief Executive Officer, Melos Sulicich said in this current financial climate many people are turning to RAMS for straightforward, expert information and a more affordable alternative.
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RAMS Home Loans today announced customers will receive a further 0.20% p.a off the already low standard variable home loan rate, reducing it to 8.19% p.a* effective Monday 27 October 2008.

This latest interest rate reduction is in addition to the 0.90% p.a rate decrease delivered to RAMS customers just over a week ago.

RAMS Chief Executive Officer, Melos Sulicich said RAMS was in a good position to provide another interest rate reduction to assist customers with further rate relief.
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RAMS Home Loans says it will pass on 90 per cent of Tuesday’s full percentage point interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

RAMS said it would cut its variable home loan rate by 0.9 of a percentage point to 8.39 per cent, effective October 13.

The cut compares with the 0.8 percentage point drop announced by the big four banks and St George after the RBA board said it would cut the overnight cash rate from 7 per cent to 6 per cent, effective from yesterday (October 8).
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