You might have money saved up in other ways, or you might just want to keep a little extra cash on hand in case of an unexpected expense.
In any case, you are thinking about applying for a loan to help pay for the large costs of fixing up your house. Yet, where do you even begin?
When you sign a contract with an interior design firm, you may be able to get a loan from them in a few different situations. But since not all companies offer a renovation loan, most homeowners go to their banks for help.
A home improvement loan can help you pay for the costs of making changes to your home. This type of work usually involves carpentry (like building a built-in wardrobe or kitchen cabinets), electrical and wiring work, painting, flooring, tiling, sanitary fittings, and structural changes (e.g. hacking of walls).
The loan can be used to make improvements to any type of residential property, including but not limited to BTOs, HDBs, condominiums, and single-family landed homes.
How long it takes to get a personal loan
Most loan applications can be finished in just a few minutes, and the money can be transferred electronically to your bank account within two to three business days. But the exact timetable will depend on the type of lender you work with.
Online lender
The process of getting approval can take anywhere from one to two full business days. It can take anywhere from one to three business days to get the money.
There are a few online money lender in Singapore that can give you money the same day, but this is not very common and is usually only for people with great credit.
Most of them will pay off your loan in one to three business days after they get it. Usually, funds are announced the next business day. This can change, though, depending on when you apply and how your bank handles deposits.
Even if your application is approved and the money is sent the next business day, you might not see the money from the personal loan in your bank account for other two or three days.
Credit union
- The approval process could take anywhere from one to three business days
- It takes at least three business days to get money.
The most common place to get a personal loan is through a federal credit union. However, smaller local and regional credit unions also offer personal loans. You can get money from a bank, but it will take longer than from an online lender.
Even though this is the case, a credit union can still be a fast option for you if you already have an account and can get direct deposits.
If that happens, the process may take longer because you will have to pick up a check and sign loan paperwork in person.
Bank
- The approval process could take anywhere from one to three business days
- It takes at least three business days to get money.
There are more and more banks and credit unions that offer personal loans with quick prequalification and funding.
You should expect it to take more time than working with an online lender, but if you already have a checking or savings account; you may be able to get higher interest rates.
Banks are taking longer to process loan applications and give out money for loans. They want a higher credit score than online lenders do, so it will be harder for you to get a loan from them.
How can you get a fast home loan approval?
When a lender has to do more work to make sure the information on a mortgage loan application is correct, it could take longer to get approval.
Applications that aren’t as hard to understand and don’t need as much explanation might be approved faster. The faster a lender may be able to approve your mortgage application, the closer you are to their idea of an “ideal” borrower. Different lenders have different requirements for getting a loan, but in general, they want to see:
- Paystubs showing a steady income from a full-time job you’ve had for a while
- A deposit of at least 20% made up of real savings, like money from your job that you put into a savings account or term deposit
- Bank statements showing that reasonable household expenses have been taken out of your account
- The purchase of a home to live in as your main home
- Good credit score
In some cases, a very simple application for a home loan could get preapproved in an hour, and a final approval could come in one to three days.
What slows down renovation loan approvals?
If the lender has to spend a lot of time and work verifying the details of an application, the approval process could take longer.
Lenders have to figure out if you can afford the monthly payments on the home loan, if the amount of debt you have compared to your income is too high, and if there is a chance that you will have trouble paying your bills in the future.
Lenders also need to figure out how much risk they are taking with their own money. For example, they need to know if the value of the property is enough to cover the loan if you don’t make the payments on time.
Here are some things that could make it harder to get a home loan and slow down the approval process:
Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) is needed if you borrow more than 80% of the property’s value. If you pay a down payment with money that isn’t real savings, that’s also a problem.
- You want to borrow a lot of money for a house, like more than $2 million.
- You already have debt from car loans, credit cards, etc.
- Borrowing with a guarantor.
- Buying something other than a typical established property, like property off the plan, rural property, vacant land, heritage-listed property, etc.
- Just starting a new job and still in the probationary period.
- Buying a property that needs a full appraisal.
- Buying a property to rent out as an investor.
- Applying with a low credit score.
Final words
Obtaining approval for a renovation loan Singapore could be a quick and easy procedure or it could take a long time and be complicated, depending on the application you submit and your current financial condition.
Some mortgage lenders advertise that they can approve a home loan in as little as ten minutes, despite the fact that the typical time it takes from the submission of a home loan application to the final approval and settlement of the loan can take between four and six weeks.
