SBS Unwind

Why choose a Reverse Equity Mortgage?

• You stay in your own home.
• You can free up some of the money tied up in your home, without having to sell and move on.
• You can use your money however you like.
• There are no regular repayments.
• You can repay your loan in full or in part at any time.
• You (or your estate) repay your loan when you eventually sell your home, or when you and all other Nominated Residents have moved out.

Nominated Residents

Nominated Residents are the people you nominate who live in the property. Nominated Residents can be the home’s owners, or the owner’s spouse or partner. If the house is held under trust, Nominated Residents can be the trust’s beneficiaries or life tenants. 

Each SBS Unwind loan requires at least one Nominated Resident, up to a maximum of two people.

The age and number of Nominated Residents affects the amount you can borrow and when the loan will need to be repaid. For example, you may need to move into care, and your partner chooses to remain in your home. If they are a Nominated Resident, you won’t have to repay the loan until they leave the property as well.

You can change your Nominated Residents, but you must let us know. We may need to reassess your situation to determine whether you have enough equity remaining in your property to do so. We don’t want to leave your new partner to be left in a situation that requires the loan to be repaid after something happens to you, while they are still living in the property.


Loan Repayment Guarantee

Every SBS Unwind loan includes a Loan Repayment Guarantee (also called a “no negative equity guarantee”). It means that if the sale of your home is not enough to repay your loan, SBS will not require you or your estate to repay the shortfall.


Lifetime Occupancy Guarantee

As a Nominated Resident, you can continue to stay in your home for the rest of your life. The loan does not need to be repaid until either:

• The last Nominated Resident moves out of the home.
• The last Nominated Resident passes away.
• The home is sold.

The loan can be repaid from your funds, or from the sale of your home. In the case of a sale, any funds remaining after the full repayment of the loan are paid to you or to your estate.


Equity Protection

Our Equity Protection option helps ensure there will always be some equity remaining in your home. We agree with you on what percentage of your home’s value will remain yours (Protected Equity Percentage), no matter the amount required to repay your loan or movements in the value of the home. This fixed percentage will impact the maximum amount you can borrow.


Age and borrowing restrictions

To be eligible for an SBS Unwind loan, all Nominated Residents must be at least 60 years of age.

The maximum amount you can borrow is based on the age of the youngest Nominated Resident when you take out the loan. You may be eligible to borrow 10% of your home’s value at age 60, up to 30% at age 80, up to a maximum of 50%. 

If you would like to know how much you could potentially borrow, please contact us.


Increasing your loan over time

You may be able to borrow more over time, especially if your property value increases. We can explore this option with you when the time comes. We may need you to pay for a new property valuation, which will help us make a loan approval decision.

If you borrow the maximum amount for your age group when you first take out the loan, you might not be able to increase your loan in the future due to your loan’s compounding interest.


Interest rates and payments

Your SBS Unwind loan is a flexible facility, designed to give you the freedom to draw on as much of your limit as you wish. For this reason it uses a floating interest rate, not a fixed rate. You can see our current rates here.

You can make repayments to your loan at any time.

Unlike a regular home loan, there are no regular repayments for your SBS Unwind loan. Instead, interest is charged monthly and added to your loan balance. The interest added to your loan will then also be charged interest, in addition to the original amount you borrow. This means the loan grows at a faster rate because interest is not repaid as it is incurred. However, provided you meet your loan conditions, the Loan Repayment Guarantee provides the ability to ensure that you never need to pay more than the value of the house.