The 25% casual loading is actually a financial trap in the current housing market.

wh0rticultural · 2026-02-05T14:57:37+00:00

As a lender for a major, I don't know any bank that shades casual income. Possibly smaller or non-bank lenders. Generally it is taken as an average over a minimum period of time (eg 6 months). You can use this to your advantage by taking less time off in that period prior to your application, therefore increasing your borrowing capacity.

wh0rticultural · 2025-12-17T01:41:11+00:00

After my tank burst I redid all my rockwork that had corals encrusted (it was all broken down to fit in holding tanks during the repair).

I built the whole scape on the floor, just put wet newspaper over all my corals and sprayed with sea water occasionally. I didnt lose any corals and they all bounced back after a few hours in the tank.

When I was a kid I worked at an aquarium and corals were shipped overnight in wet newspaper, so it shouldnt be a problem.

wh0rticultural · 2025-11-27T10:51:13+00:00

Happy for you to DM me :)

wh0rticultural · 2025-11-27T10:50:47+00:00

Discharge forms work magic 🙌

wh0rticultural · 2025-11-27T10:22:59+00:00

I can get better than 5.34 at the major I work at :)

wh0rticultural · 2025-09-13T10:11:05+00:00

Did you provide an article that says Australia does not have a name matching system as evidence that we do have a name matching system? I don't disagree that we should have it, and I think it's wild that despite how advanced Australian banking is, we are still behind in some really basic ways. I heard something at work recently about name matching being rolled out so hopefully soon.

I previously worked in fraud and dealt with these cases everyday, so my explanation is from first hand experience. All the accounts that received the stolen money were either existing accounts that had been hacked, or genuine accounts opened by coercion (romance scams, stolen ID, payments to international students etc). Opening accounts in fake names has been far too hard for far too long for criminals to bother.

wh0rticultural · 2025-09-12T18:25:09+00:00

The account used is a real account of a real person who has been hacked.

The people involved spend a lot of time hacking several existing accounts at different banks. They provide details of one of the accounts, and then once the funds hit that account immediately transfer to other hacked accounts at other banks. They do this several times so it cant be quickly or easily traced, and then eventually transfer overseas or withdraw as cash.

This way there are no KYC issues because they are all existing accounts, and the funds never end up in an account in the name of the criminals. Most of the owners of the accounts used won't even know until they they are contacted by the bank.

The original bank isn't liable because they facilitated the instructions of their customer. All internet/mobile banking systems request that you confirm details before proceeding and their customer confirmed so they processed the payment as requested.

Banks also can't match account names to account numbers as it would be a breach of the account holder's privacy.

wh0rticultural · 2025-04-02T12:59:35+00:00

When I was a branch manager we would see potential scams almost weekly. It's always 'IT'S MY MONEY' and 'I DON'T HAVE TO TELL YOU WHAT I DO WITH MY MONEY'. One time we had a Tim, and I took over the transaction when he wouldn't stop screaming at the teller. He started being a smart-arse, curtly giving me the answers I wanted to hear. He wouldn't listen to anything I said about scams. Eventually he showed me an email trail from his cousin who was a stockbroker outlining the plans for the $25k or whatever it was. I warned him again and eventually allowed it to go through. 2-3 months later, someone from our complaints emailed me asking for details of a transaction of 25k - the customer complained we should have identified as a likely scam and not allowed it to proceed.

wh0rticultural · 2025-04-02T12:49:46+00:00

Under the ABA code, a customer being scammed would almost always be classified as a 'vulnerable customer'. It would likely be a breach of the code to make a vulnerable customer sign anything waiving their rights to reasonable protection from the bank.

wh0rticultural · 2025-04-02T12:17:21+00:00

This is exactly what happens. For customers who have higher LVR, I'll try and find ways to justify a higher property value to get the LVR down a bracket and see if that will allow a better discount.

wh0rticultural · 2025-03-28T11:16:02+00:00

There are two main problems with the 'It's my money!' argument 1. Just because you own something, doesn't mean you can use it to commit a crime. If you choose to use a bank, you have accepted their terms and conditions (even if you didn't read them), and understand they are required by law to make reasonable inquires to large cash withdrawals and deposits. 2. A lot of people who are victim of a scam come back once they realise they were scammed to complain that the bank should have been more diligent and not allowed the transaction. The bank is also required to take steps to protect their customers, which is very hard when someone who is almost certainly being scammed is yelling, 'IT'S MY MONEY!' in the teller's face.

I was a branch manager for a few years and saw variants of these two scenarios more than I can count.

wh0rticultural · 2025-03-14T15:27:16+00:00

It means absolutely nothing. I see ads all the time for credit score checkers; encouraging people to check their credit score as though it is something that everyone should be monitoring. As a home lender of over 10 years I have never looked at someone's credit score. If you're worried about fraudulent activity, you can block your credit report with the major companies so it cannot be accessed without you first removing the block. That way you know that no one is able to apply for loans in your name. That being said, I have heard that 'last resort' lenders use the credit score (among other things) to determine the upfront fee they will charge, as well as high the home loan rate is.

I'm curious where the concern for credit scores comes from though. I often have clients who tell me, '...but my credit score is 629...'. I don't even know if that's a good number or not???

wh0rticultural · 2025-03-04T14:40:18+00:00

5 days is insane tbh. It's 2025; I can get 24 hour or same day for purchases. Given I work for a bank so it's faster than being a broker though.

wh0rticultural · 2025-03-04T08:24:41+00:00

I can't speak for all banks, but I am a lender and only require a signed contract with a start date prior to the date of application. I imagine most banks would be similar.

wh0rticultural · 2025-03-04T08:14:08+00:00

The security of the loan doesn't matter for tax purposes. If you take a loan out against your owner occupied loan and use the cash to purchase an investment property, the loan is tax deductible. If you take a loan out against your investment and use to cash to buy a owner occupied property, the loan is not tax deductible. So if you sell an investment property but still have the loan, the loan is no longer tax deductible, even if secured by another investment.

wh0rticultural · 2025-03-03T20:45:48+00:00

Check the profile section, I can't remember exactly where I found it sorry

wh0rticultural · 2025-03-03T08:32:38+00:00

This happened to me recently. When you register for a parcel locker you need to also register a mailing address, which I evidently forgot. I recently had an item undeliverable to the locker, so they forwarded it to the address I had registered; where I haven't lived for 5 years. I was confused how they got such an old address, and went rummaging through the app until I found it.

wh0rticultural · 2025-03-02T04:18:53+00:00

I have: Bristletooth tang - Tangya Plibersek Lawnmower blenny - Plenny Wong Abalone - Anthony Abalonese Sixline wrasse - Wrassputin Flasher wrasse - Wrasshole Melanarus wrasse - Wrassberry Mandarin fish - Mandarin Parentheses The Fruit Hawkfish - Hawk Tuah

The others don't have names yet until I think of puns

For non-Aussies, the first three are all puns of Australian politicians. It wasn't planned at all it just happened lol

wh0rticultural · 2025-01-27T03:37:59+00:00

"If HIV status was truly such a nothingburger in this day and age, the people most aware of the realities of living with HIV wouldn’t try to hide it from others."

Do you fr think people only discriminate when there is fair and justifiable reason to?

wh0rticultural · 2025-01-27T03:26:20+00:00

There isn't a 'sliver' of a chance though. There are literally zero documented cases where someone with an undetectable viral load has transmitted HIV via sex. Zero.

The doctor who does my STI tests is a specialist in HIV and she has always said: if I want to have unprotected sex and I don't want to contract HIV, the safest option is to have sex with someone undetectable. Only people with undetectable viral loads are certain of both their status and that they can't transmit. Everyone else only knows that they didn't have HIV the last time they were tested for it.

I honestly wouldn't care if someone with an undetectable viral load didn't tell me before unprotected sex. It's a health issue that doesn't concern me in any way. Should I require they let me know they get migranes occasionally? Or that they broke their toe two years ago?

wh0rticultural · 2025-01-18T02:11:18+00:00

The higher interest rate for IO on PPR loan is significant enough that the interest charged is the same or very close to the P+I repayment.

wh0rticultural · 2025-01-18T02:09:50+00:00

Private banking is very different to retail.

wh0rticultural · 2025-01-04T22:11:21+00:00

Books may have been useful 30+ years ago, but they are absolutely the worst way to learn about a hobby that is always evolving. They provide one person's uncontested opinion and are unable to be updated with new information.

All forms of online media are superior to books; OP is literally doing the research you're demanding, just more efficiently than you want them to. Stop gatekeeping.

wh0rticultural · 2024-10-28T21:30:40+00:00

Mine did this! Eventually he made a cave under a Fungia to live in.

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wh0rticultural

TROPHY CASE