Don't forget that employers could be a finance source if they are willing to participate in packaging benefits in lieu of salary to retain their employees The deemed interest rate for a loan to employees is based on the RBA first mortgage over a residential property. This is a top quality secured rate. This applies even to an unsecured loan to an employee with zero credit rating ! The deemed interest rate is set at the end of March each year, so this deemed interest rate will drop to current low values. If the loan is for an income producing purpose, then the FBT for the employer will be zero. Then your salary will only be held down by the costs to the employer, which could be significantly below the costs you could have got your loan for elsewhere. Remember ... your employer is not obliged to salary package (other than superannuation), so don't go marching into his office making demands. There is a significant paperwork overhead for small operators and their finance costs might be high. But for bigger operators, it might be profitable to ask. For employees of finance companies there might be further benefits. THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE, since it all depends on personal circumstances such as employer, marginal tax rate, credit rating, security available etc .... Cheers, Rob
This gets even more attractive if the employer is tax exempt - such as a charitable organisation. If you work for a charitable organisation you can salary package almost anything!
