A young homebuyer expressed her frustration after revealing the exasperating reason why her borrowing power was affected when applying for a loan from the bank.
Melbourne-based musician Euca broke out in a TikTok video revealing how her HECS-HELP debt had negatively affected her.
“The only problem I have is my bloody HECS debt… I’m told it doesn’t even matter how much HECS debt I have,” he said.
‘It could be $100,000, it could be $5,000 and the issue is exactly the same.
“So now I have to use the savings from my house deposit that I have been saving for years, to pay off my HECS debt and pretty much start again.”
Euca said she didn’t want to buy a house to use as an investment property, revealing she just desperately wanted a place to live.
Melbourne musician Euca broke out in a TikTok video revealing how her HECS-HELP debt had negatively affected her.
“I just want to buy a fucking cheap house in Coffs Harbor (NSW), which isn’t very expensive, it’s actually very affordable (compared to) anywhere else,” he said.
‘Tell me why I now have to pay off $33,000 of my HECS debt so I can essentially have some borrowing power.’
The musician said that even if he paid off $30,000 of his student debt and was left owing $3,000, it would make no difference to his borrowing power.
Euca said she didn’t understand why it was like that, but then she tried to explain it.
“Basically, it’s all because I’m a sole trader,” she said.
‘I still have a normal income and also another job. But since you are a sole trader, the hurdles you need to overcome are different.
‘It has something to do with my specific situation. Does that mean it’s less shit? No.’
She told her followers that she makes “good money” as a wedding singer and DJ and has been doing it for 13 years.
“But it’s not enough because of how all this shit works, because of all the random policies,” he said.
Euca said she will not be held back for not having enough money, revealing that she has enough for a deposit and to make payments.
‘The problem is my bloody HECS debt and that just kills me because they tell you that when you go to university… the impression I got was that I’ll just pay it off on my tax returns… and that’ll be it, (but) no,’ he said.
He went on to explain that your income as a sole trader is also affected by purchases for your career, such as purchasing new equipment, which reduces your profits if you file it as a tax return.
Euca also said that she was advised to pay herself a bi-weekly salary from her earnings as a singer and DJ, which means “transferring the money from my business account to my access account.”
‘Why does it matter? The money still comes into my account (but) apparently it does (matter),’ she said.
Euca revealed that she had been working part-time three days a week when she was suddenly reduced to just one day in November.
He claimed the combination of reduced working hours, HECS-HELP debt and his status as a sole trader affected his chances when he went to the bank.
Many social media users advised him to try another bank or broker, saying they managed to get the loan they were looking for despite having HECS-HELP.
Another commenter asked Euca why she was saving money instead of paying off her student debt.
“Paying off debt first and then saving money is perhaps something people should consider doing,” they said.
His video comes as the Federal Government announced millions of young Australians could pay $1000 less a year on student loans through a “reorganisation” of the HECS-HELP system to make it “fairer and simpler”.
In an impassioned and often rude rant, Euca (pictured) said: “The only problem I have is my bloody HECS debt… I’m told it doesn’t even matter how much HECS debt I have.”
Education Minister Jason Clare flagged the potential change following the publication of the biggest review of the higher education system on Sunday.
The most notable suggestions were to cut HECS-HELP payments and introduce a tiered payment structure where lower-income graduates would pay less.
“For example, if we went this route, it is said that someone with an income of $75,000 a year would pay about $1,000 less each year,” Mr. Clare said.
Euca hopes that changes in the law, which could help her obtain a mortgage, will come sooner rather than later.