Aussiewide Financial Services Geelong
Your Local Geelong Mortgage Broker
Aussiewide sorted out what would have been a disaster on my end
– Zach Tuohy,
Geelong Cats 2022 Premiership Legend
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The backstory
In 2024, Zach and his wife Rebecca decided to renovate their Geelong home. The plan was to refinance the property and release some equity to fund the project.
Zach engaged another mortgage broker to handle the process.
The approval came through, the paperwork was all but signed and Zach’s builder set aside months in his calendar to do the work.
A very public farewell
Around the same time, Zach announced his retirement from the Geelong Cats, and the news ran right across the footy media.
The story clearly reached the lender. With the loan approved but not yet finalised, they pulled out, citing the end of the employment that had been Zach’s main income since 2011.
“They actually said if it was anyone else, it would have been fine. But my retirement was public knowledge, so they couldn’t ignore it.”
“If I’d been in any other job, nobody would have known I was moving on. But my last game at the Cats, there were about 5,000 Zach Tuohy faces in the crowd. It’s a bit of a giveaway that something’s happening.”
EXPERT VIEW
“Employment is a significant part of any loan assessment. And like everyone else, professional athletes are not exempt from scrutiny.”
– Andrew Paterson Senior Finance Consultant, Aussiewide
“Nothing we can do”
Zach went back to the brokerage that had arranged the loan.
“Without even tapping a button on the laptop, they just said there’s nothing we can do. And I kept thinking, there’s a lot of equity here. There has to be something.”
With the builder booked to start in four weeks, Zach made a call he’d been dreading.
“I had to ring my builder and say, mate, I don’t know what to tell you, but this whole thing has fallen through. Just give me a few weeks before you lock another job in.”
No stranger to tricky lending
This wasn’t Zach’s first finance hurdle.
After moving from Ireland in 2009, he couldn’t get an Australian home loan without permanent residency. And he couldn’t get an Irish one while living abroad.
It took him a decade to buy his first home here.
Finding the fix
When the loan fell over, a contact at the footy club referred Zach to Aussiewide.
“I called and said, this has happened, is there any way you can help? Within a few days they had it sorted.”
How Aussiewide made it happen
“As much as we love working with local legends like Zach, the finance fundamentals don’t change. We found a lender that assessed his employment differently, and the deal went through.
– Andrew Paterson Senior Finance Consultant, Aussiewide
From client to ambassador
They genuinely sorted out what would have been a disaster on my end. My previous provider just said no. Aussiewide found a way.”
– Zach Tuohy, Geelong Cats 2022 Premiership Legend
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