When I am about to borrow a large sum for a home, I want to know whether I can carry it for years, so I do not put my family into a risk I have not fully counted.

Job context

Who

Someone about to take the largest loan of their life

When

Before signing the loan

Trigger

The bank approving more than expected

Situation

The approved amount is not the sensible amount

Constraints

Rates move and income is not guaranteed

5 Pains

• No idea what level of borrowing is safe for them

  High

  What the bank approves is not the answer.

  Root cause: Limits are computed on current capacity, not on future risk

• A floating rate can rise

  High

  With nobody saying how far.

  Root cause: The introductory rate applies only for the first period

• The terms are not fully understood

  High

  A long contract written for insiders.

  Root cause: Contracts are written for legal tightness rather than for the borrower to understand

• The adviser is also selling the loan

  High

  So the advice leans toward borrowing more.

  Root cause: Loan officers are measured on the amount lent

• The loss-of-income case is not considered

  Medium

  Because nobody wants to think about it at a happy moment.

  Root cause: No step in the process forces the downside to be examined

5 Desired Outcomes

• Know a safe level of borrowing for their situation

  Functional

• Know the payment if rates rise

  Functional

• Understand the terms being signed

  Functional

• Get advice from someone not selling the loan

  Social

• Be confident the downside was counted

  Emotional

5 Existing Solutions

A solution is not the same thing as a product, a customer can hire a behaviour or a workaround too.

• Compare rates across banks

  Behaviour

  What everyone does, comparing the easiest number rather than the risk.

• Use a repayment calculator

  Product

  Gives today's number and does not model income disappearing.

• Ask someone who has borrowed

  Behaviour

  The frankest source, from conditions that have since changed.

• Hire an independent financial adviser

  Service

  Solves the actual problem, and few pay for advice when advice is free elsewhere.

• Borrow less than approved

  Behaviour

  The most effective self-protection, suggested by nobody in the process.

2 Opportunity Gaps

• The only person sitting with the borrower to explain is measured on the amount lent, so all the available advice leans toward borrowing more.

  Why existing solutions fail: Independent advice must charge directly while the bank's is free because it is priced into the interest, so borrowers choose what looks free and pay far more by another route.

  Potential opportunity: A fixed-fee independent review, positioned as an ordinary step before signing.

• Banks measure current capacity to repay because that is what documents can prove, while what decides a twenty-year loan is resilience when circumstances change, which nobody measures.

  Why existing solutions fail: Borrowers read the approved limit as confirmation they can afford it, while it is only the level of risk the bank will accept, two very different things nobody distinguishes at any step.

  Potential opportunity: Showing repayments under adverse scenarios, a rate rise, one income lost, beside the approved limit.