Customer Stated Living Expense (CSLE)
Broker Information Kit
Overview
What is changing?
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Bankwest currently uses a benchmark Annual Living Expense Allowance to estimate customers
living expenses for the purpose of determining home loan serviceability.
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We will soon begin asking customers to provide us with their actual living expenses for all home
loan applications. This is known as a Customer Stated Living Expense (CSLE).
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The Annual Living Expense Allowance and CSLE figures will be compared, with the higher amount
then being used to calculate serviceability.
What is a Customer Stated Living Expense (CSLE) figure?
The CSLE figure should be the amount of money needed to maintain a reasonable standard of
living and could include, for example, expenses such as food, utilities, transportation, clothing,
utilities, education & health care.
If your customer needs assistance to determine their expenses they can refer to the Bankwest
Budget Planner tool on our website
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Why are we changing?
To ensure Bankwest continues to lend responsibly, we need to take each customers personal
financial situation into account. This includes their actual living expenses, along with other
information such as rent or repayment of existing debt.
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Overview
Do I need to provide any supporting documentation?
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No, this figure will generally not be validated. However, there may be some situations where we
require additional information to ensure we meet our responsible lending obligations, such as if
the living expense figure seems small for the customers situation (eg. $100 per month for a
borrower with a spouse and 5 children).
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To avoid any delay in processing your deal, please proactively provide supporting deal
commentary stating that you have confirmed that figure and it is an accurate reflection of the
customers circumstances.
How do I capture this information?
This differs depending on your lodgement platform:
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 Nextgen Users: Refer to Page 4
 Infinitive Users: Refer to Page 5
 Bankwest Lendnet Users: Refer to Page 6
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NextGen Users
On the Financial Position screen, 3 expense types have been activated:
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 Basic Living Expenses e.g. Groceries; Transport, Utilities, Rates, Clothing
 Discretionary Expenses e.g. Phone (home or mobile); Internet; Pay TV
 Other Household Expenses e.g. Holidays; Entertainment; Gym membership; Cleaning; Gardening
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The Basic Living Expense field is compulsory and a figure must be entered for every application.
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The Discretionary & Other Household expense fields are optional, and can be used if the customer
requires these expenses to maintain a reasonable standard of living.
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The 3 fields will be combined and the total figure used in the NICL serviceability assessment, if it is
higher than the Annual Living Expense Allowance.
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Infinitive Users
On the Expense screen, 3 expense types have been activated:
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 Basic Living Expenses e.g. Groceries; Transport, Utilities, Rates, Clothing
 Discretionary Expenses e.g. Phone (home or mobile); Internet; Pay TV
 Other Living Expenses e.g. Holidays; Entertainment; Gym membership; Cleaning; Gardening
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The Basic Living Expense field is compulsory and a figure must be entered for every application.
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The Discretionary & Other Living expense fields are optional,
and can be used if the customer requires these expenses to
maintain a reasonable standard of living.
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The 3 fields will be combined and the total figure used in the
NICL serviceability assessment, if it is higher than the Annual
Living Expense Allowance.
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Discretionary Expenses
Bankwest Lendnet Users
On the Statement of Position screen, 1 new
expenditure type has been added:
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 Living Expenses e.g. Groceries; Transport, Utilities, Rates,
Clothing; Phone (home or mobile); Internet; Pay TV; Holidays;
Entertainment; Gym membership; Cleaning; Gardening
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The Living Expenses field is compulsory and a figure
must be entered for every application
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This field will be used in the NICL serviceability
assessment, if it is higher than the Annual Living
Expense Allowance.
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When will this change occur?
Bankwest Lendnet Users:
 5th October:
- CSLE fields activated in Bankwest Lendnet
- CSLE fields included in Smart NICL and Excel NICL calculator
- All applications will require a CSLE figure
- Change to serviceability assessment – higher of Annual Living Expense
Allowance or CSLE figure will be used
NextGen and Infinitive Users
 18th September*: - CSLE fields activated in the NextGen 13.09 release
- CSLE fields activated in the Infinitive September release
- All applications submitted via NextGen/Infinitive will require a CSLE figure
- No change to serviceability assessment
 5th October:
- Change to serviceability assessment – higher of Annual Living Expense
Allowance or CSLE figure will be used
- CSLE fields included in Excel NICL calculator
*NOTE: Your broker group may not update to the latest NextGen version on this day. The CSLE fields will become visible and compulsory from
the day your broker group updates.
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Deals in progress & further info
How does this change impact deals already in progress?
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Any deal submitted prior to your lodgement platforms transition date will not require a CSLE figure
to be provided after our serviceability assessment changes on 5th October. These deals will
continue to be assessed based on the Annual Living Expense Allowance.
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If these deals do not proceed prior to 6th April 2014 (6 months from go-live), a new statement of
position, including a CSLE figure, will need to be provided inline with our existing credit policy.
Where can I get further information or assistance?
For further information or assistance please contact your Partnership Manager.
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