Hi Rocket6,

I've been with Westpac for nearly a year now and have been impressed with the customer service. I have both an owner occupied and investment loan with them. The $4,000 - 5,000 cashback helped offset the break fees on our fixed rate when we swapped from Bankwest to Westpac.

I liked Bankwest as well but make sure you're happy to do everything online as there are minimal physical branches.

I've been with Suncorp and was not particularly impressed as the variable rate our broker fought hard for was upped just a month after our loans started; of course this may have been standard across all banks at the time. I won't touch Suncorp for any of my insurance needs but that's a different story.

I tend to favour variable rates over fixed. I was once told "you and I can't outsmart the banks" so if the bank is offering you a low fixed rate vs variable or vice versa it's probably because they see it working out best for them. Fixed also come with break fees that can get costly; however, they can be particularly useful for investment properties if you want assurance that your repayments will be the same every month for x number of years.

If you're looking at using a broker they can be great but be careful who you choose. I've used Aussie twice now and have not been impressed. The first time I nearly lost out on the property because they were so slow. Our broker asked us to get a week extension twice in addition to the 2 weeks building and pest and finance. It wasn't until I threatened to get a new broker who could finalise everything in 2 days that they "magically" sorted everything out. My second experience with Aussie (different broker) I was gently pushed into a fixed rate despite wanting variable. They also ghosted me when reached out to them a year later wanting a new variable loan.

Just looked, my hut is 2.7% with Commbank and investmenet loans are at 3.2% Have a call with my "personal banker" (which is just bank BS for I have a a bunch of debt with them and they want to retain it) on Thursday, it will be a point for disussion.

Like CanadianAussie I used Aussie years ago and the experience was vanilla. I recommend an experienced broker, one who can discuss your requirements and look at the market for the best option. They also know process which saved my bacon on one purchase when something went wrong and I was overseas.

Have a look on the propertychat.com.au "Loans & Mortgage Brokers" forum, they hang out there. I talked to a couple before selecting the one I have now used for years.

Something that may sound unusual, I live on the east coast, my broker, in WA. Having them available for a couple of extra hours a day has also been really beneficial.    

While I am on a roll, conveyancers are also worth their weight in gold. I used a bargain one for my first purchase, and would never again.   

Hi Barney,

What was the disadvantage to using a bargain conveyancer? Any suggestions on what to look for?

Hi Rocket6,

My first loans were with large banks ANZ and then Commonwealth utilising their professional packages. The basics these offer a 0.7-0.8% discount off the variable rate with an annual fee of approx $300 for the package which included a higher rewards credit card etc. I was rather young with no negotiation skills and the loans were rather small <300k.

As my investment debt grew I started to negotiate with the banks and achieved 1.2% discount with Commbank.

When I bought my family home I also tried Aussie and although my experience was similar to the previous comments in that it was slow and felt rather packaged and retail they managed a 1.8% discount, again with Commbank. I think they also offered a free i-pad or johnnie walker blue label from memory.

Nowadays I normally utilise a fixed rate option for the most part, with a variable option that’s equal to or slightly laregr than my held or projected cash on hand for the 2-3 year period with an off-set account, but that’s a  personal preference and works best for my situation.

I managed to negotiate with my last broker a deal where he provided 40-50% of the initial bonus payment as a cash back offer to me. I did this twice and resulted in 4 and 5k cash back each time. I've also negotiated this directly with the institution currently being ING and normally review my loan every 2-3 years once the claw back period for the lender or broker or the fixed rate period has ended.

Cash back scenarios seem to be what the large banks are now offering and I will be refinancing again early next year once my fixed term has expired or is about to expire. I normally approach the current lender to save on reapplications and to provide them the opportunity to keep me as a customer which is what ING managed for me last time whilst significantly reducing my rates and I will afford them the same curtesy.

Normally if there's no cash back on the table I will go back to my usual broker, find the best deal, do a deal with him on a cash back agreement and go through the pain of reapplying....something I hate doing but for a better rate and cash in the hand, there's worst things I do for less return.

Shit I follow the West Tigers….there’s a great example!

Anyway, ING having no accessible branch doesn’t cause me any issues as I utilize Commbank for all my other accounts and utilize their branches and transfer across if and when required. Given most my transactions are online these days the lack of a physical branch is not really an issue for me but maybe for some and something to think about if a similar institution comes back as being the best home loan provider.

Lastly thanks for the post, CanadianAussie mentioned utilizing the cash back to pay for the break fees on an existing loan. Makes me think I might review now given rates are so low and see if a compromise is on offer.

NO PHYSICAL ADDRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My experience CA, poor timing and uncontactable. I also nearly lost a purchase due to an online deal of $750 I think it was. I had to become a detective and found the guy in a small 2x3 office in north Sydney and virtually stand over him to sort things out that day after weeks of failed promises and no replies. He was more interested in that i actually found him compared to the actual critical task at hand. I even received logs of contact attempts from the seller’s solicitor to prove mine was a DUD.

$1800-2k I think I pad last time for a solicitor in Mascot and it was worth every penny.

https://www.athena.com.au/
 

Rate depend on if you are owner occupied vs investor and what LVR you need. 
However range from 1.99%  for Owner with LVR <60>30 year terms offered (and I'm 54!)

 good service, can access all your accounts online which makes verification of costs and earnings a whole bunch easier  

No fees or hidden costs which makes a refreshing change. 

also looked at U bank which also offers great rates. 
Edit. All rates quoted are variable

For those looking at getting a better rate, it's also worth looking at where your money is going. The big four banks continue to fund fossil fuels.

We are in the process of refinancing from Westpac to Bendigo bank. We are getting a 1.99% fixed rate for 2 years with offset and $1500 cash back. 

bave a look at the market forces website to see each of the banks environmental impacts.

https://www.marketforces.org.au/campaigns/banks/
 

Note: we are also in the process of moving our superannuation to Australian Ethitical... and a bonus, my wife found extra funds from the switchover.

Most of the bargain ones are sweat shops of paralegals in a volume game (the market has become a race to the bottom with fees) with a single lawyer that puts their stamp on things. Paralegals or the other option being, licenced conveyancers who operate within a limited scope.

Once a licenced conveyancer strays outside of their scope, their insurance may be invalidated. My conveyancer told me if he gets something wrong goes wrong you can sue me, great, except at what cost and at what compensation if there is no insurance.

There are some services that can only be performed by a lawyer 

In the case of conveyancers, you get what you pay for, even though you may not need a lawyer, the time when you do...

Bargain conveyancers are fine when nothing goes wrong and it's a smooth transaction. 

If significant issues arise, the bargain basement conveyancers then palm it back to you to find somebody who is going to be paid enough to sort it out. The more costly ones will at least refer you on.

Lesson learned during a purchase some years ago - there was a major screw up with council certificates, with one issued incorrectly showing that the property was not encumbered by any easements, when in fact it had a fairly significant drainage easement. We had a full service solicitor, and the other party had a bargain conveyancer who basically dropped the ball and left it to the seller to sort out. Took an extra three months to complete the sale.

That would have been a nightmare if you needed the transaction completed by a certain date.