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.