Hi, I was just wondering whether anyone has had any experience with Ratebusters Home Loans (http://www.ratebusters.com.au) before? Their interest rates and features seem to be one of the best in the market at the moment, supported by cannex, infochoice and yourmortgage as well. I did find another company offering a lower interest rate (Advantage Finance – Choices Rate Reducer), but no offset account available. We've done a bit of research and compared a few best home loans available, but it gets to a point where we need to analyze them in great detail and kind of worried if it ended up being the wrong one.
FYI, my fiance and I are looking to purchase my dad's house to live in after we get married by the end of this year. The market value of the house is approx $600k, but we've been paying my dad for years just to reduce the principal so we didn't have to put up with interest charges then. But now since we're getting married, my dad wants the full amount and thus we need a home loan from a good lender, not really fuss if it's bank or non-bank, as long as they have a good reputation. Hence my initial query about ratebusters.
Anyway, after heaps of negotiation
, we managed reduce the price slightly and dad agreed that we could purchase it for approx $400k. So stamp duty shouldnt be an issue here in WA, and I should be eligible for FHOG. Both of our income is approx $100k in total, with $30k cash and $20k in mgt funds. Current debts inc $10k limit credit cards, and a car loan of $20k remaining. We're looking for a home loan that has a low interest rate (preferrably below 7%) with additional repayment and redraw facility, plus an offset account and internet access etc. If we couldn't decide soon, we might be looking to meet a few MBs maybe in June/July and see whether there are any better options for us.Any advice will be appreciated.
Cheers
PS: Our apology if this is not really related to IP query, but we searched around and still could not find any forum for just home loans
Hi winvin23,
If you're looking for interest rates less than 7% ongoing you won't have much to look at. I know the Advantage Finance product (it's a wholesale lender called Challengers loan) & is worth considering. It does not have a 100% offset but who needs a 100% offset if you can pay extra into the loan, redraw any extra amount for no fee & see the results on the internet for no cost.
I know the people behind the Ratebusters product but have had no experience with their loan. Again, it would be a wholesale lenders product. You just need to compare the interest rates & fees including early repayment fees and get hard facts about access to the loan.
You will have an issue with the favourable purchase aspect to the loan. In the past Challenger has been ok with this. You would need to clarify Ratebusters policy – not all lenders will give you credit for paying less than the current market value & charge you lenders mortgage insurance needlessly.
Hi winvin23,
I am not sure whether you are still looking at feedback re Ratebusters, but I have just settled a loan with them and they have been fantastic.
I looked at a few others and contacted Loan Australia and Advantage but they took forever to come back to me – and when they did it was a telemarketer – not a consultant.
I got straight through to a Consultant at Ratebsuters and they helped me straight away.
I dealt with that one person all the way through the whole process and they were fantastic. They knew their stuff and made the process really easy to work through.
I now have a great mortgage with a low rate of 6.9% which has a 100% offset account with NO ACCOUNT KEEPING fees.
Also included was a debit card and a a great internet banking siteAs you can tell, I am very happy with them and have referred friends and relatives to them
I hope that you will have the same experience
Cheers
Peter
Hi Peter
Good to hear.
What are the early repayment fees for say the first 5 years.
Richard Taylor | Australia's leading private lender
Hello
I have used RateBusters for 3 separate loans, my home and 2 investment properties. The service was very good and the internet banking site and the offset accout are great features. HOWEVER their break costs are very high. If I pay out our cheapest IP loan within 5 years we are looking at at least $2000 in break costs.
I have decided against using them for our recent purchases as I need the flexibility to refinance without the high expense. As the loan you are looking at is for you PPOR this factor may not be as important to you.
Best wishes
Lisa
Thanks Lisa interesting to know.
Also as a securitised lender every loan is mortgage insured which will also restrict your future investing.
Richard Taylor | Australia's leading private lender
Hi, I have been using Rate Busters for a year and am very happy wit h them. Their free 1800 number is useful and their service is great.However their break costs is high.I believe they are based in SA. Hope that helps
Check out CBA privilege package payin only 6.04 100per cent off set, no monthly fee, 700 penalty if i pay off mortgage in the first 5 or 7 years not sure exactly, varaible rate
When dealing with the big 4 banks ask for a discount, works every time.
Eldredni
Most of the Pro packs offered by the majors offer the same benefits in fact the CBA one is probably the worst one of the Big 4.
And on the discount front i think the days of getting a further discount off what is being offered has probably been and gone unless you are a large client. 6 months ago I would have agreed with you but not now.
Richard Taylor | Australia's leading private lender
I was seriously looking to sign up with ratebusters a few years ago; lucky I didn't.
Because much later I found out on other forums on how rateBusters adjust their variable rate loans.It seems, according to forum posts, the rate you see on their web site are for new customers only. Once you sign up, you are no longer new customer. So for the first few months, you pay the same rate as 'new customer'. Then after a while, you will be paying slightly higher rate than 'new customer'. As time goes on, you will be paying a lot higher than the 'new customer' rate as shown on their web site.
Just to be clear, the rate rise are nothing to do with reserve bank rate raise. For example, when reserve bank raise by 0.25%, the 'new customer' rate goes up by 0.25%, and the 'old customer' also goes up by 0.25%. But once in a while, 'old customer' rate will go up while the 'new customer' stay the same.
Though I think they may time the increase to coincide with reserve bank raise, so something like 0.25% for new, and 0.35% for old.
Another lender, 'myRate' also do this. You can google it, I found a lot of people complaining on the web.
… maybe safer with big 4. Though I think rate buster and myRate are still cheaper…i would go see a few different brokers and see what they can offer..
whoper123 wrote:I was seriously looking to sign up with ratebusters a few years ago; lucky I didn't.
Because much later I found out on other forums on how rateBusters adjust their variable rate loans.It seems, according to forum posts, the rate you see on their web site are for new customers only. Once you sign up, you are no longer new customer. So for the first few months, you pay the same rate as 'new customer'. Then after a while, you will be paying slightly higher rate than 'new customer'. As time goes on, you will be paying a lot higher than the 'new customer' rate as shown on their web site.
Just to be clear, the rate rise are nothing to do with reserve bank rate raise. For example, when reserve bank raise by 0.25%, the 'new customer' rate goes up by 0.25%, and the 'old customer' also goes up by 0.25%. But once in a while, 'old customer' rate will go up while the 'new customer' stay the same.
Though I think they may time the increase to coincide with reserve bank raise, so something like 0.25% for new, and 0.35% for old.
Another lender, 'myRate' also do this. You can google it, I found a lot of people complaining on the web.
… maybe safer with big 4. Though I think rate buster and myRate are still cheaper…This guy speaks the truth. I would never recommend Ratebusters to anyone. I am currently paying a higher rate than what is listed on there web page and there is nothing I can do about it, 4 years into the loan and it will still cost my 3k+ in break costs if I want to refinance.
My rates seemed great when I signed up but consistently they went up higher the big 4 banks rates when the RBA raised rates and dropped less the the Big 4 when the RBA lowered rates. I remember my rates going up by .5% or .6% after a .25% RBA rise, and the Big 4 banks only raised there rates by .3%
Google "Ratebusters" there are a few threads or the first 1 or 2 pages with negative experiences about them.
Ratebusters? Avoid them like the plague. As others have observed, the advertised rate applies only to new customers: after you've been with them a couple of months, they increase your interest rate (significantly over and above RBA increases) so that there is no connection between the advertised rate and the rate you're paying.
When challenged about this, their attitude is one of absolute contempt – indeed, they seemed amused about it all – and said, "if you're not happy, then leave." But, and it is a big "but", the exit fees are outrageous, so they effectively have you locked in for 5 years.
Give Ratebusters a big miss. There are other, better alternatives out there.
, we managed reduce the price slightly and dad agreed that we could purchase it for approx $400k. So stamp duty shouldnt be an issue here in WA, and I should be eligible for FHOG. Both of our income is approx $100k in total, with $30k cash and $20k in mgt funds. Current debts inc $10k limit credit cards, and a car loan of $20k remaining. We're looking for a home loan that has a low interest rate (preferrably below 7%) with additional repayment and redraw facility, plus an offset account and internet access etc. If we couldn't decide soon, we might be looking to meet a few MBs maybe in June/July and see whether there are any better options for us.
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