I am looking at options for a home loan and my mortgage broker has recommended the Bankwest Premium Home Loan. I am a first home owner looking to buy a property to live in and then rent out. Ideally, I want an offset loan and want to borrow $250k and under but it might go slightly over $250k. I have over 20% deposit accrued from genuine savigns (no gifts). She recommended Bankwest as their rate is quite low for that loan amount and their offset account fees are only $3.99 per month. I understand from reading the forum that a lot of people are not happy with Bankwest as they are sometimes late in processing the loan applications but she hasn't had a problem with them. Does anyone have any feedback about this loan product and/or can suggest any other alternatives?
Dont mind the product at all and if you can get the deal over the line at Credit level then think it is good alternative.
Just make sure you give your MB plenty of time when it comes to approval and settlement and dont waste time on a pre-approval as with Bank West they are not worth the paper they are written.
For an offset account $3.99 / month is good value for money.
Cheers
Yours in Finance
Richard Taylor | Australia's leading private lender
Thank you for your quick response Richard. I have read a lot of your posts on the board and I'm honoured you have replied to mine!
Absolute pleasure NSW2011.
There are a couple of other alternative lenders you might look at also but i am assuming you are happy with a variable rate with 100% offset over a fixed rate.
Other options which come to mind are AMP (no monthly fees at all on their 100% fully transactional offset account with flexibility to fix a percentage of the loan at no cost with the set up) ING with their Orange product or even if you want to go fixed rate and 100% offset account Adelaide Bank.
Really horses for course but if you are happy with Bank West then product isnt bad.
Personally i would probably look at splitting the loan maybe with a portion of the loan fixed interest only and then the balance variable interest only and link the offset to the variable portion.
Cheers
Yours in Finance
Richard Taylor | Australia's leading private lender
Thank you for your response again Richard. I chose a variable over a fixed loan as my extra repayments may exceed $10k. I know I'm coming from a totally different perspective being an owner-occupier first and then possibly renting it out. I will research those options that you gave to me. Thank you for your advice and your time once again.
With the Adelaide Bank fixed rate loan with 100% offset there is no maximum you can place in the offset account and with the AMP loan all you would do is split the loan so that the variable portion was > $10,000 so that you could deposit as much as you like in the savings account.
Dont get confused over the maximum loan reduction you can make with some lenders fixed rate products which is $10K Per annum as this is totally different to the offset account.
Cheers
Yours in Finance
Richard Taylor | Australia's leading private lender
Hi NSW2011,
I cannot offer you professional advice like Richard can, but I can offer you personal experience with Bankwest with the same product you are looking at.
I applied for the a 100% offset loan to replace the loan I had already. I applied for the loan on the 13th December 2010 and it was only settled on the 8th of March 2011 which is a three month processing time.
Delays were partly due to things like Bankwest not accepting the word "Ltd" on my home insurance property and requiring the full word "Limited", partly due to the fact that the Christmas break was in the middle and partly due to the new responsible lending laws brought in at the beginning of the year which meant they required absolutely HUGE amounts of paperwork proving income. Add into this the fact I work in the family business and it was a real headache of a procedure.
BUT, in my opinion it is worth it. I was originally putting all my extra money into my home loan and paying penalties if I paid off more than was allowed. Plus it cost me to redraw the money if I wanted to invest it in an IP. Now though, it's great to see savings adding up in my offset account that I can use at any time as a deposit on an IP but still save interest on the principle on my PPOR.
IMO the product is worth the wait.
Hope this helps.
SamThank you Richard for your professional feedback and Sam for giving me the benefit of your personal experience. I think I have decided to with the Bankwest product as it sounds ideal for my present and future needs!
have a look at St.George, they are giving a 6.8% interest rate for 1st year and heavy discounts there after.
Kane, the mortgage broker suggested St George as well. I cannot remember why I dismissed it but I've just looked at the rates and the comparison rates seem very high compared to Bankwest.
If you deal with a mobile banker, they can give you good sized discounts, thus the 6.8%.
Have you looked at bank’s packages as you are borrowing $250k you qualify. eg: Nab choice package @ 6.97%?
Ideally I'd like to be under $250k but realistically, I might be slightly over. I think I might have to wait until I find a property instead of applying for a pre approval and as Richard said, the pre approval for Bankwest are not worth the paper they are written on. My mortgage broker implied the same thing in a more diplomatic way! I'll have to think about all this; on one hand, Bankwest has an offset account for $3.99/mth but no credit card inclusion so I'd be paying a fee for that so I have to factor that cost in. The NAB product looks interesting. Thanks for the suggestion Kane!
NSW at 6.97% the NAB product comes with a $395 / Annum package fee.
Dont mind the product at all and use it regularly for clients.
Cheers
Yours in Finance
Richard Taylor | Australia's leading private lender
Richard, yes I saw $395 fee which is why I'm leaning towards the Bankwest product which is quite a simple loan and suits my needs but has the offset account attached for a minimal amount.
Qlds007 wrote:Just make sure you give your MB plenty of time when it comes to approval and settlement and dont waste time on a pre-approval as with Bank West they are not worth the paper they are writtenYep, you can say that again! One of the most frustrating to deal with IMO. Product is fine – the premature greying of hairs when dealing with them is not so fine
Cheers
Jamie
Jamie Moore | Pass Go Home Loans Pty Ltd
http://www.passgo.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeMortgage Broker assisting clients Australia wide Email: [email protected]
Yes, I have no desire to age prematurely. I'm quite proud of my crowning glory
I've spoken to the mortgage broker about this in great depth and mentioned I'd read this on some forums. I could see her laughing at me when I mentioned forums but hey, whatever. I'm dealing with someone at Mortgage House and she said due to the huge volume of loans that are put through them, they are allocated someone from the Bankwest who specifically puts MH loans through and she hasn't had any problems. Yes, I know I've read the comments about MH on the forum but I had to start somewhere and at least my broker has an album full of cards and testimonials.NSW not going to comment on MH per say but i do have a view.
If you wanted someone local to assist you I would have suggested Jamie M who has answered your post and has more than a few testimonals. More importantly he knows his onions.Cheers
Yours in Finance
Richard Taylor | Australia's leading private lender
NSW, I suggest you go with whichever person you are most comfortable with. Not all Mortgage house franchisees are bad. It’s sad some let the group down.
FYI if she refers you directly to a bankwest mobile banker, she will be getting a 0.4% commission for the referral, might be wise to ask for some of it.
All the best for the future
I have very good vibes about my broker, I really like her and I feel comfortable that she has my best interests at heart
Get ANZ Breakfree package with interest of 6.9%. It is quite easy to deal…
I've spoken to the mortgage broker about this in great depth and mentioned I'd read this on some forums. I could see her laughing at me when I mentioned forums but hey, whatever. I'm dealing with someone at Mortgage House and she said due to the huge volume of loans that are put through them, they are allocated someone from the Bankwest who specifically puts MH loans through and she hasn't had any problems. Yes, I know I've read the comments about MH on the forum but I had to start somewhere and at least my broker has an album full of cards and testimonials.
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