Hi Surrealist,

Personally I would say no. THat said, CBA & Westpac have not been as competitive for a little while but smaller lenders, especially 'no name ones' and a lot of credit unions are all bad. And really, if y ou are only talking a few basis poitns why would you bother.
Me? At the moment if I needed a (nother) loan, I would narrow it down to three – being specific here…. it would be on my existing NAB choice package (or I'd get one if I didnt!!), or a NAB base variable loan, or the ANZ Simplicity Plus homeloan. All depends on your needs byt that way you have the flexibility of a proper bank, and very competitive products in the market.  (See if you can find a credit union for example that offers a better no frills loan than a 'Simplicity Plus' one.
And……..unless you can save a good amount (I would suggest you would want to save all your exit/application costs within 18 mths maximum!) never leave for 'principle' – they wont care one bit, and you spent money for nothing. It makes sense if you can be objective.
All the best

Cheers

Hi all,

As far as the deductability of a loan goes (for investment) it is the purpose of the loan, not what it is secured against, that depends whether or not is is tax deductible.

Here is an over simplified example to assist with explaining

EG1

You own a house worth $400k, and have a $100k loan owing on it.
You get a new loan (any loan, Interest only, Principal and interest, fixed.variable, line of credit….) for $200k and use it to go and buy an investment property. You now own your investment property outright (ie no mortgage) and owe $300k against your PPOR. THe interest on your $200k loan is tax deductible, where as on the orignal $100k loan it is not.

EG2

Same scenario, but instead of a new loan for $200k, use get a small loan of $60k against your PPOR. You then take the $60k, and use it as a 20% deposit and purchase/govt/closing costs to buy the new $200k investment property, likely with another lender.
You now have three loans – the new loan against your investment property for $160k ($200k less the 20% you put in) which is deductable debt; you have your new 'small loan' for $60k, secured against your own home, which is deductible debt, and your original non deductible home loan.

EG3

You get another loan against your PPOR for $200k, use $80 k to buy a new car, $20k for an overseas holiday, and give me the other $100k. All secured against your own home, none of it deductible. Even if it was secured against an investment property, it is still not deductible debt – as it was used for non investment purposes.

Being mindful of that puts anyone borrowing in a better position to work out how to use any existing savings and or funds they may have first, as has already been discussed.

Cheers

.

Yes. 

If you 'release it' as a separate loan (such as a line of credit) to do so you pay interest on it, and if you cross secure  your home with the new one to use the equity that way, it means you can borrow the extra $50k against the new home as part of the new loan, (essentially allowing you to borrow 100% of purchase price (inc. deposit)  & costs which again you pay interest on.  In either scenario you have a loan – and thus pay interest.

Cheers

Hi Troy,
As a generalization, if you have the funds, AND can handle making the minimum payments while construction is taking place, the reduced stamp duty on purchase, and the maximum deprecation you can claim on a new place would sway me that way.

Cheers

Hi gmarksnowdon,

You can pretty much insure anything, and minimize or eliminate most risks, but it comes at a price, and with varying conditions. Ie, typical insurance for business people might be key man, buy sell, cash flow, etc, and obvious ones for personal use would include TPD, income protection, and even unemployment cover. I'm assuming you have the obvious and common general insuracne on your assets/property, but other than the usual death cover, have you anything else personally? Sorry if I have misunderstood your question.

CHeers 

Hi Coxy86,

One question I would ask is as you mention that you are cadets, does that mean you are with the Navy (of defence forces) by any chance? If so, is your current PPOR finance done under one of the DHOAS home loans? Depending on this, it would factor into how you could perhaps take advantage of this before rushing into a sell or hold decision – won't go into any other details with that without conifrmation, but in the (recent) past I have had a lot of experience with these DVA subsidised loans.
If not the case, it may be a good idea to sell, to assist with funding the next place – or if you genuinely believe (perhaps talk to some in the area) that you may enjoy some capital growth over the next couple of years, without spending big $ on repairs, while it would be neg geared, may be a good idea to hang onto it and rent as you mentioned.

All the best.

Hi Wender,

And just another 4c worth – at the moment it is important to be in the market in my opinion – so really what I am saying is don't aim too high – if you buy right, and don't rush in just for the sake of it, it is better to buy a $150,000 house somewhere that that has some steady growth potential and does not cost you much to hold, that to try and save a deposit for a much more expensive place, and not ever be able to achieve it. It's all relative. Also, if you are not overly concerned about what state it is in, all states have varying amounts of stmap duty on the purchase price that the govt extorts (bless their little souls) so you may find that is less you have to save up for costs.
All the best – you'll be fine!

Cheers

Yep, JacM is correct – as you can't Bpay a home loan, that would mean it would be treated as a cash advance – which is firstly the worst way to use a credit card other than in emergencies, and as mentioned, does not get you points (but it does in most cases get you paying a higher rate of interest and void your interest free period!)

Cheers

Hey Kat,

Not ignorance at all…….it really come down to what you are planning to do.
In all truth, credit unions and mortgage originators (only maybe for the latter) may be ok for a 'bread and butter' home loan that you never plan on doing anything with other than paying off over 30 years, and never want to invest or purchase a second or subsequent property. Really though, unless that particular organization has a good staff member/loans officer etc working for them at that time (while they are wondering how soon can they get out and work somewhere that they are given some latitude to use their experience) you will not get any helpful advice, you will have to know what you want exactly, and hope they give it to you. 
The majority of credit unions still assess home (and all ) lending manually (ie the loan staff have to write a two page essay based on the personal opinion of what one or two people at the organizations head office require – people with big egos & with no business or investment experience at all –  deem as 'prudent lending – and hoping they got them on a good day) – which while can be handy on the odd occasion, is not as 'objective' as a bank that uses much more efficient and objective lending decision processes.
The problem with mortgage originators, that was not such an issue until the GFC, is that you are totally at the mercy of the loan you have being either onsold to another lender (which usually means higher interest, as they have 'bailed out the mortgage originator') or more volatility in interest rates.
IN the past it may not have been such a big deal, but right now there are a lot of people hurting real bad, or that cannot use their equity as they would like that have lent with places such as this in the past.
Some others may disagree, but bank owned 'other lenders' (thinking Homeside, BankWest etc etc) are not that bad, they often use different policies / mortgage insurers / or suffer in their service levels compared to the major banks themselves – and I guess why shop at ALDI when you can buy name brand stuff for around the same price? (forgive the analogy – but hope you get the idea)

All the best.
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Hi Stevo,

Agree with Terry – stick to a major bank. Have you spoke with your current bank? (whoever that may be) The nab choice pacakge is likely to be one of the best value bank loan packages you will find – especially if you are borrowing over $250k, and have a rewards credit card, and other banking needs – market leading rate too now for quite a while. LMI will need to be included in the loan amount / costs however with the NAB, it is not 'capped' technically.
Run a mile form mortgage managers or originators, and even more so credit unions!

All the best.