Is Bankwest as terrible as the reviews make it out to be?

Hi folks,

I've been working with a broker and he has been encouraging me to submit a loan application through Bankwest. I found some reviews of Bankwest home loans, and they are almost universally very negative - BankWest Home Loans

Is Bankwest really as terrible as these reviews make it out to be? Why would the broker be encouraging me to apply through them in particular?

Thanks in advance.

 

My guess: your circumstances fit one of their policy niches.

 

Yes they are not all bad. I use them a fair bit too. They have some good rates and good products. Good with construction too.

 

Wouldn't touch them
- bait and switch products
- poor cash out policy

 

Poor servicing, doing anything over 80% is a nightmare.If you have a good broker is probably a niche, but otherwise it could be a rate based recommendation in which case I'd avoid.

 

Cheap rates (a lot of which are introductory rates).

Not a good fit for investors (poor servicing calc and cashout policy).

Cheers

Jamie

 

Good for single income, 1 property applications. For some reason they service a bit more than others at the moment.

 

From a customer perspective, the front line staff are great, but their back end processing is atrocious.

I once had a new offset facility set up. I found out 2 months later they didn't link the offset properly. It took another month to fix. They still got the calculation wrong on the interest they owed me. I had to show the bank how to calculate the interest properly. Wtf?!!!

 

Just am having problems with them right now!

 

Thanks to everyone for your helpful and thoughtful responses.

So here's my specific situation...

Some time ago I had a pre-approval in place from ANZ. Unfortunately that pre-approval lapsed and since then most banks lending policies have changed, as has the financial picture of me and my partner. At present I continue to work with the ANZ "mobile-lender" who handled our past pre-approval, and also decided - on your advice - to consult with a broker. The ANZ lender has an application in our behalf, and is currently suggesting she believes it will be approved, but is not 100% certain. The broker, on the other hand, knows this and has suggested also submitting an application to Bankwest, through him, so that we have a Plan B - just in case ANZ falls through. His explanation for choosing Bankwest is that, according to him, they have more relaxed lending criteria, which may look more favorably on our specific situation.

What my partner and I are worried about is:

• Is there a risk involved in having two loan applications in simultaneously?
• What happens to our credit if one or both of the applications are rejected?
• If Bankwest approves the loan and offer a good rate, is it going to be at the cost of terms which are unfavorable over the longer term (bait and switch, poor service, etc)?
• If ANZ approves the loan is it going to be at the cost of a bad rate, compared to other options?

It's remarkable how complicated this has become in such a short time. It feels like a bit of a minefield, and it's hard to know who to trust at this point.

 

And for those who haven't read my related threads, the big issue here is that previously the banks were happy to consider my overseas income from shares (US companies, US account, USD), while now they aren't, and this is having a huge negative impact on serviceability calculations.

 

Is it a purchase?

If it's not, why not just wait for ANZ to approve/decline and go from there? Is there a rush?

 

Okay folks - so both Bankwest and ANZ have come through for me. Bankwest (through a broker) is offering much better rates than ANZ.

Is ANZ really that much better as to justify the higher rates?

Could someone tell me more about the "poor cashout policy"?

 

haven't you got another thread on this atm? I just replied over there.

Cash out is much easier with ANZ - providing you can service.

What sort of different are you looking at? What discount did ANZ offer?

 

I can offer no insight into your particular dilemma but I can inform you that everyone in Perth calls them WankBest
We are clients of WankBest and they have some rather archaic systems inhouse that drive me batty but don't really apply to you. For example if I open a term deposit I do it in the little office in branch, then the banker has to walk me over to the teller to deposit funds, then we walk back to the office to do more paperwork. When I do this at Westpac everything can be done with the rep in the office and no teller is needed. It's a small gripe but it gets me annoyed everytime that it takes FOREVER to open a simple account or term deposit.

 

You're right Terry. Sorry about that. Let's keep it in this thread, moving forward. I really appreciate your help.

For a variable rate loan, ANZ is offering a 1.2% discount on their Investor ANZ Investor rate which is 5.83%, giving a rate of 4.63%.

Bankwest is offering a rate of 4.29% (not sure what the discount is) for a variable loan (Complete Variable Home Loan).

 

Don't forget you would get a discount once you move in too. How would the rates work out then?

 

what do you mean by "bait and switch"?

 

Recently moved a couple of loans out of Bankwest. Initial rate was competitive, but after 2 yrs intro, my rates was going to be standard variable. We're talking a full SVR no discount.

Was at a branch and they ask me to re-apply for a new product, a full loan application again to switch to a better product. I found this odd, and took the opportunity to re-finance to another bank via one of the broker active on this forum.