Should you stick with the big 4 for refaincing?

Im going to refinance for a better rate , should i go with anyone or the big 4 ?

 

What's the loan to value ratio? Is it owner occupied or investment? Interest Only or principal and interest? What's the loan size?

 

Only if you want to limit your options to the more expensive lenders.

Understand what your goals are and ensure the lender and product matches that.

 

Cheaper elsewhere.

 

Nope...if you have the serviceability try Suncorp...they are conservative...but their rates are super competitive as a new customer and they will also negotiate later on...unlike Suncorp.

Look at Pepper also...they are pretty competitive these days...particularly if you can't service and refinance with a major. Too many brokers putting people into CBA...Resimac...terrible options in my view!

 

There are alot of offers out there and not just the Big 4.

If youre after a good mix of variable, fixed and rebates then yes, probably the big 4.

If your LVR is low and after variable only then banks like Mac Bank are good in this space.

 

Yeah im with cba with a bad rate...

 

You are probably one of the smarter ones...I scratch my head as to why some brokers keep putting people into CBA and some of the other majors...not only are their rates not great...but their response times are shocking!

Two brokers I know are making a killing by writing Pepper and RAMs loans. Their turn around times are less than a week for conditional approvals. People are so rates focused ....its like they have a myopia.

 

Turnaround with majors right now are like 4-5 business days for a vanilla application. With some mainstream being 2-3 days.

Ontop pepper dont offer fixed rates and their variable rates are not any better then the majors

 

It has to be really vanilla with investors much longer

Pepper does offer fixed rates tied to Adelaide bank

 

- not really, had an LMI application approved in 4 business days

- unless you have a different pepper broker portal to mine, I haven't seen a fixed rate on there before, that being said I don't use Pepper much. Rates are good when it's low LVR but there are other bigger lenders that offer the same.

 

Not advertised but there. ...with Pepper.

 

Then you might as well simply use Adelaide Bank. Pepper does carry several disadvantages and risks, but that can be the trade off for serviceability. I do agree with your sentiments regarding the major banks, but there are quite a few good alternatives to be considered before going to the non banks such as Pepper.

 

Yep...if you have serviceability...then other options...I like Suncorp..but they are conservative when it comes to serviceability.

Great to have options...outside of Big 4 ...question is how long?

 

In my experience Suncorp has terrible serviceability. Their customer service seems to run hot an cold, they're notorious for it. They have periods where they have good rates, but never meet the demand. Then they have to wind it back to get on top of things. They're really no better than the majors.

Pepper have their place, but they also have limits on serviceability. They're not constrained by APRA, but they do answer to ASIC who are the overseers of 'Responsible Lending'. They also get their funds from third parties (such as Adelaide Bank). That's usually fine, but it does mean the run the risk of having the tap turned off very quickly. If that occurs you don't want to be owing them anything.

 

That is what they say but I got up to 1.7m with Suncorp! Have not had an issue with their service...very good much better than majors.

As for Pepper pretty much a bank these days...also very good after sales service.

CBA...Resimac would be the ones I worry about.

 

Thoughts on Macquarie ?
They offering 2.59 var IO offset

 

I went with CBA as I didn’t have to pay LMI on a 10% deposit - otherwise I would’ve most likely gone with another bank

(didn’t have to pay LMI due to my qualifications, so not applicable to everyone)

 

More then likely any of the other 3 majors would have offered LMI waiver.

 

The answer to this is case by case - sometimes the majors are cheaper, sometimes not....