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Loans.com.au Variable Home Loan 3.98% (4.00% Comparison)

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Hey guys today the RBA dropped its cash rate from 2.25% to 2%, a record low for the nation. Loans.com.au followed up with a 0.25% cut to their home loans. Now their dream home loan essentials(variable) home loan rate is an awesome 3.98%!!!! This is the lowest rate on the market at the moment.

Note that you need at least 20% deposit to be eligible for this home loan.

$0 application fees
$0 monthly/annual fees
$300 settlement fees
edit: thanks to tg, other fees also include
$220.00 - valuation fee
$162.90 - discharge of mortgage (vendor will pay this to you)
$932.90 - transfer fee
$162.90 - registration of mortgage

Also their offset variable is now 4.02%/4.04% (10% deposit at least) https://www.loans.com.au/home-loans/dream-loan-offset-variab…
3 years fixed now 4.29%/4.10% https://www.loans.com.au/home-loans/dream-loan-fixed
Construction now 4.49%/4.07% https://www.loans.com.au/home-loans/dream-loan-construction

Referral Links

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Referrer and referee get $1000 cash after referee settles loan.

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closed Comments

  • +4

    $0 application fees
    $0 monthly/annual fees
    $300 settlement fees

    They also charge
    $220.00 - valuation fee
    $162.90 - discharge of mortgage (vendor will pay this to you)
    $932.00 - transfer fee
    $162.90 - registration of mortgage

    • thanks :) edited my post

      • +2

        Sorry, it is $932.90 for transfer fee

        • Hey tg where did you get these rates from? I actually need it for an assignment so need the exact details. Thanks heaps :)

        • @abhii101:
          You can get it from OSR website of each state.
          I found that the following page can calculate for all states
          http://www.realestate.com.au/blog/stamp-duty-calculator/

          I made a mistake in my previous post. The transfer fee should be state and purchase price dependent.

    • This is wrong.

      • Maybe the following are correct?

        Lender charges valuation on behalf of valuers.
        Lender charges government charges on behalf of government.

        Buyer incurs valuation fees, settlement fee, transfer fee and registration of mortgage fee.
        Vendor incurs discharge of mortgage fee.

        • +2

          The point being transfer fees and registration of mortgage fees are the same regardless of lender so not worth mentioning.

        • @bulla3:
          You can get it from OSR website of each state.
          I found that the following page can calculate for all states
          http://www.realestate.com.au/blog/stamp-duty-calculator/

          I made a mistake in my previous post. The transfer fee should be state and purchase price dependent.

    • +2

      That transfer fee looks like it is based in Queensland, that fee increases/decreases depending on the value of the property.

      In NSW the Transfer is $214 irresptive of the property value, Discharge of Mortgage is $107 and $107 for the registration of the new mortgage.

      In Victoria the Transfer fee is $135.20 plus $2.46 for every $1000 with a maximum fee of $1366.00. Discharge and lodgement of Mortgage is $111.00.

      Can't comment re other states/territories.

    • Just checked with Loans.com.au

      They don't have a transfer fee

      • I'm just guessing but I think they are talking about a government fee. Like stamp duty or mortgage registration fee.

      • Put it this way, the transfer fee is government charge and loans.com.au will deduct transfer fee from the loan they are going to lend you.
        Let's say if you got $300,000 approved, you will only have ($300,000 - transfer fee - mortgage discharge fee - mortgage registration fee - settlement fee) to go towards the purchase price.

  • Wow …look at that transfer fee.

  • +9

    Registration of mortgage and transfer fees are government charges. Transfer fees depends on the purchase price of a property. Nothing to do with the lender.

  • Pay with your credit card:
    - $220 valuation fee

    Deduct from your loan balance:
    - $300.00 settlement
    - $162.90 discharge of mortgage
    - $932.90 transfer
    - $162.90 register of mortgage

    $300 covers the fee they pay the agent to attend settlement on their behalf and also "unlimited" bank cheques.

  • +2

    I wish there was a propertybargain.com website for the property market ! Moved up to Gold Coast to live the dream but the bargain hunter in me can't settle on anything unless I know its a good deal :)

    • +2

      If there was such web site, buyer agents would be the first ones to try to shut it down.

  • Please note that an "automatic" credit check will be done upon your application, regardless you are pretty certain you can go ahead or not.
    Whereas other lenders might be ok to do credit check after verifying all your details and valuation is ok.

  • +1

    just checked my variable loan with them and its 4.29 %

    I wonder how long they take to pass it on to existing loans compared to getting a new one?

    • +4

      If you're on the earlier 'ratetracker' product, full reduction will be in place next business day.
      If you've got a newer product, it is ~1-2 wks
      Still much better than other financial institutions that apply the reduced rate after a month…

    • Been with them for almost 3 years. I'm on 4.51% and have an annual fee.
      They don't always pass these rate changes on. So I think it's similar to the other banks with their "intro" rates.

    • +1

      I'm on the dream essentials and at 4.29%. I called them up and they said that new rates will be announced in the next few days for existing packages.

    • still on 4.29…………….

    • The 0.25% rate cut takes effect 25 May

  • These guys were incredibly douchey to deal with for me personally. If buying or re-financing make sure the place is perfect or skip these pricks altogether.

    • +1

      can you explain ? I am new to all of this all together,

      • +4

        These guys only take on high quality customers. The would only take on low LVR customers and there may be other tick boxes like dual income or high income. Fulltime jobs, stuff like that. They have an awesome rate but you can only get in on it if you are a low risk customer. Some people cant understand/handle this.

        • thanks for taking the time to reply.

        • +7

          These guys only take on high quality customers

          I guess that's the reason they are able to offer such a good deal.

        • They should have been a little more up-front with me. They basically convinced me to do all my renovations using credit card funds, with the promise that they'd give me finance once the value of the house reaches 'X' amount.
          So I wasted a fortune (on credit!) re-painting, re-plastering, etc, just to get the value high enough for them to approve me. Well once I got valued at the proposed amount, they STILL rejected it.
          Luckily I ended up managing to get finance with ANZ, but Loans.com.au totally screwed me.

          The annoying thing was that if I'd used a different lender from the start, I could have spent my money on new renovations from the beginning, rather than having to tart up old stuff that was only going to be ripped out later.
          Convincing me to spend $15-20k out of savings and credit cards with the lure of a cheap home loan, then denying me the loan once the conditions were met, is incredibly unethical. Luckily it didn't bankrupt me.

        • @tazmaniak: unless the value of the property increase was more than the amount put on your credit card it was never going to improve your chance of approval.
          Also if it was close to bankrupting you, again you wouldn't be the client they want.

        • +1

          @Slo20:

          You'd be surprised - The house increased in value by over $30k, for around $15k in expenditure.
          The bigger issue is the massive waste of time. The loan was relatively safe: $130k @ below 0.8LVR.
          I didn't need to borrow much, and in hindsight I should have just gone to a broker like the last couple times before that.
          You realise you get what you pay for - but if a customer meets the conditions the company sets and agrees upon, then the company should proceed with the service. Otherwise it's basically a breach of contract.

          It's not like I was risky client - 9 years fulltime employment on a decent wage with perfect repayment and credit history. They just didn't like that one wall was clad in blueboard awaiting rendering. Wtf.

          Meh, past history now.

    • LOL. These days banks are very soft :-) Check this guys: http://whrl.pl/ReifRv

  • +1

    ubank service has been heaps good so far for my refinance

  • +2

    been with them for almost 2 years now and i can report that i am a very happy home-owner thanks to loans.com.au

    • +1

      3 years for me and ditto

      • What rate are you (and brucebruce) currently on? Have you called them to negotiate better rates?

        • +1

          When I joined over 3 years ago, my rate was guaranteed to change by the exact percentage of any changes to the official interest rate. Once the 3 year finished, my rate increased to 4.27%. After today's rate cut I am now on 4.02%.

          I haven't tried to get better rates.

        • @heal: For me it's nearly a year. I'm really happy with them. Last time when the rate was cut, they passed on the full cut. I hope they will be doing the same thing this time as well.

  • I have been with loans.com.au for about 2 years now, I was a bit skeptical in the beginning but these guys are wonderful, when you call you will get in touch with a real person quickly, they are good to resolved your issues, they resolved a refund issue like 'No worries we will do it" and they did it. also I love my 100% offset account with ATM cards for me and my wife that we could use on a number of bank branches without any charges, very good online website, they also brought down the rates when they were changed… I would highly recommend them . I paid the fee in the beginning which was about $600 in total (which was still lower than a number of banks) and have saved heaps in the last two years

  • i assume the 3.98% won't apply for refinance??
    (going by my not seeing the option, or it mentioned, on the website 'am i elligible' function.)

    • +1

      I think you will find it Is available for refinance (but this is the rate without an offset option).

      My loan just settled 2 weeks ago (4.27% with 100% offset On refinance). This will drop to 4.02% next week.

      • How much paper work to refinance?

        • +1

          Same as any broker would do (but easier than UBank). Payslips, bank statements, passport photo copies.

          I had it all collated in a few hours

      • Why do you need offset? Redraw should work just fine? Plus, aren't you afraid that FirstMac is not a member of deposit guarantee scheme

  • Does anyone know what fees would still be/not be applicable for refinance/transferring loan?

    • +1

      Would other banks ever match their loans to this if you requested/threatened to leave?

      • no they cant as its a non bank lender. they will just give you the best discount they can after going perhaps one up the chain past the lending manager and that's it.

        they can never match it, all they will do is try and then give you a spiel about how you can come into the branch etc if you have problems which you cant do with an "online lender"

        your looking at 22-25 basis points off loans with the big 4 and others in my own experience. (after haggling with them)

        CBA is not even passing on the full 25 only 0.20 percentage points to 5.45 per cent
        http://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/cba-fails…

        so that would require a 1.47% discount to match loans.

      • never hurt to try. i did n banks didnt want to beat them.

        for those who asked about loans.com, doco process is long n slowwww. delays here n there.
        but once settled and setup it's all smooth n easy.
        i hope it stays like this.

        • +2

          Agreed. I contacted my premium CBA banker and asked if she could do a better deal on my current loan. 48hrs later, rate dropped by 0.15%. Two sentences in an email is now saving me $1500 annually. Might try again in a few months! ;)

    • same fees apply.but u may need to pay exit fees with ur current lender if u r refinancing.
      i moved from ubank 2 loans.com. had no exit fees.

  • Can i get this rate if i only borrow 450000?

    • yes. just need the 10 or 20 % deposit.

      • +4

        -only- borrow nearly half a million? what a strange world we live in.

  • +1

    already with em, yay!
    they're ace btw

  • +1

    Pretty happy with them. Huge hassle during the intial establishment - lots of documents to fill out. But once the loan is set up, it is real dollar saving.
    Particularly good if the loan is for a investment property. The repayment can be drawn from your main account with a bank, saving you from using their banking system.

  • are there any tricks in these sort of contracts to look out for ? i'm very new to this sort of stuff and it's far from any training i've had, an alien would have a better chance at understanding

    • my understanding is that loans.com.au is not an authorised deposit taking institution. what this means is that if the company goes belly up and onsells it's debt, it can/will utilise any excess funds in your account (ie offset) before onselling it. Whereas for a ADTI, your deposits/credits are protected by the government up to 250k

      can anyone correct me on this?

      • Is UBank a ADTI ?

    • +1

      I guess one of the risks is that they have the title over your home and if company goes broke, you'll need to somehow find a way to get that title back, or you won't be able to sell/re-mortgage the property.

      As they have security over your house, unless there are special rules in place, it may be a while by the time administrators sort through all the creditors and debtors and communicate their findings.

      Maybe lawyers on here can clarify if there are any "consumer" protection laws to protect your house in case of a collapse, because normally administrators have to dispose of all assets to settle company's creditors.

      • This is some pretty serious fine print! I wouldn't want to gamble my property even if the risks are low.

      • +1

        This gives the wrong idea: the rules of the mortgage won't change even if your lender goes bust. They can't force you to pay up or sell your house. You can still sell your house whenever you want and pay out the mortgage in full if you want.

        It may affect your offset account though (in the sense that you may not be able to withdraw more)

  • +1

    These guys are incredibly notorious for low home valuations. Be prepared to pay the $220 valuation fee even if your home is undervalued and the loan does not proceed. My home was valued at $350,000 despite the next lender being at $485,000. Waste of time dealing with these guys!

    • +2

      Had this problem also, very similar amounts, ended up finding an independent valuer and which banks accepted their valuation then applied through those.

    • Yeah they valued mine incredibly low - below even the biggest dump that was for sale at the time, despite being an ok 3 br house in a decent suburb. Even the local government valuation was higher, which are generally lower than market value.

    • +1

      Another proof how good they are! Obviously they are not Freddie Mac and Fanny May

    • In my case, in the application form i mentioned estimated value as 475,000 but the valuation came up as 515,000.

      • Same here. I mentioned $370,000 (price I brought for) they are the first bank to send a person to come in and do the valuation and it came out at $420,000

    • +1

      Lenders use the same panel of valuers, the problem is not with the lender it's a problem with the panel of valuers http://www.about-investment-property.com/property-valuation.…

      It is not possible for a lender to be "notoriously for low home valuations" you could have ended up with the exact same person doing your valuation if you went with any of the Big 4.

  • I just refinanced with them, the process was quick and smooth and the valuation was 50K higher than 3 years ago, however…

    not happy with the way they calculate weekly payment. I signed up to pay weekly and make weekly payments but they actually calculate it monthly, then divided it by 4. So my weekly payment is a bit more than what it should be. Anybody else experiencing this? Is there an Australian standard for calculating payment or the loan providers can make up their own method?

    • If i pay interest only.. Is this a big issue for paying weekly?

      52 weeks per year..

    • +1

      not happy with the way they calculate weekly payment

      You're still only paying the same amount of interest though regardless of the number of 'weekly' payments you're making, so although your payments are slightly higher than they would have been, the extra would be reducing your principal faster.

    • This frustrated me so much when the mortgage broker I was speaking to did this, dividing by 4. Its not that hard to mutiply by 12, then divide by 52. Dividing by 4 means your payments are 8% per year higher.

      Does that just mean you are paying off more principal than required?

      • yes. youre essentially making 13 monthly payments in a year.

        • But that's good - you pay less interest and pay out your loan faster!

    • That's pretty standard.

  • I read some time ago that perhaps they don't lower rates by the same proportion for existing customers, thus leaving them paying higher rates than new customers. Anyone with experience with this?

  • Also with them. They've been good so far.

  • +2

    Wish ubank lowered their rates too!

  • +1

    Transfer fee and registration fee depends on state.
    In VIC, the registration and discharge fee is $111.
    The transfer fee is $1366.
    Stamp duty depends on property value.

    Check your state here
    http://www.domain.com.au/blog/guide/guide-to-hidden-home-buy…

    As pointed out by others it is a compulsory fee no matter where you take the loan, so not really relevant to the deal.

    • +1

      Really? I just did a transfer from CBA to Westpac. Certain I did not pay the transfer fee. Just the reg and discharge fee. Will check paperwork, but don't think I paid more than $400~ in fees..

      • You are right. Transfer fee and stamp duty is for time of purchase only.
        So both are not relevant to this deal.

      • Transfer fees apply to purchases

  • +1

    is it worth going through a mortgage broker or go directly with loans.com.au? i need to apply for a loan soon and hence need to find out. thanks!

    • +1

      Definitely no need for a broker with loans.com.au

      Everything is online and over the phone and their deals are as good as they get. There's nothing to negotiate

  • -1

    honestly for first home buyers with 20% deposit saved up, by all mean go with loan.com.au..if not, avoid like a plague, cuz you WILL lose the $220 valuation fee!

  • +1

    So I am transferring and refinancing a loan, currently with CBA. I have approval from loans.com.au (already got my $220 valuation) and approval from Ubank. I was leaning towards ubank as they are backed by NAB who is under the Deposit taking institution thing on APRA. Does anyone know if Ubank is passing on the cut. If it isn't I might just go with loans.com.au and not keep an offset at all.

    • +3

      Speaking from experience, always good idea to have offset, especially if you're young & able working.

      • +1

        I agree, but and its a big but (not the kind sir mix a lot likes) loans.com.au is not a registered ADI. Here is the response I got from APRA.

        "The role of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is to regulate authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) such as banks, credit unions and building societies and insurance companies, some superannuation funds, and friendly societies in order to promote the prudent management of those financial institutions.

        Firstmac is not regulated by APRA and it is not an authorised deposit-taking institution.

        The Financial Claims Scheme (FCS) is the mechanism through which deposits with Australian authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) are protected. The FCS is designed to protect account-holders of an insolvent ADI from any loss on their deposits, and to provide them with timely access to those deposits, up to the maximum amount payable under the FCS (FCS limit). The FCS covers account-holders up to a maximum of $250,000 per account-holder, per institution".

        Hence if first mac was to go belly up as mentioned by alebox, any money in your offset is gone, and ur back of the creditors line in the liquidation process.
        Ubank dosent offer offset, except it's unlimited redraw has essentially the same feature.

        • +1

          I kinda refer to getting offset from your big 4 banks or whichever unions anyway. To me, it's so much to easier to deal with especially if you're an investor, where you might to need leverage your equity quick, and easier day to day banking. Online lender like loan.com.au will take forever to do these, plus their valuations will probably come up with crappy number. FYI, I'm getting ongoing 1.4% discount from bankwest's variable, but then again I have four mortgages with them. Not to easy to get those discount if you only have low amount of loan, but you can always try I guess.

          p/s can you actually get offset from loan.com.au? thought not? sorry just found out you could, but still as reason above wouldn't take the risk in case they gone bust.

        • Opps…I'm with them and maybe I should transfer most of my money from the offset account to the loan account.

        • +1

          Isn't the offset account actually with Indue Limited?

          According to a BSB look up of my offset account, it is Indue Limited.

          And on the Indue Limited website it states:

          "Indue Ltd holds an Authorised Deposit-taking Institution (ADI) licence and is therefore subject to regulation by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)."

        • @nickster9999: This would be a major relief if it could be confirmed!

        • +1

          @twiz911:

          On my loans.com.au offset account, it quotes two BSBs.

          One is for online transactions, and a BSB lookup shows it is Indue Limited.

          One is for over the counter transactions, and a BSB lookup shows it is Westpac.

        • +1

          @nickster9999:
          If this is the case id defiantly go with them .
          I said what if first mac folds, this was their response:

          The Perpetual Trustee Group will step in to manage and service your loan in the unlikely event that Firstmac Limited is no longer able to do so. The Perpetual Trustee Group also acts as a custodian of your loan and mortgage documents. As with all lenders in Australia, redraws remain at the discretion of the lender. However we do not foresee any circumstances where your account would not continue to operate as normal.

          who tf is perpetual trustee group, I read discretion of lender as you could possibly lose it.

          having said that the chances of first mac goin bust are pretty slim.

  • I've been largely happy with loans.com.au as well

    Doing the calcs, the fees to change over took about 5 months to recover from the lower interest rates. The service levels are quite good, as are the options (offset etc)

    The only issue I have is I haven't tracked their blackboard rate - after the cut I'm at 4.24% and not 4.02%

    I won't change though as I can't meaningfully beat the rate i'm on.

  • Been with them for 3 years and have been pretty happy. They pass on the rate reductions a lot faster than the Big 4.

  • +1

    I refinanced to loans.com.au last year - I'd say they are "so so".

    Not great customer service, some of their staff are unfriendly and YOU have to make an effort to ask all the questions and for things you need - they won't do it for you.

    E.g. I always struggled paying in cash into Westpac their affiliate bank as Westpac always wanted a deposit slip and had to speak to their manager e.t.c without e.t.c. Nightmare each and every time. Only after one manager told me loans.com.au must have pay in books and I phoned them up and demanded one, I got one. Ridiculous they didn't offer or tell me before.

    Low rates though. So so online banking. But you can't change your ATM pin - it is impossible via their website, ATMs or internet banking.

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