Home loan offers and deals - December 2020

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Savings.com.au has compiled some of the special home loan deals on offer from lenders across Australia.

• Home loan cashback offers

• Discounted rates, introductory rates & other offers

Below are three featured home loan cashback offers currently available to owner occupiers: 

People love free stuff. Whether it’s getting your tenth coffee free or winning a meat tray at the RSL, money and prizes won always seem sweeter than earned. 

So if you’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next 25 odd years on a mortgage, it can be nice to get something in return. Enter home loan offers and deals. 

These deals typically come in the form of cashback offers, but you can also get gift vouchers, loyalty program points and more. 

Of course, these deals are designed to entice you – they shouldn’t be the sole reason for choosing a lender. Typically, the most important things to look at when choosing a loan are the advertised rate and comparison rate, the features, and your potential monthly repayments.

Also, make sure you fully read the Ts and Cs (that’s terms and conditions) on each lender’s website to get the full details on these offers before committing to one.

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Home loan cashback offers 

A home loan cashback offer generally involves a lender offering an incentive for you to take out a new loan with them or refinance an existing one. The incentive will usually take the form of cash, or it can be rebated towards fees you’d be charged – in some cases, both! 

Generally, you can spend the money however you like, making cashback a lucrative marketing ploy.

Below, you'll find a range of available cashback offers available at the time of writing in Australia.

Note: P&I=Principal and Interest, IO=Interest Only, OO=Owner Occupier. Refer to the lenders’ websites for full terms and conditions.

Bank of Melbourne cashback offer

• Cashback amount: $4,000

• Conditions: For new OO with P&I repayments and Investment loans. Only available on the Advantage Package and Basic home loans. $395 annual package fee. $250k min loan per property refinanced. Excludes refinances from within Westpac Group.

• Expiry date: 31 January 2021

Bank SA cashback offer

• Cashback amount: $4,000

• Conditions: For new OO with P&I repayments and Investment loans. Available on our Advantage Package and Basic home loans. $395 annual package fee. $200k min loan per property refinanced. Excludes refinances from within Westpac Group.

• Expiry date: 31 January 2021

BOQ cashback offer

• Cashback amount: $3,000

• Conditions: For new OO with P&I repayments and Investment loans. $250k min loan amount with LVR of 80% or less.

• Expiry date: 19 December 2020

Commonwealth Bank cashback offer

• Cashback amount: $2,000

• Conditions: Minimum refinance amount of $250,000. Not available for Bridging Loans and OO loans with IO payments.

• Expiry date: 31 October 2021

Credit Union SA cashback offer

• Cashback amount: $2,500

• Conditions: Offer available on new IO and OO loans with minimum new borrowings of $250,000. Bridging loans are not eligible for this offer. Offer may be withdrawn or altered at any time without notice.

• Expiry date: Until further notice

MOVE Bank cashback offer

• Cashback amount: $2,000

• Conditions: For new OO with P&I repayments and Investment loans. Minimum refinance amount of $350,000. Offer may be withdrawn or altered at any time without notice.

• Expiry date: 31 December 2021

NAB cashback offer

• Cashback amount: $2,000

• Conditions: For new OO with P&I repayments and Investment loans. Customers must hold a NAB transaction account. To be eligible for the offer, customers need to be refinancing an existing loan of $250,000 or more and hold a NAB transaction account. Excludes refinances from within NAB Group.

• Expiry date: 31 January 2021

Newcastle Permanent cashback offer

• Cashback amount: $2,000

• Conditions: For new OO with P&I repayments on the Real Deal Home loan. Min balance of $150k. LVR of 80% or less.

• Expiry date: 31 January 2021

QBank cashback offer

• Cashback amount: $2,000

• Conditions: Applies to new home loan application with a minimum loan amount of $250,000, eligible for OO and investors. Applications must be settled within 60 days of the approval date to receive the cashback. $1500 cashback bonus will be deposited into the member’s QBANK transaction account within 5 business days of loan settlement. Available for new purchases only.

• Expiry date: 31 December 2020

RAMS cashback offer

• Cashback amount: $2,000

• Conditions: For new OO with P&I repayments and Investment loans. Minimum refinance amount of $250,000. Excludes refinances from within Westpac Group.

• Expiry date: 31 January 2021

St George cashback offer

• Cashback amount: $4,000

• Conditions: For new OO with P&I repayments and Investment loans. Available on our Advantage Package and Basic home loans. $395 annual package fee. $250k min loan per property refinanced. Excludes refinances from within Westpac Group.

• Expiry date: 31 January 2021

Suncorp cashback offer

• Cashback amount: $2,000

• Conditions: Applicable when you are approved for and settle an Eligible Home Loan with Suncorp Bank. Loan amount must be at least $250,000 from a new bank with a LVR of 90% or less. $3,000 cashback available where loan amount exceeds $750k.

• Expiry date: 18 December 2020

Westpac cashback offer

• Cashback amount: $3,000

• Conditions: Available on Premier Advantage Package and Flexi First Option loans. For new OO with P&I repayments and Investment loans. $250K min loan per property and LVR of 90% or less. $395 annual package fee. Excludes refinances from within Westpac Group.

• Expiry date: 31 January 2021

Virgin Money cashback offer

• Cashback amount: $2,500

• Conditions: For new OO with P&I repayments. Minimum loan amount of $300k and LVR of 80% or less. Customers will need to open a Reward Me Home Loan Companion account alongside their loan.

• Expiry date: 29 November 2021

Buying a home or looking to refinance? The table below features home loans with some of the lowest variable interest rates on the market for owner occupiers.

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Other home loan offers

Cashback offers are typically the most lucrative and popular offer lenders will use, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other offers around.  

Lenders often waive fees such as monthly fees or application fees, or reduce fees and rates on their other products, like credit cards or transaction accounts.

Recently, many lenders have started reducing or completely waiving Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) as a way to bring in first home buyers.

Less often, lenders will offer rewards points for loyalty programs, either as a result of a team-up or through their own program. 

Below, you’ll find a comprehensive list of other offers lenders are using to try and win your business.

ANZ waived fees offer

• Loan name: ANZ Simplicity PLUS

• Offer: Loan approval fee (usually $600) and renegotiation fee waived (usually $200-$350).

• Conditions: Will only waive fees upon request. Minimum loan amount of $50k.

• Expiry date: Until further notice

ING waived fees offer

• Loan name: Fixed-Rate Home Loan

• Offer: When split with an Orange Advantage Home Loan, the $499 application fee is waived.

• Conditions: In OO borrowing, max LVR limits may apply.

• Expiry date: Until further notice

ME Bank LMI offer

• Loan name: Flexible Home Loan

• Offer: A 25% discount on LMI for first home buyers.

• Conditions: Available to first home buyers for the purposes of buying or constructing their first residential dwelling solely for owner-occupation. Need at least a 5% deposit to qualify.

• Expiry date: 20 November 2020

St George LMI offer

• Loan name: All home loans.

• Offer: LMI for $1 first home buyers.

• Conditions: Available to OO first home loans on P&I, with a maximum loan size of $850,000 for a maximum property value of $1,000,000. 

• Expiry date: Until further notice

Virgin Money LMI offer

• Loan name: Reward Me Home Loan

• Offer: No LMI

• Conditions: Available to OO first home loans on P&I, with a minimum deposit between 15% and 20% of the property’s valuation.

• Expiry date: 29 November 2020

Note: Refer to the lenders’ websites for full terms and conditions 

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Savings.com.au’s two cents

As good as $2,000 cash in your pocket right now might sound, it shouldn’t be the defining factor for which home loan you choose. Borrowing $350,000 over 25 years at a rate of 4.00% p.a. could cost you $1,847 a month and $204,228 in interest over the life of the loan (with principal and interest repayments), according to our home loan calculator.  

In contrast, that same loan at a rate 3.00% p.a. would cost you $1,659 a month and $147,922 over the life of the loan. That’s a difference of $188 a month and $56,306 in interest over the life of the loan, which makes that $2,000 or so look like pocket change. 

Always consider the comparison rate and your estimated monthly repayments when choosing a loan. Making the wrong decision could cost you tens of thousands of dollars.

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Disclaimers

The entire market was not considered in selecting the above products. Rather, a cut-down portion of the market has been considered which includes retail products from at least the big four banks, the top 10 customer-owned institutions and Australia’s larger non-banks:

• The big four banks are: ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac
• The top 10 customer-owned Institutions are the ten largest mutual banks, credit unions and building societies in Australia, ranked by assets under management in November 2020. They are (in descending order): Credit Union Australia, Newcastle Permanent, Heritage Bank, Peoples’ Choice Credit Union, Teachers Mutual Bank, Greater Bank, IMB Bank, Beyond Bank, Bank Australia and P&N Bank.
• The larger non-bank lenders are those who (in 2020) has more than $9 billion in Australian funded loans and advances. These groups are: Resimac, Pepper, Liberty and Firstmac.

Some providers' products may not be available in all states. To be considered, the product and rate must be clearly published on the product provider's web site.

In the interests of full disclosure, Savings.com.au, Performance Drive and Loans.com.au are part of the Firstmac Group. To read about how Savings.com.au manages potential conflicts of interest, along with how we get paid, please click through onto the web site links.

*Comparison rate is based on a loan of $150,000 over a term of 25 years. Please note the comparison rate only applies to the examples given. Different loan amounts and terms will result in different comparison rates. Costs such as redraw fees and costs savings, such as fee waivers, are not included in the comparison rate but may influence the cost of the loan.

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