We have gone with a Mortgage Broker to help us choose a home loan that will suit us.
For construction loan, the loan is an interest only and the variable rate can be pretty high.
The best way is to list what features of the loan are important to you:
- Extra repayments
- Offset account
- Redraw facility
- No fees or minimal fees
- Fortnightly payments
We are still deciding who to go with; NAB Choice Package or Bankwest Premium Select.
While doing my own research, I found that Loans.com.au were quite competitive and has a good rating.
This is an example of what my broker provided (20 Sep, 2015):
| Package Name | NAB Choice Package | Bankwest Premium Select |
| Variable Interest | 4.87 | 4.34 |
| Comparison Rate | 5.20 | 4.35 |
| On-going fees | $395 per annum | $10 per month |
| Application Fee | $0 | $0 |
| Establishment Fee | $0 | $0 |
| Valuation Fee | $0 | $0 |
| Extra Valuation Fee | $0 | $0 |
| Legal Fee | $0 | $0 |
| Settlement Fee | $0 | $60 |
| Discharge Fee | $150 | $300 |
| Split Fee | ? | $0 |
| Offset | 100% offset account | 100% offset account |
| Redraw | Free redraw from loan | Free redraw from loan – paper-based forms |
| Split Loan | ? | Available – no max # of splits |
| Extra Repayments | Unlimited additional repayments available | Unlimited additional repayments available |
| Fortnightly Repayment | Yes | Yes, manual repayments acceptable for Interest only |
| Credit Card | Free Credit Card – no annual fee | |
| Repayment (m) – based on $400K | $1733 | $1450.00 |
| After Construction Rates | ||
| Variable Interest | 4.58 | 4.34 |
| Comparison Rate | 4.97 | 4.35 |
|
Discounts / Rewards |
Annual fee of $395 waived for first-year | Discount rate of 1.13% off Standard variable |
| Discount variable rate for the life of the loan | ||
| Discount fixed rate available | ||
| $1,500 cash back |
