I wish BankWest would focus on delivering good service and decent policy instead of continuing to offer 'special products' that are essentially honeymoon products. They've got a long history of offering these sorts of products, but they don't tend to be quite as compeditive as originally expected after the honeymoon period is over.
Overall it's not a bad product, but it's really not as special as the advertising would have you believe. The first 2 years are good, but the remainder is pretty average. The 5.79% comparison rate indicates this as many other lenders products are substantially lower. It also doesn't take into consideration the $15/mth fee for an offset account.
You can refinance to a different lender after 2 years, but this will substantially increase the cost of participation and would be obscenely expensive if you pay LMI. You can also switch to a different BW product but they'll charge $495 (expensive for a simple switch).
The application fee includes a valuation worth up to $200.60 + GST. Would any of the valuers care to comment on what a valuation actually costs? This could be termed a 'hidden fee'.
After 2 years it reverts to the mortgage schredder product with a rate of 5.99%. I doubt anybody out there thinks this is compeditive these days.
Fundamentally this is a product designed to show people a cheap rate and hide the longer term outcome. BankWest has done their figures and know that a substantial amount of customers will not bother to review the loan after 2 years and even if the customers do, BankWest will still be able to get a few additional fees.
It's not entirely terrible, but it is fundamentally dishonest and BankWest have a long history of similar products.
