Bankwest Rate Tracker 1% discount

Hi there,

Any thoughts on the Bankwest Rate Tracker home loan, offering a 1% discount on the average variable rate of the big 4 banks, eg. 7.73% - 1% = 6.73% pa at present, for 24 months, then reverting to the Lite home loan interest rate, currently at 7.53% pa I believe?

Thanks.
 
As i have said previously you couldn't pay me 6% interest to borrow from bank west. I believe they do have a 2 year fixed at 5.99%.
 
Hmm...interesting replies.

Perhaps their service isn't so great then.

What about their fixed rate loans, 6.69% for 5 years...seems much lower than the big 4 banks?

Still not attractive?
 
JIT

This is just me but as a MB my experiences with bankwest havent been great so I really just dont even bother with them. Probably in line with Suncorp - 2nd tier lenders.

And, going out on a limb here - but they claim to support brokers and their business by paying a higher commission. But that being said the amount of people I see who saw a broker before me, and the brokers recommendations (1,2 &3) are amongst the higher paying speaks volumes to me more often than not.

You can read into that what you will. Historically, I dont think they've been even close on a fixed to most lenders.

Originally they were sharp but really, cba taking them over is IMO not bad news at all
 
Historically, I dont think they've been even close on a fixed to most lenders.

lukentel,

Just for comparison...

Westpac's 5 year fixed rate (after a 0.2% pa discount) is 7.19% pa, so Bankwest is 0.5% pa cheaper (at 6.69% pa, but does have a $12/mth fee with it).

ANZ's 5 year fixed rate is 7.99% pa :eek:...but not sure what their discount is?

I'm just surprised that the 5 yr fixed rates right now are so different b/w these banks (but that could also be my inexperience showing!)?

Perhaps it suggests how hard 5 yr interest rate forecasting actually is?

Also, I know you shouldn't choose your lender based on rate alone, but most of the fixed rate loans are pretty restrictive anyway.
 
ok you got me on todays rate... like I said, I dont bother with em.

right now we're staying variable most cases w/most people - heck look at St. G - you can get 5.89 fixed for a year - when was the last time you saw a rate with a 5 in the front? I think its been @7-8 years since I've seen the 4.99 from when I was at state bank.

reminescent of a little while ago hsbc had that cracker offer nobody could touch when rates started to drop...

here http://au.biz.yahoo.com/081118/2/21tkb.html
"Mr Peters said the RBA was likely to cut rates by 50 basis points in December, and keep cutting the cash rate until it fell to four per cent."

That happens where do you think fixeds will be then.

Lots of crystal ball I'm thinkin is going to be happening - but I'm also thinking is that for the last few cuts the RBA has caught everyone offguard with them being more than anyone predicted. So more to go - maybe.

And I figure you arent that inexperienced either...
 
Bank West have taken the Rate Tracker loan away from the broker network so you won't see many MB's supporting it.
In saying that I believe it's a crap product anyway just like the majority of "honeymoon" products. Once lenders start issuing "honeymoon" rates that revert to standad discounted rates them we may look at them.

In regards to their fixed rates you make the decision. How far fixed rates is anybodys call. If you are after a fixed rate NOW then YES they certainly are aggresive with their rates at present. Everyone's priorities/needs can differ so I'd be suprised if anyone said otherwise without knowing your full story.

REgards
Steve
 
Thanks for the replies.

I'm not suggesting fixing now, just noting the differences b/w banks' fixed rates and Bankwest's lowish rate by comparison.

Will watch and see if this continues over the coming months.

I already have one Bankwest loan, so am weighing up staying on (if their fixed rate stays competitive with big 4 banks) vs. refinancing.

I agree re. Rate Tracker, not great, but if you're already with Bankwest...over 5 years I think it works out to about a 0.52% pa discount off the SVR, so a bit worse off overall on rate alone compared to your 0.70% pa discounts from the major banks.
 
I agree re. Rate Tracker, not great, but if you're already with Bankwest...over 5 years I think it works out to about a 0.52% pa discount off the SVR, so a bit worse off overall on rate alone compared to your 0.70% pa discounts from the major banks.

Or, over 3 years, about a 0.73% pa discount off the SVR - so maybe it's OK for 3 years then re-finance after this...

Aha...actually, this is what I'll probably do! - re-financing now means re-valuing now and potentially paying LMI again too, so that might not be the best thing.

I''ll keep part of my loan on the variable Rate Tracker product (with a redraw facility) and then lock the rest (most) of the loan in on a fixed rate when they bottom out ?in the coming months, and for 3 years as well too.

So despite being with a ?ordinary lender, I might actually end up winning on fixed and variable over a 3 year period!
 
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Since just after Easter BankWests' service levels have been so bad that it wouldn't matter what else they did, it's not worth the aging process they induce at the moment. There's nothing worse than waiting on hold for 20 plus minutes listening to an ad campaign about 'making people happy'.

The Rate Tracker is a crappy product regardless. It's a honeymoon product with a very average back end and exit fees to boot.

Finally their staff competence levels have really dropped. It's impossible to get anything done quickly and there are far to many stupid mistakes. I asked a kid in one of their new branches when their variable rate would be dropping in line with the market. He could only quote me the rate tracker product which is not even their rate (dictated by the other lenders).

18 months ago they had a fairly good offering. They've had reasonable products for Hybrid Trusts (no longer) and their serviceability model was quite good. Now days they're simply not worth the effort. Eventually they'll lift their game and become viable again, but I think it will take a major overhaul at multiple levels of the business. Right now I'll just pass.
 
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