Which bank is the bet for Property Investors?

[RetireEarly]

Hi All,

Are all banks the same for Property Investors? Which bank do you think is best and why?

Are any banks out there providing anything out of the ordinary?

 

[Shaun M Smith]

Which Bank is Best

Tough question. I would suggest utilising the services of several lenders over time rather than putting your eggs all in the one basket. As most investors move forward the question of which lender is best tends to be replaced by which lender will help them with a specific opportunity.

If you were wanting to develop a relationship with a specific lender rate and fee structures across the majors are fairly similar. Your decision may simply come down to who will allow you to maximise your potential by borrowing more funds. Perhaps you need to look at which lenders servicing requirements are best skewed to your situation?

 

[plusnq]

The one that will give you the money at a competitive rate atm



Cheers

Shane

 

[Aimjoy]

Are all banks the same for Property Investors?

That's a really silly Q....really silly

Which bank do you think is best and why?

There is no 'best' bank. They are all bast@%ds and as investors many of us would limit our borrowings to under $1M from each one - to stay off their radar in times like we are experiencing now. I have borrowings from all these and more....and I like them when they lend to me.

Are any banks out there providing anything out of the ordinary?

Yes, some are providing fast repossession services for those who don't make their payments on time....this is a bit out of the ordinary I though - the gall!
And others are providing the opportunity to have pre-approved credit cards with limits of 6 figures - seriously. I've taken them as well and used the BT at 6.9% rate....sweeeeet!

 

[Mamaof3]

I wanted to click on a few options but it wouldn't let me so i just chose Westpac because we use them ourselves alot for our developments...only downside is they don't do company/trust names in LoDoc so you have to be willing to buy in personal names.....Customer service wise Westpac are probably the worst...we've never come across a bank that takes 9 freakin weeks to approve a construction loan (land loan already in place!).....they're currently processing a progress claim for 2 homes that are being built side by side, and they sent a valuer out to do an inspection (they do inspections at first and last stages of construction) and he came back with only a report for 15A So now we have to wait another week for the 15B to be inspected....You would think any sensible person would inspect the 2 slabs which are side by side at the same time (2 progress claims sent in together)

Anyway, enough of my waffling. I would also select CBA because we've found them to be really flexible and often very open minded in catering for client's needs.....

We've dealt with ING recently as well and i would have to say they have one of the quickest turnaround times....we got formal approval and docs issued within 1 week! In today's time thats superquick i'd say . But i don't think they do LoDoc so it'd be limited to those only able to do FullDocs

Ummm, AFM have also been able to do things many other banks weren't willing to do (hybrid discretionarys etc) and their rates weren't all that shocking either.

 

[Rolf Latham]

I had to vote other, because there wasnt a NONE option


What day of the week it is and the deal will determine what sits where and when.

Very very fuzzy logic im afraid.

AS Shaun has mentioned, the one consistent thing is to spread big eposures around a little .


ta
rolf

 

[Peter_Tersteeg]

This is a completely irrelivent poll. I've recommended each bank mentioned and more in recent history. It comes down to what's best for you, and that's not necessarily what's best for the next person.

 

[crunchtime]

This is a completely irrelivent poll. I've recommended each bank mentioned and more in recent history. It comes down to what's best for you, and that's not necessarily what's best for the next person.

Agreed. Everyone's individual situation is different. Unfortunately no bank has a soft spot for investors.

 

[Aaron Sice]

Very very fuzzy logic im afraid.

like those "fuzzy logic" car transmissions that were being advertised before CVT was the in wording...? sorry - just some words tend to jolt memories.

 

[BayView]

Since 1985 I've been with all 4 Big Banks, St.G, BankWest, Adelaide Bank, a building society.

They are all r-soles, but they give you money to get rich with, so they are a necessary evil.

I have no loyalty to any of them, and will immediately flick one to go to another to get what I need if mine won't provide it and another will.

So, don't think by being a loyal customer, getting massive debts etc will put you in favour; it won't until you are a really big player.

Just use em and abuse em and look after yourself first.

 

[WinstonWolfe]

Might help to lookk at their credit ratings (depending on how much you trust them). Then look at how the stock market values them. They are not all equal in their business models or ratings.

NAB for instance has higher exposure to sub prime, 1billion already announced, and another 500m-1b to come, according to citibank analysts.

NAB had their credit rating softened a few months ago on the back of the first 1b of sub prime provisions. A credit downgrade makes a bank less competitive in seeking cheap foreign wholesale funds, and therefore arguably less competitive in lending to property investors.

 

[Maverik]

Since 1985 I've been with all 4 Big Banks, St.G, BankWest, Adelaide Bank, a building society.

They are all r-soles, but they give you money to get rich with, so they are a necessary evil.

I have no loyalty to any of them, and will immediately flick one to go to another to get what I need if mine won't provide it and another will.

So, don't think by being a loyal customer, getting massive debts etc will put you in favour; it won't until you are a really big player.

Just use em and abuse em and look after yourself first.

Totally agree!! I re-financed to the old Rams 2 yrs ago. Bad choice on rate in hindsight however they gave us a $200k higher val than CBA!! That was used to buy property in Darwin.

 

[Aaron Sice]

i noticed that in WA, RAC will lend for property developments.

not sure of the nitty gritty, but it's another option.

 

[quoll]

Didn't vote.

We have used ANZ, Westpac, ComBank recently. Mortgage brokers work well. Anywhere that will lend to you at a nice rate.

Regards
Graeme

 

[AdamP]

All of them

I have to agree with everyone saying all banks. The bank shows the customer little loyalty (especially when we aren't multimillion dollar clients).

Generally switching banks every few major transactions seems to be a good way to go. If you buy a few properties with one bank they may says your going too fast, but then you switch to another bank and they see you have good cash flow and some solid equity.

One saying i do like is, if you owe the bank thousands of dollars you have a problem, if you owe the bank millions of dollars the bank has a problem. From what I have heard if you owe the banks substantial amounts of money they will try to keep you a float as long as possible as they don't want to loose such a large amount.

I am however NOT liking Bankwest at the moment. Making their customers wait 1 month to see interest rate cuts.