Browse Forums Home Finance Re: Which Lender for Construction Loan? 41Jan 17, 2009 1:48 pm I'm with NAB - reason is that they would match a discount I get with AMP being a part of Engineers Australia, and they had a choice package where I could switch loans and everthing with no fees-very attractive for building. However, we have had problems where they will not accept our 'overtime' even though it is guaranteed (it's just how accounts class our pay, but it's definitely normal time!) and with years of pay slips to back it up. Very luckily though, they have pre-approved the building loan now which is excellent news, we just need to decide on a builder and save the final deposit.
Edit: Thought I would add - I was a customer of CBA for my whole life and after the horrible customer service I received when getting a personal loan as well as my money getting stolen from my savings account due to very poor security procedures when withdrawing money from within the branch (I won't explain here as I don't want to promote it in case someone goes "Oh, it's that easy?" and there's someone else stealing money form people's accounts, even though it's a common problem, but luckily the money is refunded due to a ** transaction but that's after 4 weeks of zero money!) I refuse to bank with them anymore. NAB's customer service at my branch is excellent! They are just very strict in giving out the $$, over-strict in my experience. Re: Which Lender for Construction Loan? 42Jan 17, 2009 2:06 pm Going through Westpac at the moment.
Currently they hold my credit card account and my partners bank accounts (my bank is current with Citibank - changing to Westpac.) Due the amount we are borrowing the Westpac Package offers competitive rates (6.21%) with some of the best features I have found in a loan. Things have been smooth so far, but we are waiting on our building contract before finalising everything. home loans for construction, sydney home loan centre 43Jan 17, 2009 2:11 pm westpac had some incredible fixed rate specials recently. they were unheard of, but had to apply in a very small time frame. Re: home loans for construction, sydney home loan centre 44Jan 17, 2009 2:15 pm thlo westpac had some incredible fixed rate specials recently. they were unheard of, but had to apply in a very small time frame. Yeah unfortunately missed out on it. 4.99% (3 year fixed term) was great! Look seriously at it but even taking the option to save the rate for 3 months like they give you we would have been out of the time frame. If we get another offer at 4.99% or below I think I will fix it in. house and land loan for first home buyers, sydney 45Jan 17, 2009 3:10 pm Banks have a tendency to make those low offers to NEW customers only (though not certain about westpac). Why discount to customers you already have, I suppose? Re: house and land loan for first home buyers, sydney 46Jan 17, 2009 4:03 pm thlo Banks have a tendency to make those low offers to NEW customers only (though not certain about westpac). Why discount to customers you already have, I suppose? Westpac were offering it to all, several of the guys at work fixed their home loans in at 4.99%. Re: house and land loan for first home buyers, sydney 47Jan 17, 2009 4:29 pm Zerosignal thlo Banks have a tendency to make those low offers to NEW customers only (though not certain about westpac). Why discount to customers you already have, I suppose? Westpac were offering it to all, several of the guys at work fixed their home loans in at 4.99%. I wouldn't want to fix mine at 4.99%. It will possible be at that level next month and will be down in the 3's by end of the year.. And that is being conservitive. Re: house and land loan for first home buyers, sydney 48Jan 17, 2009 4:38 pm wakeboardandy Zerosignal thlo Banks have a tendency to make those low offers to NEW customers only (though not certain about westpac). Why discount to customers you already have, I suppose? Westpac were offering it to all, several of the guys at work fixed their home loans in at 4.99%. I wouldn't want to fix mine at 4.99%. It will possible be at that level next month and will be down in the 3's by end of the year.. And that is being conservitive. There will be a point where rates the RBA set and what the banks charge decouple as the banks will not be able to source large wholesale funding at such low interest rates. Fixing at 4.99% on property is a good move in my opinion given the above. house and land loan for first home buyers, sydney 49Jan 17, 2009 4:44 pm You both make excellent points. I suppose time will tell, it could be as early as next month. Re: house and land loan for first home buyers, sydney 50Jan 17, 2009 4:52 pm Zerosignal There will be a point where rates the RBA set and what the banks charge decouple as the banks will not be able to source large wholesale funding at such low interest rates. Fixing at 4.99% on property is a good move in my opinion given the above. economists are predicting the USA will go to 0% interest rates this year. So it is very naive to think ours won't go below 4.99% this year. But as THLO said, time will tell. house and land package for first home buyers, sydney 51Jan 17, 2009 5:20 pm The poll has taken an interesting turn with ANZ leading CBA. Wow! Re: home loan lenders for construction loans 52Jan 17, 2009 8:35 pm thlo kek, thanks for your comments. i actually wanted to list Bank West but I was limited in number of choices I could put up. If there is anyone using Bank West, Homeside, AMP, RAMS, Wizard etc, i apologise. Yes... you should apologise for Homeside - the worst experience I have ever had from any bank anytime... they are AKA NAB.. and having been with them for umpteen years we will definitely be moving everything away... hopeless systems, hopeless feedback method, couldn't care less attitude. Ed Re: house and land loan for first home buyers, sydney 53Jan 17, 2009 8:37 pm wakeboardandy Zerosignal There will be a point where rates the RBA set and what the banks charge decouple as the banks will not be able to source large wholesale funding at such low interest rates. Fixing at 4.99% on property is a good move in my opinion given the above. economists are predicting the USA will go to 0% interest rates this year. So it is very naive to think ours won't go below 4.99% this year. But as THLO said, time will tell. \ My son is in Idaho and has loan approval at 5%... Re: house and land loan for first home buyers, sydney 54Jan 17, 2009 9:20 pm EcoClassic My son is on Idaho and has loan approval at 5%... Surely you mean in Idaho? Ecoclassic, if i had to apologise for every bank, i'd be a very old man by now. Re: house and land loan for first home buyers, sydney 55Jan 18, 2009 5:10 pm EcoClassic wakeboardandy Zerosignal There will be a point where rates the RBA set and what the banks charge decouple as the banks will not be able to source large wholesale funding at such low interest rates. Fixing at 4.99% on property is a good move in my opinion given the above. economists are predicting the USA will go to 0% interest rates this year. So it is very naive to think ours won't go below 4.99% this year. But as THLO said, time will tell. \ My son is on Idaho and has loan approval at 5%... The official rates and the rates the bank charge in the US are largely decoupled now as the bank cannot raise funds at an interest rate of 0%.... construction loans for first home in sydney 56Jan 19, 2009 4:26 pm I must say the poll is a success so far. We are only in the first 3 days and 51 responses.
Thank you to everyone who contributed, it's open for another 27 days. Re: house and land loan for first home buyers, sydney 57Jan 19, 2009 4:50 pm thlo EcoClassic My son is on Idaho and has loan approval at 5%... Surely you mean in Idaho? Ecoclassic, if i had to apologise for every bank, i'd be a very old man by now. "In" it is... Apologise? If NAB had to apologise for their own transgressions... I am going to the ombudsman... hope he cares. Ed Re: Which Lender for Construction Loan? 58Jan 19, 2009 5:25 pm hmm, no comment. i hope you understand (having to be impartial and all) Re: Which Lender for Construction Loan? 59Jan 21, 2009 12:03 pm Well, we are utterly FURIOUS with ANZ right now. VERY sorry we started anything with them and can't wait until it's possible to get out of our mortgage with them.
When our land was finally registered after 10 months of waiting, we had 2 weeks to get finance reapproved as it had expired while waiting. We originally had it approved through Bank West who then said they'd take 5 weeks to re-do it. ANZ said they could do it in 2, so they were the safe bet. Well, 5 weeks later after DH made NUMEROUS phone calls to our broker, our brokers boss and our brokers boss's boss (ANZ wont speak directly to us because we have a broker) it was finally done. DH had to run around picking up the paperwork and dropping it off. Our solicitor got it to the developer within 2 hours of us losing our $20k deposit. Stressed? Hell yeah. Apology from the bank? HA! NOW that we're trying to get settlement organised for construction they've done nothing but give us the royal run around. They required council approved plans to give the 'final' approval to - these took 3 months. ANZ received these IN NOVEMBER and we're still waiting for them to finish what they need to do. Approval was given on Christmas eve and we've been waiting since then for the settlment account to be set up and when that's done the all important Approval to Commence Construciton (ACC) to be sent to our builder. One piece of paper is holding us up. You wouldn't think that would be hard, BUT last week when we were once again pushing for some action, the twit at the bank who had this stuff sitting on their desk for a week discovered they had sent us THE WRONG SETTLMENT DOCUMENTATION!!! What we were sent was not for a construction loan, so they needed to send out the correct paperwork for us to resign and resubmit and wait for all over again. All up: a seemly small **** up on their behalf has cost us another 2 weeks rent, and another 2 weeks waiting for our house. Apology? HA! Needless to say, since then we've wasted more time and phone calls to our broker who is (apparently) following up with ANZ each time. At 3pm on Monday, we were told the ACC would be sent to the builder within 24 hours. Here we are 12pm on Wednesday, and its still not done. Dont use ANZ. I've been told they're busy right now and their service is just crap. Sorry Thlo, we wont be using a broker again either. While its great to have someone who knows the ins and outs when things go well- when there's problems like this, I would really like to speak directly to the clown who's CLEARLY not doing their job. I just don't feel that our broker is expressing how we really feel about this as effectively as I would. Brokers have to maintain a positive relationship with their contacts at the bank and so I doubt she's using the choice words I'd have adopted by this stage. Re: Which Lender for Construction Loan? 60Jan 21, 2009 12:23 pm JellyLegs Sorry Thlo, we wont be using a broker again either. While its great to have someone who knows the ins and outs when things go well- when there's problems like this, I would really like to speak directly to the clown who's CLEARLY not doing their job. I just don't feel that our broker is expressing how we really feel about this as effectively as I would. Brokers have to maintain a positive relationship with their contacts at the bank and so I doubt she's using the choice words I'd have adopted by this stage. Wow! Although I know exactly what you mean, i would rather not be put in the same category as that description of brokers. I only answer to my customers in terms of results and I have stopped using a few lenders (banks and non-banks) for their repeated failures. I always discuss service levels and how busy each lender in the short list is with applicants before they proceed. I have several posts about this. Maintaining a good relationship with any supplier while customers leave dissatisfied wouldn't be a well thought out plan. OK, back to your issue; although your broker is managing your loan with the lender, has the bank staff specifically said to you that you are unable to contact them direct the way you want to? The biggest challenge will be if you take out a loan and then run out of money - you'll have an incomplete security and lenders do not like this so you can get stuck.… 2 18894 Hi, you've probably already resolved this, however, Commbank will probably pay the funds to you after you send evidence the work is done regardless the change in the quotes. 1 35189 How much are you ahead in payments compared to where the build is at? Have you fully drawn down the loan? 5 11846 |