Quick Summary
Founded
Founded in 1895, acquired by CBA in 2008
Owned by:
Funded by:
Retail deposits and wholesale capital markets
LMI Provider:
QBE LMI
Lender type:
Banks
BankWest was a major home loan provider on the West Coast until their success with mortgage brokers enabled them to lend Australia wide. During the GFC, their parent company faced tough times and sold BankWest to CBA.
BankWest has a range of simple and competitive home loans for first home buyers and investors. They operate separately to CBA with their own home loans, pricing and lending policy.
How do BankWest’s home loans compare?
Pros
- Customer service
- Investors
- Refinancing
- Offering lower interest rates if you have a large deposit
- Working with mortgage brokers
- Approving loans for large properties
- First home buyers with low deposits
- Fast loan approvals
- High loan to value ratio (LVR) loans. Can go up to 90% (inclusive of LMI)
- Favourable purchase
- Accepts 100% of allowance income
- Accepts 100% of overtime income for applicants working in emergency services and health care
- Accepts rental payments in lieu of genuine savings
- Discounted LMI fee for first home buyers
- Comprehensive Credit Reporting available for all customers
- Casual employees working in the same company, in the same role, for a minimum of six months are eligible for a loan
- No income shading if you've been in a casual employment for a year
- Home buyers can borrow up to 95% of the property value
- Genuine savings only required for LVR over 90%
Cons
- Complex loans that don't meet standard bank policy
- People with bad credit
- Self-employed borrowers who cannot prove their income
- Their credit scoring is tough and you may get declined for no apparent reason
- Common debt reducer home loans
- Company title mortgages
- Bonus, overtime, commission income types are shaded
What home loans types do they have?
The majority of BankWest’s home loans are designed for home buyers and investors. They have their Complete Variable and Premium Select Home Loans which are great options for most home buyers.
Their Complete Fixed Home Loan often has competitive interest rates, however it always pays to shop around if you are locking your rate in for an extended period of time.
They also have some niche products such as their Senior’s Equity Release which is designed to help retired people to access the equity in their own and for interest to capitalise until they sell their property later.
In addition to this they have some flexible lending policies such as the ability to approve larger properties on a case by case basis and to accept some people who didn’t save their deposit themselves.
BankWest Client Story
Belinda, VIC
Goal
Refinance her two properties and remove her ex-husband from the title.
To get a better valuation than the one provided by two other lenders so they could avoid LMI (Lenders Mortgage Insurance).
Situation
Background
After 10 years of marriage, Belinda and her husband made the tough decision to separate.
During the legal battle, Belinda was awarded the family home and an investment property they owned.
Both mortgages needed to be refinanced so they were just in Belinda's name but after two valuations by two separate lenders came in under value, the Loan to Value Ratio (LVR) for the refinance came in over 90% for each of the property values.
This meant a large LMI bill that the couple felt they could avoid or at least reduce if they could get a better valuation.
Solution
Our broker was able to refinance Belinda and her husband from Commonwealth Bank (CBA) to Bankwest, who was offering free upfront valuations at the time.
Coming from a regional part of Melbourne, the broker found that even though CBA and St George ordered their own valuations, they were actually done by the same valuer!
Bankwest actually used a different valuer for the area and was able to refinance Belinda at 85% LVR for the owner-occupied and 88% LVR for the investment property.
Not only was Belinda able to reduce her LMI bill but she was able to get a sharp 3 year fixed interest rate (one of the lowest on the market at the time) and cash out a total of $40,000 from both properties as extra funds for the offset account.
Find out if you are qualified to apply with this lender
FIND OUT HERETips for getting a great rate with BankWest
- BankWest offers much better interest rate discounts if you have a larger deposit or lots of equity in your home!
- In other words if you have a small deposit, then you may be better off choosing another bank.
- If you have a larger loan over $750,000 then a mortgage broker may also be able to put in a request for negotiated pricing.
- Use BankWest's application submission checklist to prepare for your home loan application.
- Note: This is the latest submission checklist as of November 2020. Please refer to BankWest for their most up-to-date document requirements.