Quick Summary
Founded
1903
Owned by:
Customer-owned
Funded by:
Almost entirely from retail deposits
LMI Provider:
QBE
Lender type:
Non Banks, Building Society, Customer Owned
Newcastle Permanent is the largest building society in Australia and is popular with home buyers in the Hunter and Newcastle regions.
NPBS is actually owned by its customers which means that their profits get returned to you as better interest rates and lower fees. This gives them a distinct advantage over the major banks who are always looking for a way to increase shareholder profits.
Unfortunately, they're barely known outside of their home region and most mortgage brokers aren't yet accredited with them.
Newcastle Permanent and Greater Bank are set to merge as their corporate deals have been approved by the Federal Treasurer.
How do Newcastle Permanent's home loans compare?
Pros
- Some of the lowest interest rates in Australia
- Low rates even for 95% home loans
- Refinance and consolidate debt up to 95% of the value of your home
- Financially-strong due to large retail deposits
- 95% investment loans available
- Fixed rate construction loans available
- Assessing loans using common sense instead of credit scoring
- Considering income from Family Tax Benefits A & B
- Considering large acreages (very case by case)
- You can use the Westpac / St George ATM network without any fees
- 60 days free rate lock with fixed rate loans and terms up to 10 years
- Employment policy wherein applicants are returning to work after an extended leave of less than 90 days
- Accepts borrowers on maternity leave
- Can do large land loans, however, there are postcode restrictions
- Accepts partially completed construction
- Only accepts unit and family trust
- Can do stratum title
Cons
- Conservative credit policy
- Unlikely to help people with a bad credit history (existing members may be considered)
- Most of their branches are in and around Newcastle, NSW
- Not many mortgage brokers are accredited with Newcastle Permanent
- No low doc loans, SMSF loans or other niche products
- Depending on how busy they are, they may be slow to assess your application
- Strict lending approach for self-employed employees
- Not so great with non-resident mortgages
- Does not accept multiple units on one title
- They have a strict age policy
Do they lend outside of NSW?
Yes, you can get a loan with Newcastle Permanent even if you’re in other states. We’ve helped people in WA, QLD and VIC without any problems.
That being said, you may find it hard to find a local broker who is accredited with Newcastle Permanent.
What home loans types do they have?
Their Premium Plus Package is better than the professional packages offered by most other lenders as it has good interest rates starting from loans of just $150,000 and tends to have larger discounts for big loan sizes as well. It’s less competitive for loans over $1.5 million where other lenders will negotiate special pricing.
It has pricing tiers from 1 to 4 depending on the size of your loan. However there are often a special offers which puts everyone on the best interest rate no matter your loan size!
Their Real Deal Home Loan has a low rate for the first three years before reverting to a higher interest rate. It’s a basic loan and it doesn’t really compare to NPBS’s Premium Plus Package.
Their Fixed Rate Home Loans are often very competitive for terms of 1 – 5 years. They offer 7 year and 10 year fixed rates but like with many other lenders, the cost of locking in for such a long term usually outweighs the benefits.
Forbes’ List: World's Best Bank 2021
In its annual survey to find the world’s best banks, Forbes asked 43,000 customers from 28 countries to rate their banks in terms of:
- Whether they would recommend their bank
- If they were satisfied with their bank
- If the bank focused on trust, followed terms and conditions, digital services and customer services and gave financial advice.
The top 10 banks on the list are:
- ING Group
- Newcastle Permanent Building Society
- Greater Bank
- Heritage Bank
- Beyond Bank
- HSBC Holdings
- Bendigo Bank
- BankSA
- Suncorp
- People’s Choice Credit Union
Newcastle Permanent Client Story
Gary & Maria, NSW
Goal
To get a pre-approval with another lender at a cheaper interest rate.
Situation
Background
Gary and Maria originally got a pre-approval with St George to buy their first home but after much searching they decided they would buy a home and land package instead.
By that time, their pre-approval had expired but instead of reapplying with St George, they felt they could get a better interest rate elsewhere.
Solution
NPM offer very competitive rates for so-called 'vanilla' customers (low risk) like Gary and Maria.
With more than 20% of the property value as a deposit (they were borrowing around 77% LVR), a good income and a clear credit history, the couple were able to get approved for their construction loan and at a market-leading interest rate.
Find out if you are qualified to apply with this lender
Get a FREE assessmentTip for applying with Newcastle Permanent
- Use Newcastle Permanent's home loan checklist to prepare for your home loan application.
Note: This is the latest home loan checklist as of November 2017. Please refer to Newcastle Permanent for their most up-to-date document requirements.