Quick Summary
Founded
1966
Owned by:
Funded by:
Retail deposits and wholesale capital markets
LMI Provider:
Genworth
Lender type:
Mutual Bank, Banks, Customer Owned
Teachers Mutual Bank (TMB) is a customer-owned lender that focuses on the education sector. They have low interest rates and occasional special offers which beat the major banks.
The main problems are that not everyone is eligible to join and they're not able to service other customer types well, such as business owners.
Don't assume because you're a teacher that TMB will offer you the best deal around. Often other lenders have special discounts which beat industry lenders like TMB.
How do Teachers Mutual Bank's home loans compare?
Pros
- Special interest rates if you're in the education sector
- They often have lower LMI premiums
- Genuine savings not always required
- They often don't need a valuation for properties up to $1.5 million
- Loan terms of up to 40 years
- Working with mortgage brokers
- Fast loan approvals
- Assessing loans using common sense instead of credit scoring
- They’re one of the 27 participating lenders under the FHLDS and the FHLDS new homes
- Great serviceability (borrowing power)
- Workers compensation home loans
- Desktop valuation is used for loans up to 80% of the property value
- 100% offset account on fixed home loans
- Higher debt-to-income ratio compared to some lenders
Cons
- If you aren't in the education sector, you can't be a member!
- Other banks tend to offer better interest rates for larger home loans
- They don't have a business banking division, and don't often work with self-employed borrowers
- They're unlikely to help if you have a bad credit history
- They don't have a large branch network
- Maximum LVR of 90% inclusive of LMI for all fixed loans
- Pre-approvals are not fully verified/assessed
- Stricter cashout policy
- Australian expat home loans
Who is qualified to join TMB?
You can join Teachers Mutual Bank if you’re a family member of an existing member or you work in the education sector.
Eligible education employees include:
- Full time, Part time, Casual or Contract employees
- Teachers and other education sector staff
- Studying Education at University
- Preschool
- School Staff including Government & Private Schools
- TAFE Employees
- University Staff
Eligible family members include:
- Brother
- Sister
- Child
- Parent
- Grandchild
- Grandparent
- Spouse
You’d be surprised to find that most people have a family member in the education sector. Unfortunately if you have Aunts and Uncles that are members you can’t consider them to be family for the purposes of joining TMB.
What home loans types do they have?
TMB has a range of variable rate home loans including their Classic Home Loan which is a basic loan with a low rate and their Solutions Plus Home Loan which is a professional package with bigger discounts for larger loans.
However TMB tends to be most competitive with their fixed rate home loans. Their Fixed Options Home Loan often has the lowest rate on the market and is a good choice if you want the security of locking in your interest rate.
If you’re choosing a variable rate, then in most cases other lenders are comparable to or better than TMB.
They’ve also recently added a few other home loan products such as:
- My First Home Loan for first home buyers with a low deposit.
- Flexi Choice Home Loan comes with a variety of features but has a higher interest rate.
- Interest-only Home Loan geared towards borrowers looking to construct a new home.
Top Socially Responsible Bank, 2020
Teachers Mutual Bank was named the top socially responsible bank for 2020.
Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) awarded it with this title for recording a 43% spike in its certified responsible investment portfolio. The interpretation of this spike in Australian dollars is a jump from $4.1bn to $6.4bn.
The CEO of RIAA, himself, commended the bank to have become an example for many financial institutions.
The socially responsible attitude demonstrated by this lender also reflects on its ethics. It acts as a tell on how serious they can be about keeping their lending policies intact.
Teachers Mutual have two other divisions
Firefighters Mutual Bank and UniBank are both divisions of TMB and each bank exclusively services specific professionals.
UniBank focuses on staff, students and graduates of Australian universities and their families.
Firefighters Mutual focuses on firefighters, police officers, other emergency workers and volunteers, and their families.
The benefit of UniBank and Firefighters Mutual is that their lending policies are tailored to people that work in that industry so they take a common sense approach to shift work and allowances.
If you are not one of the above professions, you cannot apply for a home loan with these banks.
Compare TMB to other lenders
Not sure which lender is right for you? Our Home Loan Experts can help!
Talk to one of our mortgage brokers by calling us on 1300 889 743 or complete our free assessment form.
Teachers Mutual Bank Client Story
Teachers Mutual client story
Goal
To cash out equity in their home to give to their children as a deposit.
Situation
Refinance, equity cash out, gifted deposit.
Background
Dean and Anne wanted to give their kids a headstart in the property market.
Over the past 20 years, their home had grown considerably in value so they decided to cash out some equity to as a gifted deposit.
Solution
Both Dean and his wife were full time permanents and were earning strong incomes with no debt except for their mortgage.
They were also refinancing at just over 11% of the property value (LVR), which is considered very low with all lenders.
As strong customers, they were able to refinance their mortgage and cash out $180,000 for their children.
Find out if you are qualified to apply with this lender
Tip for applying with Teachers Mutual Bank
- Use TMB's home loan application checklist to prepare your mortgage application.
- Note: This is the latest application checklist as of November 2020. Please call us or refer to Teachers Mutual Bank for their most up-to-date document requirements.