What Has Been Your Experience with Mortgage House (Planning to Refinance at a 3.54% Interest Rate, 3.62% Comparison Rate)

lordroy on 12/03/2019 - 10:21
Last edited 13/03/2019 - 08:33

G'day Team OzBargain

My wife and I are planning to refinance the mortgage for a more competitive rate. Some facts:

  • Bought our PPOR in Canberra in September 2018, mortgage through a big4 bank
  • Currently on 3.86% variable rate
  • Our circumstances may change in the next 6 months (reference to prams, cots, nappies etc.)
  • Competitive mortgage broker has recommended Mortgage House.

Points for discussion are:

  • Is it wise to refinance, given we are on 3.86% with a big4 bank (less likely to increase rates due to negative publicity etc. post banking commission findings)?
  • Is Mortgage House a decent business? What is the likelihood of them increasing the rates after honey moon phase is over?
  • Has anyone refinanced with Mortgage House in the last 3 years and what has been their experience?

Appreciate your time and suggestions.

https://www.mortgagehouse.com.au/mortgage/lifestyle-first-re…

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mortgagehouse.com.au
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Comments

  • Some Human on 12/03/2019 - 10:53
    -5

    Diapers? They’re called nappies here, mate.

    • lordroy on 12/03/2019 - 10:57

      Thanks, mate.

  • dbui8743 on 12/03/2019 - 11:06

    3.86%, is it ANZ?

    • lordroy on 12/03/2019 - 11:15

      CBA with wealth package.

      • dcep on 12/03/2019 - 11:22

        wealth package, so that's with offset acct and you're looking to keep it ?

        don't think your mortgage house offer any offset facility

        and non-bank lender will raise rates quickest and highest when the wholesale market dries up with funding cost increased as depicted a decade ago as they're on 3 months / 6 months wholesale contract funding.

        • lordroy on 12/03/2019 - 11:33

          That's correct, CBA comes with an offset account.

          As per the broker, Mortgage House loan comes with 100% offset, redraw and unlimited additional repayment facilities.

          I see your points, very pertinent - thanks mate!

    • MeesusEff on 12/03/2019 - 12:54

      Lol, mine is 4.4% with ANZ , 3.86% would be better than what I started with April 2017 :(

      • thatonethere on 12/03/2019 - 13:00
        +2

        Just ring them and say you would like a discretion applied to your rate as it doesn't seem to be competitive.

        • lordroy on 12/03/2019 - 14:34

          Thanks mate

      • lordroy on 12/03/2019 - 14:35

        Sorry to hear that mate, have you tried to negotiate it with ANZ?

        • MeesusEff on 12/03/2019 - 14:48

          TBH its a bit hard, because I handle the finances and my husband doesnt get finances, budgeting etc, but hes the primary on the account and that gives me next to no access (I cant even see my credit card statements and we got hit $70 interest). He works odd hours and can't use his phone during work. We are in the process of moving out to an already paid for house, so not long to stick it out for I guess!

          • snowcold on 12/03/2019 - 21:55
            +1

            @MeesusEff: Run as far away from ANZ as possible. They are full of hidden costs and fraud. Once they gave me a credit card which I did not apply for and told me that they will not waiver the annual fee if I cancel the card. I had to threaten to take them to the ombudsman to get that sorted.

            Then they charged me twice for a ~$3000 transaction in two different billing periods. When I called them up, they gave me zero explanation.
            In another situation they charged me ~$100 in credit card interest. I have never defaulted a payment and pay my credit card bill in full every month.

            Finally moved my loan and credit card to ING and never been happier with a bank

            • Some Guy on 13/03/2019 - 10:14

              @snowcold: ING have just raised interest rates on my PPoR and IP loans by 0.15%. I've called several times over the last year or so to ask for more competitive rates (neither of my loans start with a 3), and they've pretty much just said " we can't do any better".

              Looking elsewhere is also futile as neither loan balances exceed $90k, let alone the usual minimum refinance amount of $250k.

              IMO, the OP already has a pretty good deal and to refinance after less than 1yr seems impertinent.

  • onetwothreefour on 12/03/2019 - 11:11

    Can you not speak to your bank and say you are thinking of switching and can they give you a better rate? You've only had your loan for 6 months and it is a hassle and can have costs involved to switch.

    • lordroy on 12/03/2019 - 11:18

      Tried - they are not willing to budge. Mortgage is quite large, so the costs are likely to be offset by the savings. And the broker has offered to cover some of the costs.

  • jellykingdom on 12/03/2019 - 11:40
    +1

    That is a bloody good rate!

  • Numpty21 on 12/03/2019 - 12:15

    I'm in a similar position, currently have an Aussie select mortgage and rate has increased 2 times in the past 6 months!
    Was looking into HSBC who have a 3.59% rate but no offset account, which isn't a deal breaker for me.
    Reviews for Mortgage House look quite good, i will also check them out.

    • dcep on 12/03/2019 - 14:37

      i remember someone here managed to get 3.59 with offset from hsbc through broker, ymmv.

      having said that, no guarantee hsbc won't hike existing loans % while keeping new loans at 3.59 to bait ppl like you to switch

      • Numpty21 on 12/03/2019 - 14:50

        True
        i'm sure it won't take long for that 3.59% rate to creep up….

    • dimitryp on 13/03/2019 - 19:12

      i refinanced to HSBC recently. The 3.59% can go to 3.55% if you "negotiate" with them. They also have a 3.60% premier product with offset & cc, but i think loan has to be $500k+ and has a $400 annual fee. If you're with one of their corporate partners though the fee is waived. Pretty good deal imho.

  • ShortyX on 12/03/2019 - 13:29

    What is your current mortgage amount? On $400k, you'll save about $70/month, but what are the change costs?

    My suggestion would be to stay with CBA. The rate could rise quickly with Mortgage House.

    • lordroy on 12/03/2019 - 14:36

      Thanks Shorty, current mortgage amount is $750k.

      You are right, rate could rise with Mortgage House. And therefore I'm hoping to get some intel from its current customers.

  • movieman on 12/03/2019 - 15:00

    OP.

    What about the new move, Athena?

    3.51% comparison…

    • lordroy on 12/03/2019 - 15:12

      Thanks @movieman. Haven't heard of Athena, are they any good?

    • lordroy on 12/03/2019 - 15:28

      Actually Athena are great, but they don't offer offset facility…

  • sweefu on 12/03/2019 - 18:18

    Broker here.

    Best rate I'm currently writing is 3.50% on a 3 year fixed rate with Bank of China, with all switching fees covered (excluding any fixed rate break costs and rate lock fee).

    Their application process is a little clunky, and assessment can take a while, but very competitive.

    Mortgage house is primarily funded by Bendigo / Adelaide Bank, and they have a good reputation (i'm not a mortgage house broker).

    • lordroy on 12/03/2019 - 22:30

      Thanks @sweefu. Question - will my broker be disadvantaged if I refinance before one year?

      • dimitryp on 13/03/2019 - 19:15

        i believe brokers lose out on their commission if their customer leaves before 2 years. Thats what was written into my mortgage w/broker contract a while back. Might be different for different banks.

      • sweefu on 14/03/2019 - 15:24

        Yes.

        Depending on the lender, they will get some or all of their commission clawed back.

        Did you sign a credit quote with the application paperwork? if so, the broker may invoice you directly for this commission.

  • Mugsy on 13/03/2019 - 07:07

    Does this have an offset account?

    • lordroy on 13/03/2019 - 08:24
      +1

      @Mugsy Mortgage House comes with 100% offset account.

      • Mugsy on 13/03/2019 - 16:27

        I found some time to look at the Mortgage House website properly and it looks like it's only a redraw facility for this loan. They have a table with lots of options but the 100% offset account has no tick against it.

        This looks comparable to the ING Mortgage Simplifier loan that only has a redraw facility but no annual fees… but at a better interest rate.

        Not useful for me unfortunately… I need offset accounts.

        • Neoika on 13/03/2019 - 20:30

          Advantage one has 100% offset account. Monthly fee is $10. It comes with an EFTPOS-only card.

          • Mugsy on 13/03/2019 - 22:29

            @Neoika: Hmmm, so it does. Thx for identifying that!

            I really shouldn't analyse personal finance when I'm at work and in a hurry - lol

  • blwnhr on 13/03/2019 - 08:13

    I can't comment on Mortgage House, but just refinanced from CBA (via broker) to Ubank (a NAB product) and the process was painless. We are borrowing <$200k for PPOR so the best rate we could get is 3.74%, but that's much better than CBA's non-negotiable 4.67%. For >$200k they are doing 3.55% for PPOR.

    Best thing is no fees, not to establish, not to leave, it costs nothing. They even organised some name change things for us with Land Titles. They have a free redraw account, works for us.

    • lordroy on 13/03/2019 - 08:28
      +2

      @blwnhr mate UBank is great, except that it doesn’t offer an offset account. Free redraw account is great too, except that ATO will treat the redrawn balance amount as non-tax deductible if and when the owner decide to buy another property as PPOR (while keeping the first one as investment).

      • dimitryp on 13/03/2019 - 19:16

        could you explain that please?

      • blwnhr on 14/03/2019 - 06:45

        Fair enough RE redraw Vs offset. To our domestic finance structure they are functionally the same but YMMV.

  • suti on 13/03/2019 - 23:19

    please… if its not an authorized depository institution (full list here: https://www.apra.gov.au/register-authorised-deposit-taking-i…) it does not have an offset account.

    an offset account would be covered under the 250k government guarantee which means it has to be an ADI, not some rubbish like mortgage house.

    • Edobear on 14/03/2019 - 02:01

      Broker here, a lender can have an offset account and not be an ADI by having the offset account held at an ADI. Case in point RESIMAC who is not an ADI hold their offset at Westpac which is then still covered by the government guarantee. Please check your facts.

      • lordroy on 14/03/2019 - 10:59

        @Edobear - this is good info.

      • suti on 14/03/2019 - 20:41

        ok, does the client actually fill in any paperwork to open a westpac account?

  • Stuntdriver on 15/03/2019 - 09:27

    im with mortgage house, have been pretty good, they did increase rates out of step with big banks about 12 months ago and i called them up and they reversed the increase as i said it wasnt competitive rate anymore.

    • 1968 on 25/03/2019 - 14:06

      Also with mortgage House, now at 3.79% with offset account $10pm.
      what interest rate did you negotiate?

      Found MH to be quite good, it’s my first mortgage so don’t have any comparison but their customer service is always very quick and easy.

  • fozzie on 15/03/2019 - 23:55

    We refinanced about 1 year ago. Both times we got our
    Mortgages we used a broker. Currently we are with CUA, no fees and 3.79 on approx 600k.
    Once I reach 2 years I’ll look into moving again. It just makes sense as it seems that we can save. Compared to previous bank (anz) we are saving about $200 a month!

  • mongie on 18/03/2019 - 22:09

    Super interesting… I’m with CBA wealth package and my rate just went from 3.86 to 4.11. My loan is $700K+. So this is a fairly big jump.

    A few months back I started to refinance with UBank at 3.59% but then it looked like we were going to sell and build (which UBank dont do) so backed out.

    Now we’re back to staying in our current place and I’m reassessing options… loans.com.au or Athena look like the lowest comparison rates…

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