What to look for in a home loan lender

You’ll need to make many choices when securing a home loan. From the most suitable type of loan and interest rate, through to extra options such as a redraw facility, making the right decisions early on can play a huge part in ensuring your repayments process runs smoothly and is stress-free. But what about the choice of lender?

In Australia, there are dozens of banks and lenders that lend money to borrowers for property purchases, and it can be daunting working out which option is right for you. A mortgage broker can make the process much simpler, but it’s still worth knowing as much as possible about the various options out there.

What makes a good home loan lender? 

It goes without saying that preferred home loan lenders have a good track record and great customer service. Of course, the biggest consideration when choosing a lender is whether your loan will be approved, but even if it’s not, there’re still plenty of options. From the traditional big banks to alternatives such as mutuals, credit unions and building societies, you have all sorts of options available, including the plethora of online-only lenders that have sprung up in recent years.

Regardless of which type of lender you go with, there are several key areas to consider when looking through the options:

• Lender credit policy: Each lender has its own policy for what constitutes good credit. If you don’t meet these criteria, you’ll need to look at other options.
• Interest rate: Although this is only applicable at the time of approval, it gives you a good idea of which lender is the cheapest.
• Loan fees and features: Certain lenders offer additional features such as an offset account that can make a loan more flexible, but also be aware of any fees charged as part of the process.

Wading through all this information to find the best lender for you can be daunting, which is where a mortgage broker can assist.

Deciding which mortgage provider to go with can be a confusing process.

Finding a lender using a mortgage broker

One of the biggest benefits of securing a loan through a mortgage broker is that they’ll be able to access loans from a wide variety of lenders. This makes it much easier to compare the options and find the perfect fit. Here at Smartline, we pride ourselves on working with the great providers, who we select based on the quality of their loans and customer service.