Back in our ma and pa’s days such was the personal relationship with your bank that they knew everything about you, your loans , maybe even what you liked on your toast, and that was how we liked it.
These days, people's interactions with their bank are mostly transactional - especially when it comes to choosing a mortgage
But us humans still appreciate the small details of personal service.
You may get a bank appointment after two weeks with someone you don’t know to make one of the biggest decisions of your life. It seems ludicrous but that is how the world of banking has evolved, the branches are closing due to high running costs.
And due to sheer number of mortgages that are processed in a month mortgage-approvals are now a tick-box process rather than based on a gut decision.
The banks have long dangled the carrot of changing institutions by offering, sometimes outrageous, cash contributions for coming over to them, in the thousands of dollars often and that is a hard carrot to ignore.
But in the past two months the amount of cash contributions has significantly reduced.
Its not all sad news, there are still a number of reasons you might consider changing banks. Banks offer a selection of mortgage accounts with different functions - revolving credit accounts, offset accounts, floating accounts, and fixed rate accounts you can increase payments on without penalty, or make a bulk payment on without penalty.
Perhaps the service you have had, either at the branch or over the phone has just been sub-par.
With rates of under 3 percent, well over 80 percent of New Zealand mortgages are currently on a fixed rate so moving bank has to be timed correctly to avoid break fees.
If you’ve timed it correctly, you’ll end up changing banks at the same time as your fixed rate matures and there will be no break fees. If not then we can tell the the pros, cons and costs involved in changing.
You may need to accept some break costs whenever you change banks. You will also need to pay back any cash contribution your current bank has given you if that was received within two to four years (different banks have different policies on this).
If you are looking at doing any renovations, new purchase, top up for a new car or to consolidate debt then often the costs are outweighed by the benefits.
Here are some considerations to changing banks:
- Consider what the issue with your current bank is and if another bank can and will make you a significantly better offer or have a better product.
- We can find out what it will cost to leave your bank including break fees and repayment of cash contributions , its easy, its our job to do the running around for you
- Having us calculate the risks for you can help you make a quick clear decision based on the facts
- As brokers we have the daily inside word on what banks are offering. If we think you are better off staying put we will tell you that too
- Added bonus you don’t need to make a future appointment, we can talk to you straight away and do everything over the phone and internet
Book a Meeting
Hayley Devoy
Mortgage Advisor
Phone: 027 271 1737
Email: [email protected]