Athena Home Loans
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Athena is an online-only mortgage provider based in Sydney. As a digital non-bank lender, Athena can provide competitive interest rates and personalised customer service to help customers save time and money on their mortgage. Athena also offers like-for-like loans, where existing Athena customers get to enjoy the same interest rates as new customers, so nobody misses out on the best available rate from Athena.
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Athena home loans rates
Product | Advertised Rate | Estimated upfront fees | Company | Comparison Rate* | Ongoing fee | Go to site | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2.59% Variable | $0 | Owner Occupier Loan Principal & Interest Variable Rate | 2.55% | $0 | More details | ||
3.09% Variable | $0 | Owner Occupier Interest Only Loan | 2.74% | $0 | More details | ||
2.99% Variable | $0 | Investor Loan | 2.95% | $0 | More details | ||
3.09% Variable | $0 | Investor Interest Only Loan | 2.99% | $0 | More details |
- Like-for-like loans
- No application fees, ongoing fees or exit fees
- Bonus loyalty discount
- Currently only available to refinancers
- Not available to all self-employed borrowers
- Not available for selected properties e.g. apartments built during 2013 or later
How to apply for an Athena home loan
You can apply for an Athena home loan online via the Athena website. You can also contact Athena by phone for more information.
To apply for an Athena home loan, you’ll need to fulfil the following criteria:
- Up to 2 applicants in total, over the age of 18
- Borrow 80% or less of the value of your property. In certain cases you might only be able to borrow up to 70%.
- At least one applicant is employed, including full-time, part-time & casual PAYG employment
- Your property is in a capital city or major population centre
- Australian/NZ citizens (living in Australia) or permanent residents
- You have good credit history
About Athena home loans
Athena offers a relatively small selection of home loan options compared to some other mortgage lenders. There are principal and interest and interest-only home loan options for owner occupiers and investors available, with no application fees, ongoing fees or annual fees. These loans can also offer access to fee-free extra repayments and redraws. Athena has plans in place to release additional loan options in the future, to suit a greater variety of households and budgets.
Once you’ve successfully applied for an Athena home loan, you’ll be able to access your account by logging in online at the Athena website. You can also access additional information and resources, including home loan calculators to help you estimate your potential savings if you were to refinance and switch to an Athena home loan.
Athena home loan rates
As an online-only lender, Athena is able to offer relatively competitive interest rates on its home loans compared to some larger banks. Some of Athena’s lowest rates are available to owner-occupiers paying principal and interest, with P&I investors paying slightly higher rates. Owner-occupiers and investors who choose to pay interest only for up to five years will pay higher interest rates.
Athena offers interest rate discounts as a loyalty bonus, which can build up over five years to lower your rate by an extra 0.05%. Upfront opening discounts may also be available.
Athena offers like-for-like home loans, to help keep Athena customers from missing out on savings. If Athena offers a lower home loan interest rate to new customers, existing Athena customers with the same type of mortgage will receive an automatic rate match.
Athena home loans review
Owner-occupiers and investors can get principal and interest or interest-only home loans from Athena, provided they have a loan to value ratio (LVR) of 80% or less, a good credit history, a property in a capital city or regional centre, and aren’t self-employed. Athena may not be able to offer mortgages on selected property types, such as apartments in buildings over 7 storeys that were built in 2013 or later.
Athena’s interest rates are competitive, and allow borrowers to enjoy loyalty discounts over time. Plus, like-for-like loans means existing Athena customers should enjoy the same interest savings as new customers in the future.
Athena doesn’t charge fees for its home loans, so customers may only need to pay third party costs on their home loan. Unlimited extra repayments are available, plus fee-free redraws for when you want your extra savings back in your pocket.
- ALL
- REFINANCE
- FIXED RATE
- FIRST HOME BUYER
- INVESTOR
- NEXT HOME BUYER
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FAQs
The fastest way to find out what the lowest interest rates on the market are is to use a comparison website.
While a low interest rate is highly preferable, it is not the only factor that will determine whether a particular loan is right for you.
Loans with low interest rates can often include hidden catches, such as high fees or a period of low rates which jumps up after the introductory period has ended.
To work out the best value for money, have a look at a loan’s comparison rate and read the fine print to get across all the fees and charges that you could be theoretically charged over the life of the loan.
The home loan market is complex. With almost 4,000 different loans on offer, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to work out which loans work for you.
That’s where Real Time RatingsTM can help. Our system automatically filters out loans that don’t fit your requirements and ranks the remaining loans based on your individual loan requirements and preferences.
Best of all, the ratings are calculated in real time so you know you’re getting the most current information.
Following the Global Financial Crisis, no-deposit loans, as they once used to be known, have largely been removed from the market. Now, if you wish to enter the market with no deposit, you will require a property of your own to secure a loan against or the assistance of a guarantor.
The answer to this question is dependent on your personal circumstances – there is no best time for refinancing that will apply to everyone.
If you want a lower interest rate but are happy with the other aspects of your loan it may be worth calling your lender to see if you can negotiate a better deal. If you have some equity up your sleeve – at least 20 per cent – and have done your homework to see what other lenders are offering new customers, pick up the phone to your bank and negotiate. If they aren’t prepared to offer you lower rate or fees, then you’ve already done the research, so consider switching.
If you are on a variable rate home loan, every so often your rate will be subject to increases and decreases. Rate changes are determined by your lender, not the Reserve Bank of Australia, however often when the RBA changes the cash rate, a number of banks will follow suit, at least to some extent. You can use RateCity cash rate to check how the latest interest rate change affected your mortgage interest rate.
When your rate rises, you will be required to pay your bank more each month in mortgage repayments. Similarly, if your interest rate is cut, then your monthly repayments will decrease. Your lender will notify you of what your new repayments will be, although you can do the calculations yourself, and compare other home loan rates using our mortgage calculator.
There is no way of conclusively predicting when interest rates will go up or down on home loans so if you prefer a more stable approach consider opting for a fixed rate loan.
The comparison rate is a more inclusive way of comparing home loans that factors in not only on the interest rate but also the majority of upfront and ongoing charges that add to the total cost of a home loan.
The rate is calculated using an industry-wide formula based on a $150,000 loan over a 25-year period and includes things like revert rates after an introductory or fixed rate period, application fees and monthly account keeping fees.
In Australia, all lenders are required by law to publish the comparison rate alongside their advertised rate so people can compare products easily.
Also known as a construction home loan, a building in course of erection (BICOE) loan loan allows you to draw down funds as a building project advances in order to pay the builders. This option is available on selected variable rate loans.
Refinancing your home loan can involve a bit of paperwork but if you are moving on to a lower rate, it can save you thousands of dollars in the long-run. The first step is finding another loan on the market that you think will save you money over time or offer features that your current loan does not have. Once you have selected a couple of loans you are interested in, compare them with your current loan to see if you will save money in the long term on interest rates and fees. Remember to factor in any break fees and set up fees when assessing the cost of switching.
Once you have decided on a new loan it is simply a matter of contacting your existing and future lender to get the new loan set up. Beware that some lenders will revert your loan back to a 25 or 30 year term when you refinance which may mean initial lower repayments but may cost you more in the long run.
Real Time RatingsTM is the only online system that ranks the home loan market based on your personal borrowing preferences. Until now, home loans have been rated based on outdated data. Our system is unique because it reacts to changes as soon as we update our database.
They’re impersonal
Most comparison sites give you information about rates, fees and features, but expect you’ll pay more with a low advertised rate and $400 ongoing fee or a slightly higher rate and no ongoing fee. The answer is different for each borrower and depends on a number of variables, in particular how big your loan is. Comparisons are either done based on just today or projected over a full 25 or 30 year loan. That’s not how people borrow these days. While you may take a 30 year loan, most borrowers will either upgrade their house or switch their home loan within the first five years.
You’re also expected to know exactly which features you want. This is fine for the experienced borrower, but most people know some flexibility is a good thing, but don’t know exactly which features offer more flexibility than others.
What is the flexibility score?
Today’s home loans often try to lure borrowers with a range of flexible features, including offset accounts, redraw facilities, repayment frequency options, repayment holidays, split loan options and portability. Real Time Ratings™ weights each of these features based on popularity and gives loans a ‘flexibility score’ based on how much they cater to borrowers’ needs over time. The aim is to give a higher score to loans which give borrowers more features and options.
They’re not always timely
In today’s competitive home loan market, lenders are releasing new offers almost daily. These offers are often some of the most attractive deals in the market, but won’t get rated by traditional ratings systems for up to a year.
The assumptions are out of date
The comparison rate is based on a loan size of $150,000 and a loan term of 25 years. However, the typical loan size is much higher than that. Million dollar loans are becoming increasingly common, especially if you live in metropolitan parts of Australia, like Sydney and Melbourne. It’s also uncommon for borrowers to hold a loan for 25 years. The typical shelf life for a home loan is a few years.
The other problem is because it’s a percentage, the difference between 3.9 or 3.7 per cent on a $500,000 doesn’t sound like much, but equals around $683 a year. Real Time Ratings™ not only looks at the difference in the monthly repayments, but it will work out the actual cost difference once fees are taken into consideration.