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Compare home loan cashback offers
Looking for a home loan that can give you some cash back? Learn how cashback offers work, and compare your cashback home loan options.
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What is a cashback deal?
Mortgage lenders offer cashback deals as incentives to attract new home loan customers. These deals typically range between $1,000 and $5,000, though some lenders offer more.
Lenders often promote these deals as limited-time offers to encourage borrowers to choose them over others in a highly competitive mortgage market. This situation can be a win-win, provided the customer selects the right home loan for their situation. The lender gains a new customer, and the customer receives cash to help cover the cost of home loan fees and charges, conveyancing fees, or moving costs, relieving some of their budget pressure.
Cashback deals are most often offered to owner-occupiers and Australians who are refinancing their home loan, though a few cashback deals are available to first home buyers as well.
Who are cashback offers for?
Cashback deals are most often offered to owner-occupiers and Australians who are refinancing their home loan, though a few cashback deals are available to first home buyers as well.
Cashback offers are almost always offered to new customers, rather than a bank or lender’s existing customers. You may be able to switch to another lender to benefit from a cashback deal, but you may not have the option to refinance with your current lender and receive cashback.
What are the common features of a home loan cashback deal?
While every cashback deal is different, some features can be found shared amongst them, such as:
- A minimum loan amount – often $200,000 or more
- A minimum loan term
- A maximum loan to value ratio (LVR) – often 80% or less
Generally, the more cash you may be able to get back, the more specific the terms and conditions you may need to fulfil to qualify. Often the lower your LVR, the more cashback offers you may be eligible for.
In December 2024, there are 8 lenders offering cashback deals, with the majority of offers for refinancers only. These cashback deals include offers from big four bank ANZ, as well as online lenders.
Cashback offers available in December 2024
Lender | Cashback | Refinancers | New loans | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
ANZ* | $2,000 | Yes | Yes | Available for both Refinancers and New Loans (first home buyers only). Cashback of $3,000 for first home buyers only. |
ANZ Plus | $2,000 | Yes | No | Only for Refinancers. |
BankVic | $2,000-$3,000 | Yes | Yes | Available for both Refinancers and New Loans. $3,000 cashback exclusive to police and emergency service workers. $2,000 cashback exclusive to healthcare workers. |
Bank of China | $3,288-$2,000 | Yes | Yes | Available for both Refinancers and New Loans. |
ME Bank | $3,000 | Yes | No | Only for Refinancers. |
Credit Union SA | $2,000 | Yes | No | Only for Refinancers. Exclusive to SA education community members and family members. |
Greater Bank | $2,000-$2,500 | Yes | No | Only for Refinancers. |
IMB | $2,000-$4,000 | Yes | Yes | Available for both Refinancers and New Loans. |
Newcastle Permanent | $2,000 -$3,000 | Yes | Yes | Available for both Refinancers and New Loans. |
*For New Loans - FHB only
Source: RateCity.com.au. Data accurate as of 04 December 2024. Value of cashback you may be offered will vary depending on the lender's eligibility criteria.
The benefits of a cashback home loan offer
Cashback home loan deals can help make up some of your upfront costs when applying for a home loan or refinancing, such as upfront and discharge fees.
A cashback deal may even help pay for additional home expenses, such as lenders mortgage insurance (LMI), stamp duty, hiring removalists or making renovations to the property. Cashback may also offer other benefits, depending on your personal financial situation and how you choose to spend the funds.
Benefits of cashback payments:
- Pay for upfront costs
- Pay for stamp duty
- Pay for lenders mortgage insurance LMI)
- Pay for moving costs
- Pay for renovations
Are there any downsides to home loan cashback deals?
While having extra cash in your back pocket can be exciting, do your research and don’t choose your home loan based solely on a cashback offer.
There is more to a home loan than its perks. Said perks may include features like an offset account or redraw facility, or an introductory low interest rate that reverts to a higher ongoing rate after a year or two.
If a lender is offering a big cashback deal, but also charging a high ongoing variable rate or annual fee, the cashback deal may not provide as much value over the long term. A low-rate or low-fee home loan could prove less expensive, as the savings from refinancing to a low interest rate could equal or even exceed the value of a cashback offer in just a few years.
It may not be as easy to find cashback home loans to compare as it is with other home loan deals. Several major banks have been pulling their cashback deals from the market, due in part to record refinancing activity and increased competition between mortgage lenders. With fewer cashback home loan options to choose from, it may be harder to find a mortgage that also offers the right interest rate, fees, features, and benefits to suit your needs.
If a cashback deal is a priority for your home loan, remember to also consider the interest rate and fees being charged when comparing your mortgage options. Use a Home Loan Repayment Calculator to calculate your potential payments (weekly, fortnightly or monthly) with different cashback home loans and discover which one may best suit your budget and financial situation.
Calculate your potential repayments today
Are home loan rebates just for refinancing?
Currently, the majority of home loan cashback offers are for refinancing purposes only. While there are still some available for first home buyers, refinancers are being offered the lion’s share.
This is because the home loan market has been coming out of a period of historically low interest rates. After 13 cash rate hikes since April 2022, home loan customers were refinancing at record levels to avoid rising interest rates and to reduce their home loan repayments. Mortgage lenders were offering refinancers competitive cashback deals to encourage these customers onto their books, though almost half have begun slashing or pulling the plug on these cashback deals.
Plus, the cost of refinancing can be a barrier for some home loan customers. The cost of break fees for fixed rate home loans, application fees with a new lender, and other expenses can climb into hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Offering a refinance cashback deal that may help cover these switching costs is one way lenders can compete for business from refinancers.
How to get cash back from a home loan
- Find the best cashback offer you qualify for: Home loans are competitive, so you'll want to shop around for the best cashback offer you qualify for. Consider using one of RateCity's home loan comparison tables to find a suitable home loan for you to switch to.
- Compare the value to the cost: The lender offering the biggest cashback may not be offering the best overall deal for you and your household. Check the interest rates, fees, features and other benefits, then calculate whether a cashback home loan may leave you better off.
- Apply for the loan: Applying for a refinance cashback deal is like refinancing any other home loan – check your income and expenses, and find out if there are any fees to pay. If you have less than 20% equity in your property, you may also need to pay for Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI). Once you have your finances and forms ready, apply for your new home loan, and wait for your cashback to arrive.
- Get your cashback: Whether you end up with $2000, $5000, or even $10,000 in your bank account, you should get your switching sweetener quickly. You can use a home loan cashback to pay off part of your home loan’s switching fees, clear a credit card, add it to your savings, or spend it elsewhere.
What other special home loan offers are there?
Besides cashback, other special home loan deals selected lenders may offer owner-occupiers and investors include:
Special offers like these may be especially appealing to first time buyers and younger Australians, who may be earning lower incomes or have less savings available than other buyers. Perks like these can help home buyers keep costs down after putting their savings into a home loan deposit, while investors may be able to offset some of their upfront expenses and maintain a higher rate of return.
Keep in mind that there is more to a home loan than the perks it offers. Home loans with bonus features may also have stricter eligibility criteria, or extra terms and conditions to fulfil, which may not suit every borrower. It’s worth comparing a range of home loan factors before signing on the dotted line.
How do you compare home loans with cashback deals?
Use comparison tables
When searching for your first or next home loan, the comparison tables found on RateCity can help you compare the key factors of different mortgage options side by side (including cashbacks), so you can confidently compare apples with apples.
Check the interest rates
Carefully compare the interest rates of any home loans offering cashback deals to ensure the cashback value is not outweighed by the cost of higher interest charges.
Look at the fees
Your home loan may charge upfront fees and ongoing fees as standard, and if you refinance from a fixed rate loan too early, you may also have to pay a break fee. It’s worth looking at a home loan’s comparison rate, which combines its interest charges and standard fees into a single percentage. While comparison rates are all based on a $150,000 principal and interest loan paid over 25 years for consistency, they may still help to indicate the loan’s ‘true’ overall cost, and how this may affect the cashback’s value.
Consider the features
Lenders may offer some helpful home loan features, such as an offset account, a redraw facility or unlimited free additional repayments. If flexibility is important to you, it may be worth comparing home loans that offer these features as well as cashback.
Look at the lender
It's not enough to love the cashback you're being offered - you need to like the lender as well. Read reviews online and seek out word of mouth on their customer service, innovative fintech, and branch access, especially if you rely on face-to-face customer service.
Calculate the value
Some mortgage lenders may charge higher interest rates or fees for cashback loans than for more basic ‘no-frills’ home loan options. You may want to calculate whether the benefit of cashback outweighs any of these additional costs. A Home Loan Repayment Calculator could help you compare the cashback amount to the potential savings offered by a lower interest rate, and work out which option may offer you the most value.
Compare Real Time Ratings™
Finally, to help you narrow down your shortlist of options, you may want to look at each home loan product’s Real Time Ratings™ score. Real Time Ratings™ is RateCity’s rating system that ranks home loans out of five, based on their cost and flexibility. Unlike other comparison pages which rank their products once or twice a year, Real Time Ratings™ results are updated regularly to help them stay as accurate as possible.
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^Words such as "top", "best", "cheapest" or "lowest" are not a recommendation or rating of products. This page compares a range of products from selected providers and not all products or providers are included in the comparison. There is no such thing as a 'one- size-fits-all' financial product. The best loan, credit card, superannuation account or bank account for you might not be the best choice for someone else. Before selecting any financial product you should read the fine print carefully, including the product disclosure statement, target market determination fact sheet or terms and conditions document and obtain professional financial advice on whether a product is right for you and your finances.