Overview

flagFounded: 1985

businessOwned by: ASX Listed

monetization_onFunded by: Wholesale capital markets

securityLMI Provider: Genworth, QBE LMI and Self-Insured

account_balanceLender type: Non-Bank, Specialist Lender
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Suncorp has signed an agreement to sell its banking business to ANZ. Click here to read our lender review of ANZ.

Suncorp Bank occasionally has some great home loan specials with interest rates below the major banks. However, it operates quite differently to the majors, with different home loan types and lending policies.

Different borrowers suit Suncorp at different times depending on what specials they have available. Sometimes they have great deals for first home buyers and at other times they’re offering specials to refinance your home loan to Suncorp.

How do Suncorp’s home loans compare?

Pros

Cons

  • They may not be offering you a great deal based on your unique situation
  • Their lending policy is inconsistent so sometimes they decline good customers
  • Depending on how busy they are, they may be slow to assess your application
  • Unusual employment loans such as casual, contract or temporary agency workers
  • Subpar with rental, dividend, bonus and commission income types
  • Self-employed borrowers are referred to a higher credit authority for review and require more up to date documentation
  • Construction loans
  • Can’t do company or stratum title units
  • Can’t do non-resident mortgages unless it’s an Australian citizen temporarily living overseas
  • Withdrawal of superannuation funds is not accepted as equity
  • Loans for studio apartments are restricted to Sydney suburbs only
  • Strict criteria on residential property with multiple dwellings like a granny flat, duplexes without individual title, etc.

What home loans types do they have?

Suncorp’s Back To Basics Loan is a no frills loan with no offset account. At times they have some good specials which make this a competitive home loan, but most of the time it is only suitable for small home loans.

Suncorp’s Home Plus Package is their professional pack which has discounted interest rates and fees in return for paying an annual fee. When they have a special offer, this can be one of the market leaders, but at other times, there are better options.

Suncorp loves to do specials with their 3 year and 5 year Fixed Rate Loans. Since you’re locking in for such a long period of time it pays to shop around before you commit for the long term.

Suncorp’s Access Equity Loan is a line of credit that you can use to draw down funds to buy shares. It’s not too popular because it has a higher interest rate and in most cases it makes more sense to go with the Home Plus Package and an offset account.

What home loans do you want again?

The problem we’ve faced with Suncorp is that they’ve chopped and changed their target market. This means that customers don’t have the certainty that Suncorp will give them a competitive offer next time they get a home loan.

Firstly, they stopped doing construction loans altogether. Then they weren’t interested in fixed rate loans. Then they came back with some of the best deals for 95% home loans. They lent too much out at 95% so then they offered special pricing for anyone to refinance if they had a lot of equity.

It hasn’t built a good relationship with their mortgage broker partners and it hasn’t given confidence to their customers. We’re not really sure what they’re going to be targeting next.

Tip for applying with Suncorp Bank

Use Suncorp Actual Documentation Requirements (ADR) Checklist Home Lending to prepare for your mortgage application.

Note: This is the latest submission checklist as of November 2020. Please refer to Suncorp Bank for their most up-to-date document requirements.

Suncorp client story

Brian, NSW

Goal

To buy first home..

Situation

No genuine savings, first home buyer, borrowing 90% of the property value.

Read more stories

Background

Having saved a decent deposit, Anthony was in the market to buy his first home.

Although he was looking to buy in the country, it was a major regional centre which meant the location wouldn’t be an issue for a bank.

The problem was that he wanted to borrow around 90% of the property value (LVR) and he had saved much of his deposit in money jars rather than making regular contributions to a savings account.

Instead of making regular, smaller deposits of his savings into a bank account, he instead deposited more than $20,000 in one go.

As a result, he didn’t meet the genuine savings requirement, which most lenders ask for when borrowing over 85% LVR.

Solution

Suncorp is one of the few lenders that don’t need to see genuine savings if you’re borrowing at 90% of the property value.

At the time, they were also able to offer the cheapest rate for a no genuine savings home loan and a $395 application fee for the life of the mortgage.

Coupled with the fact that Anthony was earning a great income, his mortgage broker simply made a note that Anthony had, in fact, saved the deposit himself with regular contributions to his money jar.

Based on Suncorp’s policy, Anthony’s home loan was approved with no further questions asked.

Compare Suncorp to other lenders

Not sure which lender is right for you? Our Home Loan Experts can help!

Talk to one of our mortgage brokers by calling us on 1300 889 743 or complete our free assessment form.