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Westpac Flexi First Option Home Loan

Posted May 6th, 2010 and last modified January 30th, 2012

Westpac Flexi First Option Home LoanFind out more about the productFind out more about the productFind out more about the product

If you’re looking for a home loan but don’t want to pay for all the options that you aren’t going to use then maybe you should look at the Westpac flexi option home loan. This home loan is set up so the customer gets a competitively priced home loan with all the features on a pay as you go basis.

First Time Home Buyer?

As a first time home buyer, you likely face a whole lot of decisions, and chances are you don’t want anymore thrown at you. You’ve got to choose your home, find your insurance, pick a loan that’s right for you, probably buy new furniture, line up movers and so much more, the last thing you want to do is look at one more choice. However, you’re here because you know that you’re making a very large investment in your family and the future of said family. To that end, you want to make sure you make all of the best choices possible.

You can choose to get a basic home loan, or you can get a loaded package loan with all the bells and whistles. For the first time home buyer, you’re likely to choose the basic mortgage, simply because of the lower rates and lack of complexity. Sure, the other loans have some nice features – like portability, redraw, offset, and so on – but do you really need all that? Furthermore, what is all of that?

What if there was a loan that sat somewhere in the middle, without the annual fee for the options? What if there was a loan like the Westpac Flexi First Option Home Loan… Wait, what?

Introducing The Westpac Flexi First Option Home Loan

So, what is this loan that sits in the middle and makes the most of both loans? It’s the Westpac Flexi First Option Home Loan, and it’s designed to provide you with a low interest rate as well as many of the options of package loans. You get the loan with no annual service fees, no monthly maintenance fees, but you keep your choice to split your loan, redraw, top up your loan or to use a lot of the other popular features in many package loans. With the Flexi First Option Home Loan, you only pay for your options when you actually use them.

How Does the Loan Work?

The Westpac Flexi First Option Home Loan is just like a basic home loan. It offers borrowers a low rate of 6.66% annually, variable. There are $0 annual service fees and you don’t have to worry about a monthly maintenance fee either. You can choose from some of the best features of a packages loan, based on a “pay as you go” model where you pay for the features only when you use them, instead of paying high yearly or monthly fees.

The features that you can use include a redraw facility to use your money as you need it, topping up your loan, the ability to use progressive draw for building projects, and you can change properties and keep the exact same loan account with portability.

If you choose to take maternal/paternal leave, an extended holiday or make renovations, you can do so with a 50% reduction to your payments for a time. You can use any, or all, of these features at any time by simply paying for their use.

Features Of The Westpac Flexi First Option Home Loan

This home loan has a large range of features and options with the main difference being that they are based on a user pay system, this means that you only pay for the options that you need when you need them and you’re not paying for packages that you don’t need. Features included from Westpac are:

  • Fees and Charges The standard fees and charges on the Westpac flexi first option home loan are: A one off establishment fee of $600; $0 annual fee; No monthly account fee.
  • Interest only You have the option of only having to pay the interest portion of your home loan with a Westpac flexi home loan. The option of interest only payments is available for up to ten years and is a great way to free up some extra cash in times when money is tight.
  • Keep your account number. If approved by the bank this option allows you to keep the same account number if you move to a different to property, this saves you the hassle of having to go through the whole establishment process.
  • Reduce your repayments. This allows the home loan customer to reduce their loan repayments by up to 50% for a period of up to six months, if you have some large expenses coming up such as renovations. This option is available to customers after they have had their Westpac flexi home loan for twelve months.
  • Repayment options. You can make payments to your Westpac flexi home loan either weekly monthly of fortnightly this means that you’re sure to find a repayment option that suits your financial situation but you must pay your home loan via direct debt.
  • Progress draw down. This means that you can use the Westpac flexi loan for building a new house. This means that the home loan customer can draw down on the home loan to pay the builder or contractors. This means that you only pay interest on the balance that you have drawn saving you money.
  • Redraw. The redraw facility offered by Westpac on their flexi home loan gives you same day access to the extra repayments you have made on your home loan, this means that you can make extra repayments on your home loan with the confidence of being able to access the money if some unexpected expenses arise.
  • Top up. This feature means that the Westpac flexi first home loan customer is able to increase the amount that you borrow if you need additional funds.
  • Repayment holiday. The repayment holiday feature that’s offered by Westpac on their flexi first home loan means that you can have a break from your home loan repayments as long as you’re ahead on your repayments, this is a great option if you need to take a break from your repayment like if you are going on holiday.

Who Should Get This Loan?

Any borrower who is looking for a low-rate, cost effective mortgage will find many uses for this loan. If you’d like access to all of the features of a package loan, without all of the ongoing fees and a low interest rate, then the Westpac Flexi First Option Home Loan is the loan for you. You’ll only have to pay for the extra features when you actually make use of them.

You can choose to use the progressive draw included with the loan if you’re building a home, or you can even reduce your payments by as much as 50% in the event that you have a child for maternity and/or paternity leave. You can use the same facility for taking an extended holiday, conducting renovations or you can even take a break from your payments if you’re currently ahead of the payment schedule. If you’re able to get the First Home Owner’s Grant, you get even more: Westpac is currently offering a limited time waive of their $600 application fee.

Investors can choose this loan and take advantage of interest only payments for a maximum of the first ten years of the mortgage.

If you like the sound of the Westpac First flexi option home loan with its pay as you go policy but would like to find out about other home loans just to make sure that it’s right for you then you can do so by contacting Home Loan Finder to discuss your options. We can also help you organise the entire approvals and application process, right in your own home, when it suits you.




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