Media Centre
29 June 2011
How the Federal Government's ban on home loan exit fees will affect you
ME Bank welcomes Friday's ban by the Federal Government on home loan exit fees. For too long, existing customers have been trapped into home loans and forced to watch their bank bend over backwards to lure new customers with special deals.
At ME Bank, we have always taken a customer-centric approach and regarded responsible lending as more important than maximising our own margins. We believe in treating new and existing customers equally, and have never offered lower rates to attract new customers at the expense of our existing customer base.
According to the Treasurer, the new legislation will mean "lenders will have to win the loyalty of their customers with good service and competitive lending rates, not by shackling their customers to mortgage exit fees". It is our hope that it will shine a light on the profit-driven practices of banks that undervalue the loyalty and satisfaction levels of their existing customers, and represents a fantastic opportunity for the entire lending sector to adopt greater transparency and fairer lending practices.
This ban on home loan exit fees will finally give customers the freedom and flexibility to find a bank with a highly competitive rate and no hidden fees, including no fees to fix, split or top up the loan, free redraw facility, flexible payment options and free phone and internet banking services.
We also don't charge application or ongoing fees for our standard variable loans at ME Bank. However, like any business we have to balance our responsibilities to our shareholders and our commitment to provide simple, fair and low-cost banking. To this end, we will be introducing two new 'service' fees which are significantly lower than our competitors' fees.
- The Valuation Fee is only charged when required and is a simple flat fee of $150.
- The Solicitor's Fee is a one-off, flat fee of $150, regardless of whether customers have multiple properties or interstate securities.
ME Bank will continue to value our customers above all else and to offer them simple, fair and low-cost banking solutions. We believe that the Federal Government's ban on mortgage exit fees is a vital step forward for transparency and fairer lending practices, and look forward to operating in this new environment after July 1.
ME Bank is the only bank in Australia which is 100 percent owned by Australia's super industry funds.
Contact ME
- Product Enquiries
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Personal Ph 13 15 63 ME Contact Centre open
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Sat: 9am - 5pm (EST)Business Ph 1300 658 108 ME Business Contact Centre open
Mon - Fri: 9am - 5pm (EST) - Existing Customers
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Personal Ph 1300 654 998 ME Contact Centre open
Mon - Fri: 8am - 8pm,
Sat: 9am - 5pm (EST)Business Ph 1300 658 108 ME Business Contact Centre open
Mon - Fri: 9am - 5pm (EST) - Phone Banking
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Personal Ph 1300 654 998 Business Ph 1300 658 108