Guest article from Finder money editor Richard Whitten
BCU Bank put in a strong showing at the 2023 Finder Home Loans Awards, receiving highly commended results for five award categories.
BCU's home loans scored highly commended in the following categories:
• Best Owner Occupier Fixed Home Loan - 2 year
• Best Owner Occupier Fixed Home Loan - 3 year
• Best Owner Occupier Refinance Fixed
• Best Investor Fixed Home Loan - 1 year
• Best Investor Fixed Home Loan - 3 year
How the 2023 Finder Home Loans Awards work
Finder’s experts analysed more than 9,000 home loans in our database to determine the winners of our awards this year.
We first selected the eligible loans for each category, with restrictions based on a loan’s purpose, rate type, and minimum deposit size. Then we scored the eligible loans based on criteria, such as:
1. The interest rate
2. The loan fees
3. If the loan has an offset account
While every borrower wants something slightly different, a lower interest rate saves you money. That's why our awards methodology places a strong emphasis on low rates - the lower the better.
We also take home loan fees into consideration. We do this by adding together the cost of multiple loan fees, including application, settlement, valuation, and ongoing fees. Loans with low or zero fees score higher.
And finally, for many awards categories we also consider if the loan has a 100% offset account. Loans that have this handy feature score a little higher as well as it allows borrowers to save money in their home loan and use it to spend when they need it.
The Finder verdict
Overall, Finder's results show that across five different award categories, BCU's home loans scored highly compared to other loans on the market.
BCU home loans had consistently low fees across the 12 months of data we examined. These home loans often came with an offset account, one of the most useful loan features that help borrowers save money.And most importantly, BCU's home loans had interest rates that were consistently among the market's lowest. This is the most important metric we consider, because a competitive interest rate has the biggest impact on reducing a borrower's costs.
Author bio: Richard Whitten is a money editor at Finder, and has been covering home loans, property and personal finance for the last six years. He has written for Yahoo Finance, Money Magazine and Homely, and has appeared on various radio shows nationwide. Richard enjoys helping people understand the ins and outs of mortgages so they can make smarter property decisions.