This is why customers are leaving banks

Whether they were looking for a lower interest rate, flexible extras and package deals or more personalised customer service, droves of people have been motivated to refinance their home loan with Newcastle Permanent.

New customers told us they refinanced away from one of our competitors to Newcastle Permanent’s customer-owned banking model for several key reasons, including findings of the banking royal commission.

Timothy, from Canberra, said he and his wife had been a bank customer for half a century before they moved their assets.

“We had been with a bank for over 50 years but decided to try talking to a mortgage broker who recommended a deal with Newcastle Permanent at a significantly better rate,” he said. “We’re still happy we made the change.”

Michael, from Newcastle, said: “Newcastle Permanent had some of the best rates and all of the extra perks, like an offset account. The transition was easy and handled really well.”

Mark, from Sydney, said he switched for, “a better interest rate and ability to have multiple offset accounts for a single loan.”

Kylie, of East Maitland, said Newcastle Permanent’s customer-owned business model was a motivating factor for her changing banks. “We had little faith in to make morally good decisions when concerning their customers. We prefer a financial institution that is not beholden to shareholders,” she said.

Fiona from Dubbo: gained a better value home loan and much better customer service after changing from a bank.

Not only have customers been saving money and getting personalised, friendly customer service, most said they had also found the process of changing home loans and financial institutions to be simple.

Chris from Rutherford agreed: “the switch was a simple process. The lending manager was available via phone or email to help guide us through the process. Everyone was friendly and helpful,” he said.

Senior Product Manager for Home Loans and Deposits David Brown said the positive comments from new customers were great recognition of the value Newcastle Permanent’s home loans provide.

“We do get a lot of customers coming to us from the big four banks because we can offer great interest rates and package deals, which is why we’re the Mozo Experts Choice Home Lender of the Year for 2018, and why we regularly beat the major banks for customer satisfaction ,” he said. “And personalised customer service is what we pride ourselves on.”

“We consistently offer some of the most competitive interest rates in the market. And we can provide added extras such as multiple 100% offset accounts and fee-free redraw access to approved customers. When you compare our home loans with those of the major banks, you can see that our products can save people a lot of money.”

"We can offer our current and future customers a premium product and service experience because we’re 100% customer-owned,” he said. “This means that we don’t operate like a major bank to make profits for shareholders. Our focus is on reinvesting in our business to offer competitive rates for our customers and support our community.”