Why local businesses choose us

Newcastle’s iconic Three Monkeys Café already meant a lot to co-owners, Anthony and Nic, before they bought into the business.

“I’d been in Three Monkeys as a customer before and just loved the place. It combined all the elements of what I was passionate about – coffee, food and people. When I heard it was up for sale 17 years ago, I was back at 6am the next day waiting for the owner to make an offer,” Anthony said.

After working at the Café throughout university before taking on a management role for five years, Nic became a partner 12 months ago.

“Both Anthony and I are very people-orientated. I love that Three Monkeys brings everyone together and we have regular customers – some that have been coming ever since Anthony bought the business – who know all the staff’s names and it’s very personal,” Nic said.

Friendly and personal service

Knowing the difference that friendly customer service can make, Anthony didn’t consider going with any other institution when he took out a business loan.

“I liked the idea of using local and the real strength of Newcastle Permanent is the staff. What I love is that you can go into a branch and two or three times later everyone knows who you are and wants to help you out,” Anthony said.

“We’re so lucky to do what we do and are grateful that Newcastle Permanent makes the administration side of things easy so we can just get on with focusing on the business and our customers.”

Solving problems together

Since trading in Sydney’s corporate world for local café life, Anthony said their business relationship manager has been there to help every step of the way.

“I’ve been banking with Newcastle Permanent for almost 40 years and knew Andrew from the Business Solutions team outside of work as well,” Anthony said.

“There was one time I had an issue with my redraw limit and Andrew went above and beyond to fix it up. It was a Friday afternoon just before I flew out overseas and by Sunday it had been sorted. If I was with a big bank, I don’t think they would have provided that same level of service.

“As well as the business, both Nic and I have home loans with Newcastle Permanent and we know if we have any issues we can just call up and get it fixed quickly without being put on hold.”

Support for family business

Bellinda and Sean Fenwick, and their son Bailey, run a family-owned mechanics workshop in Anna Bay that has been a part of the beach-side community for more than 50 years.

“My father-in-law built the business from the ground up,” Bellinda said. “He bought the land and he built the premises 55 years ago. When my husband was 15, he started working with his dad as an apprentice. Then 15 years ago, my husband and I took over running it, so my father-in-law could retire. And three years ago we bought the premises from him too.”

After turning to Newcastle Permanent for a business loan to finance the purchase, Bellinda and Sean have been customers for 17 years since.

“I mostly do all my banking at the Salamander Bay branch and I can honestly say that I’ve actually become friends with some of the staff just through banking there,” Bellinda said.