Adelaide Bank scraps upfront fees

The waiver applies to owner-occupied and principal and interest loans (including both fixed and variable rate loan options) and covers all loan-to-value ratio tiers and ‘new to bank’ customers. In-flight deals are also covered in the fee waiver, the bank said.

The non-major bank has estimated that the scrapping of upfront home loan fees for new customers means borrowers would save up to $498.

Speaking of the move to scrap upfront fees for home loans, Adelaide Bank’s general manager of third-party banking Darren Kasehagen said he hoped the initiative would alleviate some of the cost-of-living pressures borrowers face and provide brokers with “another reason to consider Adelaide Bank”.

He commented: “Adelaide Bank is known among brokers for our quality products, competitive pricing and attractive service levels. By waiving application and settlement fees, we are giving brokers yet another reason to consider recommending our products.”

Adelaide Bank’s new head of broker Natalie Sheehan added: “This offer builds on our compelling proposition for brokers and we’ve seen a great take-up of this offer already, so to help more of our customers, Adelaide Bank [has] decided to implement these savings indefinitely.”

Lenders innovating to attract borrowers

The change from Adelaide Bank forms part of a move to help save borrowers more money in a time of high inflation and rising rates. Indeed, mortgage rates are now at their highest level for over a decade, following 11 cash rate hikes in a year.

Given strong refinancing competition in market at the moment, several lenders have been tweaking their offerings to attract more borrowers and broker businesses. Pepper Money recently launched a two-year home loan offer that enables owner-occupier and investor borrowers to fix their interest rate with no break costs, while some non-bank lenders have been scrapping clawbacks.

It comes ahead of an expected boom in mortgage demand as a large proportion of borrowers roll off their super-low fixed rates in the coming months onto much higher mortgages.

[Related: Natalie Sheehan joins Adelaide Bank]