Basic variable home loan

If your current loan is with another lender, you can switch to a St.George home loan: we call this ‘refinancing your home loan’. If you’re existing home loan is already with us, and you’d like to increase your loan with a ‘top up’, you can find out more here.

'Owner Occupier’ means you live in the property. If you live elsewhere, you’re an Investor. 

For the $2,000 Cashback offer, you’ll need to meet these conditions:

• It’s an Investment home loan on either Principal & Interest (P&I) or Interest Only (IO) repayments, or an Owner Occupier home loan with P&I repayments (excludes Owner Occupier Interest Only repayments) 
• It’s either our Basic Home Loan, or a Fixed or Variable Rate home loan under our Advantage Package* ($395 annual package fee and full terms and conditions apply)
• Limit of one $2,000 cashback payment regardless of the number of applications, applicants, properties or loans involved per 12 month period. For joint applications, only one cashback payment will be paid to the primary applicant.
• Loan size needs to be at least $250k.
• LVR up to 80%
• Apply from 1st September 2023. Settlement must occur within 120 days of applying. Offer may be varied or withdrawn at any time.

Are there any exclusions? 

Yes there are some. The $2,000 Cashback offer: 

• Excludes Owner Occupier home loans with IO repayments
• Excludes Portfolio Loans and residential lending originated under family or company trusts 
• Excludes home loan switches and internal refinances within the Westpac Group, including St.George, Bank of Melbourne, Westpac, BankSA and RAMS 
• Excludes loans with an LVR above 80% 
• Only one $2,000 cashback offer per primary applicant within a 12-month period 
• For joint applications, only one cashback payment will be paid to the primary applicant 
• Excludes any loan amount below $250k. 

How many cashbacks can I get? 

There’s a limit of one cashback payment per year, regardless of the number of applications, applicants, properties and loans involved. 

St.George fees 

• No home loan application fee. 
• Check out our home loan fees, e.g. lending establishment and ongoing fees.
   

Non-St.George fees 

• Mortgage Registration fee from your State Government. 
• Possible exit fees from your existing lender, and a break cost for breaking a fixed loan contract. 
• Potentially, a property value fee – talk with one of our lenders. 
• Lenders Mortgage Insurance if you have less than 20% equity – estimate your LMI. 
• Stamp Duty if you want to borrow more – talk with one of our lenders.

It hinges on who you refinance to, how much you might save, your equity and financial situation, the costs and the features you're after. 

Comparing apples with apples

How does your current lender compare with us? St.George was awarded overall 2022 Canstar Bank of the Year in the Home Loan Refinance Awards¹ offering best overall outstanding value for loan application, settlement, day-to-day management and life-of-loan support. As well as 'competitive rates across both fixed and variable rate refinance home loans'. 

Costs

Remember to factor in any costs involved, like exit fees with your current financial institution and break costs for a fixed rate home loan, plus new loan set up fees and monthly fees with your new lender. How much equity you have can also make a difference: if your home’s equity is under 20%, you may need to pay lenders mortgage insurance (LMI).

Our home loan fees

Estimate your LMI 

Outstanding value

Refinance your home loan with a cashback offer and you could reduce your loan balance. Refinance to a lower interest rate and you could lower your minimum repayments, and pay off your loan sooner. Did you know our fixed rate home loan is one of the few to offer a linked partial offset account? 

Refinance calculator

Life-of-loan support

At St.George, we're here for you during your entire home ownership journey. 

It depends on your situation. We can't answer that question for you, but these questions can help you decide.

In the next 5 years, how far ahead do you plan to get on your loan? 

If you plan to prepay more than $30k, you could consider: 

• A shorter-term fixed rate loan (prepaying more than $30,000 during a fixed loan term can incur a break cost).   
• Making unlimited additional repayments on any St.George variable loan. Or parking your spare money in a 100% offset linked to our Standard Variable Rate loan 
• If there's a spending temptation around having huge sums of money in your offset account, you could transfer some into your variable home loan account as additional repayments. You’d enjoy the same reduction on your variable home loan interest.

Do you like knowing exactly what your minimum repayments will be?  

Set repayments make it easier to budget, and you could consider: 

• Our fixed rate loan, which gives you the certainty of minimum monthly repayments that are protected from any interest rate rises. 
• Setting up a repayment buffer on your standard variable or basic loan: a Direct Debit or scheduled repayment that’s significantly higher than minimum repayments.  

In the next 5 years, are you planning to sell or pay out your loan? 

If you plan to change your home loan soon, you could consider:  

• Our variable rate loans, which give you the flexibility to pay off the balance as soon as you can. 
• Our shorter-term fixed loan (prepaying more than $30,000 during a fixed loan term can incur a break cost).

More options:

Split home loan

Variable loan offset account

Advantage Package

Interest Only

Building option

You can generally refinance a home loan to St.George anytime, but remember that your current lender may charge a break cost if you leave before your fixed term expires.

Find out more 

How long does refinancing take?

• Fast approval. Apply online, by phone or on-branch – and you could get approval in days instead of weeks. 
• New loan settlement. Submit your application and one of our dedicated lenders will support you from application to settlement. If you qualify for FASTRefi^®, your St.George new loan settlement could take days rather than weeks after signing your loan documents^{^^}.
• Can I talk to someone about my rate? Submit your application and one of our lenders will call to go over your loan details.  
• What documents do I need to apply? See our how to apply page. 
• What's the valuation process? We’ll carry out your property valuation⁴ online based on comparable sales and market trends in surrounding areas. If needed, we’ll arrange an on-site bank valuation by an external property valuer (a property valuer fee may apply). 
• Will I be able to cancel my application? Your obligation-free application will stay open for six months after you've submitted or saved it. You can also cancel your application up until you accept our loan offer.

Here's a summary of our FASTRefi^® process:

Step 1 – apply 

• Apply for your home loan as normal.

• Your St.George lender calculates your estimated payout: they'll let you know if you qualify for FASTRefi^®. 

Step 2 – sign your loan documents

Once you’ve returned your signed St.George loan documents and shown evidence of your current balance, relax – your work is done! 

Step 3 – we'll open your St.George loan

• We'll send the funds electronically to your other lender, paying out your old loan – your St.George loan is ready. 

• You may be charged an additional settlement agent fee by your old lender (ANZ, CBA, Citibank, NAB and Westpac tend not to charge this fee).

Step 4 – we'll settle your old loan

• After settlement, we'll complete the recovery of your title and registration.
• Any leftover buffer is refunded to you. Or if there's a shortfall, you'll need to cover it. 

Do I qualify for FASTRefi^®?  

FASTRefi^® is available with most of our residential variable and fixed interest rate home loans, and investment property loans. One of our lenders will let you know if your loan qualifies for FASTRefi^® – just apply online in as little as 20 minutes, and they’ll follow up with a call.     

Start your application online

Request a callback

What if my home loan isn’t eligible? 

Don’t worry, your St.George home loan’s well worth waiting for – and we’ll do our very best to fast-track settlement using our standard refinance process. Switching to our fixed home loan? Our rate-lock option lets you lock in your rate at the time your loan is approved.   

Did you know you could save thousands by packaging* our Standard Variable Rate or Fixed Rate loan? Here's how: 

• An interest rate discount (unavailable on existing fixed home loans) 
• No home loan fees for maintenance, increase, portability or switching 
• No annual fee on any St.George  credit card, other fees and charges may apply 
• Discounts on selected insurance products 
• All for a $395 annual package fee. 

Request a call back and one of our home lending experts will call and talk you through what packaging means for you. Or ask your mortgage broker. 

If you want the freedom to change your home loan, a variable could be right up your street. 

Unlike a fixed rate, you can adjust your repayment type by switching between Interest Only and Principal & Interest. Plus you can pay off your loan as fast as you like by making fee-free unlimited extra regular or lump sum repayments (with a fixed rate, you can prepay an extra $30k during your fixed term without paying a break cost²).   

And if you ever need to dip onto those extra funds, all St.George home loans let you redraw your extra repayments, with no redraw fee¹. 

Here you can compare our variable Basic home loan, with our Standard Variable Rate home loan with optional offset.

What's best for you depends on your situation, what you’re looking for, and where you think interest rates are headed.  The good news is, throughout the life of your home loan, you can change from variable to fixed, and from fixed to variable at the end of your fixed rate term. Or you can hedge your bets with a split rate home loan.

What’s the difference between a fixed and variable rate home loan? 

• Variable interest rates give you repayment flexibility, plus your rate could rise and fall in line with market rates. You have more freedom to change your loan, and make fee-free unlimited repayments and redraws. 
• Fixed interest rates give you repayment certainty during your fixed term, because your interest rate’s locked in for 1-5 years. You still have the freedom to make up to $30k in cost-free extra repayments during your fixed term, and there's no fee to redraw them. 

Need help choosing? 

Our home loan selector will match up some options – just answer a few questions. Or just start applying, and one of our friendly home lenders will call to help you work out the right type of home loan for you.