ABSA Home Loan

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Kyle15

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Hi All,

The wife and I have decided to purchase our first house and have gone through Betterbond as the bond originator. The best offer we have received is from ABSA at 9.5% so prime less 1% with a 0.35% reduction if I move my bank to ABSA, the originator has gone back to FNB but they have not been very competitive at all, only willing to match ABSAs offer each round while ABSA is bettering the rate.

I'm just wondering if anyone has some advice, is prime less 1% a good rate for first time home buyers for a 100% bond? We had some money saved up for a deposit but have shifted to using that money to do some security upgrades and renovations for peace of mind.

Is it worth it to go with ABSA given their customer service reputation as far as I see it once the repayments start going off it's very little engagement with the bank unless there's some financial distress.
 
Good deal but get your own insurance and never insure through a bank.
Go through a Broker (also not a bank affiliated broker)
OMI
Hollard
Santam
Bryte

or any one of their affiliates.
 
We had our last bond with ABSA and I currently have two cars financed with them, the only time we or i have had to contact them was to pay off a large amount of the bond and then again when closing the bond. Their rates have always been the best with the other banks either being or close or simply no where in the same ball park.
 
Kyle15 said:
Hi All,

The wife and I have decided to purchase our first house and have gone through Betterbond as the bond originator. The best offer we have received is from ABSA at 9.5% so prime less 1% with a 0.35% reduction if I move my bank to ABSA, the originator has gone back to FNB but they have not been very competitive at all, only willing to match ABSAs offer each round while ABSA is bettering the rate.

I'm just wondering if anyone has some advice, is prime less 1% a good rate for first time home buyers for a 100% bond? We had some money saved up for a deposit but have shifted to using that money to do some security upgrades and renovations for peace of mind.

Is it worth it to go with ABSA given their customer service reputation as far as I see it once the repayments start going off it's very little engagement with the bank unless there's some financial distress.
Click to expand...
whatever you do ensure you get a flexibond/access bond activated this will save you millions in the long run if used properly you basically dump every additional cent you have in and knock that interest down ASAPs
 
Hemi300c said:
Good deal but get your own insurance and never insure through a bank.
Go through a Broker (also not a bank affiliated broker)
OMI
Hollard
Santam
Bryte

or any one of their affiliates.
Click to expand...
Correct. Do NOT go through a bank for insurance. You will be sorry. Especially ABSA. 100% guaranteed.

EDIT:The very little engamement might sound great, but it will fkn cause you a heart attach of you actually NEED to get hold of a person.
 
Kyle15 said:
Hi All,

The wife and I have decided to purchase our first house and have gone through Betterbond as the bond originator. The best offer we have received is from ABSA at 9.5% so prime less 1% with a 0.35% reduction if I move my bank to ABSA, the originator has gone back to FNB but they have not been very competitive at all, only willing to match ABSAs offer each round while ABSA is bettering the rate.

I'm just wondering if anyone has some advice, is prime less 1% a good rate for first time home buyers for a 100% bond? We had some money saved up for a deposit but have shifted to using that money to do some security upgrades and renovations for peace of mind.

Is it worth it to go with ABSA given their customer service reputation as far as I see it once the repayments start going off it's very little engagement with the bank unless there's some financial distress.
Click to expand...
No surprise here again. Basically have to lick FNB Arse to get anything out of them.
Absa the only bank way back when I was a student to offer me a small credit card to start building a record at least.
 
RudderVator said:
No surprise here again. Basically have to lick FNB Arse to get anything out of them.
Absa the only bank way back when I was a student to offer me a small credit card to start building a record at least.
Click to expand...
Isn't that what Edgars was for?
 
Bliksis said:
Isn't that what Edgars was for?
Click to expand...
Visa cc is way better. Can buy from other places except Edgars and you get travel insurance if you do travel.

Years later I hear from others that have tried with FNB as young professionals leaving varsity into the working world that they pretty much try and make everything as hard as possible for you with a gfto attitude so nothing much has changed.
 
Hemi300c said:
Good deal but get your own insurance and never insure through a bank.
Go through a Broker (also not a bank affiliated broker)
OMI
Hollard
Santam
Bryte

or any one of their affiliates.
Click to expand...
Yea I've heard this will probably just go with my Hollard broker since they already do my car insurance if my broker ever gets back from leave:ROFL:

When insuring the property does one have to insure it to at least the banks valuation or what? The reason I ask is that FNB's valuation is substantially higher than all other banks like 2 million higher while the other banks are all within a couple hundred thousand of each other.
 
Kyle15 said:
Yea I've heard this will probably just go with my Hollard broker since they already do my car insurance if my broker ever gets back from leave:ROFL:

When insuring the property does one have to insure it to at least the banks valuation or what? The reason I ask is that FNB's valuation is substantially higher than all other banks like 2 million higher while the other banks are all within a couple hundred thousand of each other.
Click to expand...
The bank will insist and want proof of insurance for their amount.

Which for 42yrs in the industry I have fought because the price includes the erf/land and that is virtually not covered under the policy and hence my fights. However by including the erf/land then this would account for new replacement costs, demolishing fire brigade charges etc etc.
 
The bond holder normally determines the value that has to be insured. I have to send them proof every year from my insurer. The insured value is almost double the market value.
 
Hemi300c said:
Good deal but get your own insurance and never insure through a bank.
Go through a Broker (also not a bank affiliated broker)
OMI
Hollard
Santam
Bryte

or any one of their affiliates.
Click to expand...
Correct, but also make damn sure they cancel or do not initiate any policy deduction.

When I took out my ABSA bond, they added a homeowners insurance policy.
I then sent them proof of insurance and they claim that they cancelled their policy.

BUT, little to my knowledge, they were still deducting from my account as a "hidden" cost on the bond installment.
I picked it up months later when the Interest rate dropped. Breakdown showed Installment, admin fee and "Insurance provision".

Queried it with them and they insist the policy was cancelled.
I requested a refund, they first responded saying they added the funds to my Flexi reserve (Access).
But then I proved that it wasn't, by showing the Balance before and after that email.
Then they claimed that the extra deduction went off against the capital.
Now I've called for a full investigation because if they did this to me, how many others are they charging for insurance when the client already has an external policy?
 
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Good rate and worth it to deal with ABSA for the extra discount too, will save you hundreds of thousands over 20 years.

Now just don't fall in the trap of overextending yourself and increase those home loan payments as soon as you can so you can kill it within 10-15 years and not the 20 years the bank wants from you.

And if you were crazy enough to take a 30 year loan...make sure you can afford instalments to pay it in 20 instead.
 
RudderVator said:
Visa cc is way better. Can buy from other places except Edgars and you get travel insurance if you do travel.

Years later I hear from others that have tried with FNB as young professionals leaving varsity into the working world that they pretty much try and make everything as hard as possible for you with a gfto attitude so nothing much has changed.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. For me, Edgars was jaut the easiest, and I needed a pair of Cats that was on special in 1999
 
Kyle15 said:
Yea I've heard this will probably just go with my Hollard broker since they already do my car insurance if my broker ever gets back from leave:ROFL:

When insuring the property does one have to insure it to at least the banks valuation or what? The reason I ask is that FNB's valuation is substantially higher than all other banks like 2 million higher while the other banks are all within a couple hundred thousand of each other.
Click to expand...
The insured value is the replacement value. Assuming the house is totally destroyed, how much will it take to rebuild it from the ground up? Get an average building cost per sqm for the type of house your have and multiply it by the number of sqm your house is. It is usually quite a bit higher than the sales related Market value.
 
Kyle15 said:
Hi All,

The wife and I have decided to purchase our first house and have gone through Betterbond as the bond originator. The best offer we have received is from ABSA at 9.5% so prime less 1% with a 0.35% reduction if I move my bank to ABSA, the originator has gone back to FNB but they have not been very competitive at all, only willing to match ABSAs offer each round while ABSA is bettering the rate.

I'm just wondering if anyone has some advice, is prime less 1% a good rate for first time home buyers for a 100% bond? We had some money saved up for a deposit but have shifted to using that money to do some security upgrades and renovations for peace of mind.

Is it worth it to go with ABSA given their customer service reputation as far as I see it once the repayments start going off it's very little engagement with the bank unless there's some financial distress.
Click to expand...
This is common practice, its how Standard Bank got my business from Nedbank. Some may say its a bit dodgy to offer interest rate cuts if you switch banks but ultimately - its their money, and their interest so....I suppose one does what they have to do.

My company Banks with ABSA, no issues so far. They're doing fine.
 
Kyle15 said:
Yea I've heard this will probably just go with my Hollard broker since they already do my car insurance if my broker ever gets back from leave:ROFL:

When insuring the property does one have to insure it to at least the banks valuation or what? The reason I ask is that FNB's valuation is substantially higher than all other banks like 2 million higher while the other banks are all within a couple hundred thousand of each other.
Click to expand...
Here's the current AECOM rates to figure this out yourself -


Ensure all fixtures are included and add a minimum of 10% to your total for demolition and clearance.
 
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