ChoiceLend

Interest Rate – We negotiated our interest rate during application, however exactly one week after settlement in July-2023they sent letter of rate increase even though no RBA interest increase in last four months. Be careful of of this lender. Show details

Customer Service – I called the customer service today in regard to resetting my online password as my phone was damaged, so I lost all my details to complete the set up myself. I spoke with Andrew from the customer service about my issues. First, he could not find my account and asking am I sure I have any loans with choicelend. He then found 2 accounts and asked… Read more

me safety questions then only to say these accounts are closed. I then told him we do have 2 accounts to which he didn't believe me. after some time, he said he found another account which didn't come up before. He had some attitude when he said he needed to ask the security questions again to which I answered apart from my banking account number which I was not sure on as. I then gave him the number from my bank, and he said this was wrong. I asked if they were another wat to verify me as he just did it with the closed accounts. He said no I have to answer this question so I asked could I speak to someone else to which he replied no as he didn't know who was and then hung up. The best apart of this is I just found my bank details and I gave him the correct information

37k in front of my home 4 years into paying it back and they blocked my access to redrawing it – I am 4 years into paying my home loan off and 37k available for redraw. I had a few things come out of my bank account all on the same day and was a about $5 short on the amount that comes out of my home loan every Monday from my ANZ account. I realised that night and tried to tranfer money to the account to cover it but it was too late. Because… Read more

the payment was unable to come out they blocked my 37k in my redraw amount I had available and I am no longer able to redraw that money. I phoned the bank and tried to have them take the money dishonoured from the money I am in front. I even paid the amount I was short directly to my choiclend account from my wifes account to try and clear the amount. No amount of explaining that I am 37k in front with the bank helped at all. Massively unhelpful. 2 weeks later and still no access to my redraw facility. The worst bank I have ever dealt with. Even during settlement 4 years ago we missed the deadline twice due to there slow incompetence. DO NOT EVEN CONTEMPLATE THIS BANK. As useless as tits on a bull and will not ever loan through them again. Would be a -5 rating if they had one. Disgusting service

No problems so far. Normal banking experience – We were left in a horrible position by our broker one week before settlement. We were lucky enough to be able to continue settlement and in the mean time used another broker amazingly who got us a loan through ChoiceLend. We haven't had any issues so far. The whole process was pretty standard time wise and have dealt with customer service once,… Read more

in which they were helpful. Definitely a better lender for rural properties. Only down side so far is the basic internet banking and no app. But haven't found that's been an issue really as direct debit handles itself.

We must have the best broker – Reading the poor reviews about this lender. I can’t say our experience has been the same. We found the process easy, and service great. Maybe it’s just our great broker! Show details

No issues – Having had many home loans with various financial institutions....I trusted my broker and went with ChoiceLend. I have had no problems to date and the communication piece has been great. At the end of the day I just want to pay my mortgage off as quick as possible with a no frills institution that will give me what I pay for. I can honestly say… Read more

this has been the case to date!

These lenders want to suck as much financial gain out of you as possible. That is why they are in business. Lenders have all the same faults. Hey......if I had enough cash to purchase my house I wouldn't be on here giving them a review lol!

horrendous customer service – I have called multiple times and you wait that long that it asks you to leave a message but no one ever calls you back!! I have sent emails and no one responds I have absolutely no idea how these guys are in business?

they don't want to refund your money after mortgage discharge – this is the first time i see a bank discharged my mortgage with the initial mortgage amount which i borrowed few years ago, not the balance of my mortgage on the settlement day. After 1 month of my settlement, they still hold my repayment (minus interest) which i had paid. I called them every week and got the same answer that it was processing,… Read more

need 10-15 days. They refused to send me a written confirmation. who should i contact to get my money back?

Wow, Don't pick them! You have been warned! – Jesus Chirst! Customer service is a joke! They will ask you 100 questions to verify your ID then transfer it to someone else without explanation or confirmation, they will ask you other 100 questions, then hang up on you! I will transfer my loan to another bank!

Worst Customer Service help ever....... USELESS – I wanted to get my loan discharged from Choicelend and I had spoken to several different customer Service reps for the last 4 months, and I have not been able to get my loan discharged at all. It is a very big joke and I believe that the big banks would have done this job within a week. To anyone out there STAY AWAY FROM CHOICELEND JOKERS. Show details

Do not deal with them! Customer service is terrible – Do not deal with this company! The customer service is terrible! Its like they were desperate for staff and hired from the bottom of the barrel. They changed the lock in rate every email you send them. It goes higher every call. They are a joke!! Stear clear!! Show details

Hopeless total lack of communication false information – Going though a separation changes were made to the loan without no communication with the second borrow leading to financial hardship I ring them and and they put the blame on you I had enough of this mod time to refinance elsewhere if you go though a bank do it

Getting a Loan should Never be this stressful!!!! – My broker suggested them to me but their process was extremely stressful, customer care was unresponsive. A whole 28 days to get a Loan.. Submit documents today and wait weeks for them to answer, Err no thank you. Thankfully we were able to get a private lender with flexible rates and not as much fees as these rogue lenders out here. Please save yourself the disappointment and reach out to [Name Removed] [e-mail address removed] thank me later... Show details

Nightmare To Deal With – We had a home loan with this company and opted to refinance to our bank that we do all our banking with. Choice lend missed the first two settlement dates and offered to reason as to why. I have spent hours on the phone trying to get it sorted with no luck. I would recommend another lender that can handle your issues professionally as well as in a timely manor.  Show details

Zero rating for crap bank – Where do I even start? My broker suggested they are a great bank with attractive terms and I got taken in. The whole loan process was a nightmare and it was extremely hard to get hold of them either by phone and email. The broker was trying his best but in total vain. Their Online system is equally horrible. Currently I have lost access to my… Read more

online account and have emailed them twice and sent forms etc but again NO response in the last 10 days. I do have empathy for their staff with COVID around but I wonder if they even have anyone still working or have they all left? Their eerie silence worries me. Please do not commit the mistake that I did. I was previously with Westpac, NAB and ING and I would EASILY rate ING the very best. Unfortunately I could nt stick with them as they couldn't finance a build. BIG NO to CHOICELEND

Worst banking experience – Clunky system resulting in many stressful delays when accessing our funds and staff who have no knowledge or pass the blame. Tried to blame us, the bank we were trying to trade funds to when ultimately it was all on Choicelend end. I read negative reviews and questioned our brokers choice. Avoid at all costs. I would not recommend banking with choice lend regardless of the financial incentive Show details

Unable to refinance/change lenders – This bank is hopeless when trying to refinance with another institute. My new lender has booked settlement twice only to have Choice lend not come through on their end. They keep making excuses and have been waiting over a month and have no idea when it will go through. Show details

Probably best not to waste your time and money applying with these amateurs – Applied for a $250,000 loan with $700,000 property as security to expand a Student Accommodation Business. 7 Weeks later we were asked to supply and pay for Accountant prepared interim financials, which we did, these showed income of $83,000 for the first 9 months of the fiscal. Our application was declined because in the previous fiscal year we… Read more

had a paper loss based on the write down of an asset. We were told the Accountant prepared interim financials were requested in error as our application was always going to declined. Just be wary, these cowboys also masquerade as (Dis) Advantage Finance and the NAB. Overall, the lack of service we received was shockingly bad

What a terrible lender! – We worked with a broker 7 years ago and borrowed a lot of money on a Melbourne property. We never missed a repayment and in fact always paid more than we needed to. In October we sold the property and settlement date was 19 December and we noticed our payout was almost $3000 short. We questioned why and were told that they held next months… Read more

(January 2020....we settled December 2019) payment as security! Just in case the sale fell through.....seriously! No wonder we have a royal commission into banking in this country. We still don't have our 'refund' and it has been well over 5 business days since (we were told 5 business days). Don't use Choicelend under any circumstances.....disgusting and not a very reputable organisation. Also, be wary of using brokers....some are good I'm sure the rest.....hmmmm! Ombudsman first thing tomorrow.

Definitely wouldn't recommend – Will not allow an interest only option which has made things difficult for me, they are very slow to pass on interest rate drops. I cannot wait until I am able to re-finance elsewhere. Show details

Worst bank I have ever dealt with – Sold my property and settlement is over 1 week overdue, bank keeps making up excuses why it cannot settle, keep getting conflicting information from different staff. With each query/phone call there's a new lie and excuse. Can't get a straight answer. Their problem solving skills are non existant. Show details

paying to high an interest rate – I have been with choicelend for 9 years now. About a month before the last interest rate drop they put my loan up by .15 pc and have not yet passed on the last rate drop which makes my loan a very expensive one all. When I emailed them about this got no response. Show details

Slow application and slow to respond to rate cuts – Application process took well over 3 months with many (almost stupid) questions being asked resulted in another week long review process each time. As I was refinancing I told my broker I'd had enough and ready to quit luckily loan came thru soon after. Notice now they are terribly slow passing on rate cuts and slow notifying you. Was with ING before and they were brilliant in comparison. Should have refinanced elsewhere Show details

It's Simple - DO NOT choose Choicelend – Our 1st ever property has been mortgaged with Choicelend. We managed to save few $$$ and deposited in the loan account as we have a "Redraw" facility. These deposits continued and we had saved about 120k. There was an urgent need (emergency) for which we needed cash and when I requested for redraw of a portion of the amount, it was dishonoured.… Read more

None of the agent had any clue. Throughout this ordeal they gave me different messages and by then I have come to conclusion that a) they don't speak truth or b) they don't know what they are talking about. The 1st redraw was attempted on 19 - Aug and it took a week to realise that it was dishonoured.

I was asked to raise 2nd request (26-Aug) and this time, they promised it would go through.... Fast Forward to 28-Aug, they have rejected my redraw once again.

It's MY MONEY and I have the right to redraw anytime I wish to.... There has never been a dishonour or any other issues with my account. In fact, I have and am paying more than what I am supposed to.

My humble suggestion is that you stay away from them and don't get lured by any of their tactics.

PIN for Internet – New customers please be aware that the PIN number they send you by post is on the back of the pull off tab. I rang asking for assistance about this. The guy that answered was telling me it was like a scratchy so that is what I was doing. Eventually I worked out the pin after a couple of days. Staff need better education about the organisation. Show details

Taking "no frills" to the extreme – I refinanced with Choicelend. I was told the variable and no fee terms they offer are so good because there aren't all the unnecessary "add ons" that other banks include in their mortgage products. For example I didn't want offset but I did want redraw. It's been a debacle since settlement. Terrible customer service. Conflicting information… Read more

from different staff. Long wait times for call centre and for email response turnaround. As for their Cemtex system...I wouldn't recommend this lender if you want to make additional payments to your mortgage. If you want transparency in terms of processes I'd forget that as well. I called the broker and told them I would opt out of this lender if I could do so without incurring fees. There's a question below in this rview page asking whether I could tailor the loan to meet my needs. I thought so but it turns out that I was very, very wrong. Abysmal.

August 6th 2019 Update: Terrible from settlement to disbursement

Pleased to say my settlement with a new lender has settled and Choicelend can become a bitter memory. Right up to the disbursement of the loan Choicelend stalled, failed to notify either my broker or me of important information and only "escalated" my request to instruct their lawyers to discharge to loan after I'd rung them weeks after the discharge request to ask them what the latest delay was.

A really, REALLY poorly managed lender with ineffective systems.

Don't believe the hype about Choicelend's amazing variable rates either. I got a much better variable with a more reputable lender who I should've gone with in the first place.

Simple, loan only account – I have had no issues with Choicelend. If you are looking for a simple, no-frills, loan only account to save you moving all your bank accounts then this is the way to go. Customer service is in Melbourne, so no weird phone calls after hours. Would definitely recommend! Show details

Customer gauging and very poor problem solving – Disgusted that my $1,000,000 worth of loans with the NAB owned and operated with Choicelend - after the interest rate cut of 25 base points June 19, it took over a week For them to decide what to do about it and it won’t be passed on for a month! That is absolutely appalling for them to try to gauge the customer when the interest-rate‘s have been… Read more

dropped with NAB CHOICELEND using the reduction in interest rates to line THEIR pocket instead of passing it on.

There customer service is also darn terrible with it requiring very senior management to get any movement of action.

The application process was an absolute nightmare With them completely getting confused, losing pieces of paperwork, requiring the same submission of documents again and again, changing their minds etc etc / if you want to lose your mind to get a loan with these guys

Very easy to deal with – I was a little nervous given the reviews for this company however they have been very easy to deal with. The interest rates are great and yesterday I had to call them to clarify something and the customer service agent was knowledgeable and answered all my questions with a minimal hold time. Their website is a little clunky and basic however once… Read more

its set up you shouldn't have any real need to use it or contact them.

Very happy with this lender so far . . .

Worst experience I have ever had – This was the slowest loan application I have ever done and an overall terrible experience, we provided information and documents as soon as it was asked for, and it took weeks and weeks for any response or any "processing" to occur. We missed our settlement date because of Choice and weren't offered any apology or compensation. I will be refinancing as soon as possible, although I'm sure Choice will make that difficult as well.

3 months of stress and anxiety courtesy of ChoiceLend – In mid March 2018 we tried to be diligent and be ahead of the curve by contacting ChoiceLend about a renewal of our existing loans portfolio. We have had a loan portfolio with ChoiceLend for approx 3 years and never failed once to make any required monthly payments. We are very conscientious about all of our obligations. For approximately two… Read more

months we were led to believe that our loan application would be approved, but at every turn we were asked to provide more and more and more information. In the mean time we were paying a much higher rate of interest and making principal payments that caused us extreme anxiety It felt like we were asking for a reduction in a prison sentence and the judge kept on refusing and wanting more information. Finally after again giving our financial adviser a verbal approval, ChoiceLend again changed mid stream and then required more information again and the time wasting occurred again. Every time the bank wanted more information your application went to the back of the queue! After wasting our time for approx three months we simply gave up. It appeared that the bank did not have any valid reasons for disapproval of our loans but was more interested in the political fallout from Canberra and did everything they could to make us want to leave.We contacted Macquarie Bank & they approved the loans in one week. Choicelend is a subsidiary of the NAB and In our opinion anyone looking for a loan of any description should not proceed with ChoiceLend. They are one of the most disorganised and appalling banks of all time. If the CBA was fined $700 Million, The NAB and its sub-par affiliate should be fined even more and perhaps their CEO should resign as well for their disgraceful conduct. Its actions are unconscionable at best and its staff completing Loan approvals in our experience are simply incompetent. We made attempts in vain to contact the Loans Department and was told someone would call us. This did not happen!!!

The worst customer service ever so slow – Rang them due too my broker lied and stuff up my application for a top up on my loan and was told there are no managers to talk too, can’t help you , you need a broker but our broker said he didn’t want to deal with us due to a complaint I made with choicelend about him it was put in the hands of a BDM but it would take them 5 days to get us a new… Read more

broker ,all we need was to told if the loan was approved waited on the phone for 45min and 5 phone call all over 10min and still no answer

6 Months and still waiting – Six months ago I notified them that I was putting a property (which was security for another loan) on the market.I have another property mortgaged with them to offer as security, do you think they could process that? No they even ask me questions like do you know where your title is? WTH they are the ones with it. AVOID these idiots.

Don't lend money here! They even handle complaints bad! – have a loan with this mob who are part of the "NAB" Banking group. I applied to increase the loan for a line of credit and has been nothing but "pure hell" 6 months of complete rubbish! they would not pay for a registered valuation so they did a "desktop" valuation which means their computer tells them what my house is worth!...... and I built… Read more

it!.... their valuation came back at $40,000 under what I estimated so I paid for a sworn valuation who came to the same value I did! would they accept it?........No way! after wanting me to rip up credit cards prove things with ridiculous amounts of paperwork, take weeks to come up with new things to argue about, not take complaints seriously! I walked in to the Commonwealth bank today and was approved with in the hour! subject to Valuation and the Sworn Valuation rang me this afternoon! Outstanding Commonwealth bank! Choicelend credit department are rude! arrogant! and complete tools! If you want finance fast don't go to this mob!