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Great Southern Bank home loans

Great Southern Bank (formerly CUA) is one of the largest credit unions in Australia, with almost half a million customers. Great Southern Bank is owned by these customers, and not by shareholders.

Great Southern Bank's origins date back to 1946 when two small credit unions opened and joined forces to offer fairer deals than the banks. Since then, there’s been a series of amalgamations and today Great Southern Bank is made up of 171 credit unions.

Mark Bristow
Mark Bristow

Personal Finance Editor

Content updated

Product data updated

Why choose Great Southern Bank

Benefits

  • A range of home loans to choose from
  • Suitable for low deposits
  • Parents can act as guarantors for some loans
  • Opportunity to package financial products
  • Flexible repayment schedule with weekly, fortnightly or monthly repayment options

Drawbacks

  • Not all products offer offset facilities
  • Some products have upfront and annual fees

Great Southern Bank Home Loans

Home Loans calculator

Use our home loan calculator to see how much you’d have to repay under different borrowing scenarios.

Contact a mortgage broker

Great Southern Bank home loans are available through brokers who can help find the right loan and manage your application at no charge.

broker profile picture

Salil Arora

VIC3023
Customer Representative Number: 543601
5.0
25 Google reviews

Get expert advice from a home loans specialist.

First home, next home, investment, refinance, or SMSF loan? OK, where do we start? First things first—let’s start with...

View Profile
broker profile picture

Spencer Lawson

QLD4300
Australian Credit Licence: 392200

Get expert advice from a home loans specialist.

Spencer is a mortgage broker with a passion to help individuals and families achieve their home ownership dreams. With o...

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broker profile picture

Matthew Herewini

NSW2101
Australian Credit Licence: 392200
5.0
9 Google reviews

Get expert advice from a home loans specialist.

Meet Matthew, a seasoned financial expert with a strong background in both mortgages and car loans. With 5 years of expe...

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Great Southern Bank customer service

Great Southern Bank home loan customers can get in touch with the credit union by visiting one of its branches Australia-wide. Alternatively, customers can contact the customer service centre by phone. Customers can also submit a query through the Great Southern Bank website or by emailing the lender directly. For straight forward banking transactions Great Southern Bank customers can use internet banking and their mobile app 24-hours a day.

  • Customer service centre (phone, email, branch)
  • Mobile app
  • Online banking

How to apply for a Great Southern Bank home loan

Home loan enquires can be submitted online and a Great Southern Bank home loan specialist will provide a call back. Applications can be completed face-to-face in a branch or over the telephone. 

Before you submit a loan application it’s important consider how much you can afford to borrow before making any commitments. 

To support your Great Southern Bank home loan application, you may need to provide several documents, including:

  • Personal identification
  • Personal income details
  • Details of current debts and assets
  • Information about the property

Great Southern Bank home loans

Great Southern Bank caters for a wide variety of mortgage customers, including:

  • First-home buyers
  • Upgraders
  • Refinancers
  • Renovators
  • Those building their own property (Building/Construction loans)
  • Investors
  • Self-employed (low-doc loans)

Great Southern Bank mortgage customers can choose from a range of interest rate options:

  • Principal and interest
  • Interest-only
  • Variable
  • Fixed
  • Split

The longest term offered at Great Southern Bank on a home loan is 30 years, and its fixed interest rate mortgages range from one to five years. Depending on the loan, some Great Southern Bank mortgages also include added features, like offset accounts, the ability to make extra repayments, and redraw facilities.

Some Great Southern Bank home loans also allow a loan top-up, which gives you the ability to use the equity in your property to pay for expenses like renovations, or for a deposit on an investment property.

Great Southern Bank also offers package home loans, which include benefits and discounts on a range of financial products, including credit cards and insurance.

Great Southern Bank home loan rates

To compete with the big banks, Great Southern Bank offers mortgage rates that are generally lower than the market average.

Some of Great Southern Bank's lowest rates are found on home loan packages for new customers and refinancers. Owner occupiers and those paying principal and interest tend to receive lower rates than investors and those paying interest only. 

Some of Great Southern Bank's mortgages have no ongoing fees, though there are upfront fees to consider. Great Southern Bank also offers free redraw and extra repayment options on most of its mortgages.

Great Southern Bank home loan review

Great Southern Bank's headquarters are in Queensland, but Great Southern Bank has branches across the country and offers lower home loan rates and fees than many of its competitors in Australia. Unlike most banks that make profit for shareholders, Great Southern Bank reinvests its profits and passes the benefits directly on to customers.

In 2017, Great Southern Bank (as CUA) was named Money Magazine’s credit union of the year, in part because of its low interest rates and excellent customer service.

Great Southern Bank has a wide variety of mortgages to suit many different borrowers. It offers home loans that let customers borrow up to 95 per cent of their property’s value (LVR), and offers the option for parents to sign on as guarantors.

Unlike some of its competitors, Great Southern Bank doesn’t offer the option to sign up to a home loan online. Instead, applications need to be done face-to-face at a branch or over the phone.

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^Words such as "top", "best", "cheapest" or "lowest" are not a recommendation or rating of products. This page compares a range of products from selected providers and not all products or providers are included in the comparison. There is no such thing as a 'one- size-fits-all' financial product. The best loan, credit card, superannuation account or bank account for you might not be the best choice for someone else. Before selecting any financial product you should read the fine print carefully, including the product disclosure statement, target market determination fact sheet or terms and conditions document and obtain professional financial advice on whether a product is right for you and your finances.