Finder’s home loan awards methodology – 2023

What are the Finder home loan awards?

Finder's home loan awards are part of the annual Finder awards program. We evaluate home loans from across the market by looking at interest rates, loan fees and features to find our award winners.

Finder's home loan awards criteria

Our selection criteria differ slightly for each award category:

• Loan and rate type. We have separate award categories for fixed and variable rate home loans and for owner-occupiers and investors.
• LVR. Loan-to-value ratio refers to the deposit size you need to qualify for a home loan. For most home loans we use 80% LVR loans, representing loans available with a standard 20% deposit. For some categories this is lower or higher.
• Interest rates. We scored each loan based on the competitiveness of their interest rates for every month over the previous 12 months.
• Fees. We score each eligible loan by weighing up the cost of various common loan fees, including application and service fees.
• Features. For many categories we also consider whether a home loan has an offset account or not.

How the award winners are determined

Our methodology primarily considers how low the loan's interest rate is. The lower the rate, the higher the score. But also take into account the cost of fees and balance this against the loan's rate. Finally, in several categories we also score loans more highly if they feature an offset account.

We judge how low a loan's interest rate is over a 12-month period, rather than simply from one single point in time.

• Best Owner Occupier Home Loan - Variable

  For our Best Owner Occupier Home Loan - Variable category we examined variable rate owner-occupier home loans with principal-and-interest repayments, with maximum 80% LVR. We scored all eligible loans using a methodology that evaluates:

  • How competitive each loan's interest rate is. (80%)
  • The combined cost of multiple loan fees. (10%)
  • Whether the loan has an offset account or not. (10%)

• Best Owner Occupier Home Loan - 1 Year Fixed – Methodology

  For our Best Owner Occupier Home Loan - 1 Year Fixed category we examined 1 year fixed rate owner-occupier home loans with principal and interest repayments, with maximum 80% LVR. We scored all eligible loans using a methodology that evaluates:

  • How competitive each loan's interest rate is. (80%)
  • The combined cost of multiple loan fees. (20%)

• Best Owner Occupier Home Loan - 2 Year Fixed – Methodology

  For our Best Owner Occupier Home Loan - 2 Year Fixed category we examined 2 year fixed rate owner-occupier home loans with principal and interest repayments, with maximum 80% LVR. We scored all eligible loans using a methodology that evaluates:

  • How competitive each loan's interest rate is. (80%)
  • The combined cost of multiple loan fees. (20%)

• Best Owner Occupier Home Loan - 3 Year Fixed – Methodology

  For our Best Owner Occupier Home Loan - 3 Year Fixed category we examined 3 year fixed rate owner-occupier home loans with principal and interest repayments, with maximum 80% LVR. We scored all eligible loans using a methodology that evaluates:

  • How competitive each loan's interest rate is. (80%)
  • The combined cost of multiple loan fees. (20%)

• Best First Home Buyer Home Loan – Methodology

  For our First Home Buyer Home Loan category we examined variable rate owner-occupier home loans with principal-and-interest repayments. We scored all eligible loans using a methodology that evaluates:

  • How competitive each loan's interest rate is. (80%)
  • The combined cost of multiple loan fees. (10%)
  • Whether the loan has an offset account or not. (10%)

• Best Low Deposit Home Loan – Methodology

  For our Best Low Deposit Home Loan category we examined variable rate owner-occupier home loans with principal-and-interest repayments, with a maximum LVR of 90%. We scored all eligible loans using a methodology that evaluates:

  • How competitive each loan's interest rate is. (70%)
  • The combined cost of multiple loan fees. (20%)
  • Whether the loan has an offset account or not. (10%)

• Best Owner Occupier Home Loan - Refinance Variable – Methodology

  For our Best Owner Occupier Home Loan - Refinance Variable category we examined variable rate owner-occupier home loans with principal-and-interest repayments, with maximum 70% LVR. We scored all eligible loans using a methodology that evaluates:

  • How competitive each loan's interest rate is. (80%)
  • The combined cost of multiple loan fees. (10%)
  • Whether the loan has an offset account or not. (10%)

• Best Owner Occupier Home Loan - Refinance Fixed – Methodology

  For our Best Owner Occupier Home Loan - Refinance Fixed category we examined fixed rate owner-occupier home loans with principal-and-interest repayments, with maximum 70% LVR. We scored all eligible loans using a methodology that evaluates:

  • How competitive each loan's interest rate is. (80%)
  • The combined cost of multiple loan fees. (20%)

• Best Investor Variable Home Loan – Methodology

  For our Best Investor Variable Home Loan category we examined variable rate investment home loans with principal-and-interest repayments, with maximum 80% LVR. We scored all eligible loans using a methodology that evaluates:

  • How competitive each loan's interest rate is. (80%)
  • The combined cost of multiple loan fees. (10%)
  • Whether the loan has an offset account or not. (10%)

• Best Investor Home Loan - 1 Year Fixed – Methodology

  For our Best Investor Home Loan - 1 Year Fixed category we examined 1 year fixed rate investment home loans with principal-and-interest repayments, with maximum 80% LVR. We scored all eligible loans using a methodology that evaluates:

  • How competitive each loan's interest rate is. (80%)
  • The combined cost of multiple loan fees. (20%)

• Best Investor Home Loan - 2 Year Fixed – Methodology

  For our Best Investor Home Loan - 2 Year Fixed category we examined 2 year fixed rate investment home loans with principal-and-interest repayments, with maximum 80% LVR. We scored all eligible loans using a methodology that evaluates:

  • How competitive each loan's interest rate is. (80%)
  • The combined cost of multiple loan fees. (20%)

• Best Investor Home Loan - 3 Year Fixed – Methodology

  For our Best Investor Home Loan - 3 Year Fixed category we examined 3 year fixed rate investment home loans with principal-and-interest repayments, with maximum 80% LVR. We scored all eligible loans using a methodology that evaluates:

  • How competitive each loan's interest rate is. (80%)
  • The combined cost of multiple loan fees. (20%)

Why you can trust Finder's home loan experts

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Frequently asked questions

• How often are home loans reviewed for the Finder awards?

  We currently run our Finder home loan awards once a year. The 2023 awards are based on home loans that were available throughout 2022.

• Do we rate all products available in the market?

  We endeavour to assess the majority of loans in the market but this isn't always possible and it may be that not every product or brand in the market was included for judging.