Bankwest Personal Loans

The unsecured personal loan option from Bankwest has a loan term of 3-7 years depending on the loan amount, and the flexible option has a loan term of 1-7 years.

There are a number of fees to be aware of when taking out a personal loan with Bankwest:

• Establishment fee – $195 for unsecured and $249 for flexible
• Administration fee – $8 per month for unsecured and $10 per month for flexible
• Fees on early repayment of a unsecured loan ranging from $100 for paying the loan off in 13-24 months to $250 for paying the loan off in 12 months
• Late payment fee – $25 for both types of loans

See this article for look at the average fees currently charged by personal loan providers on the market (based on Canstar’s Personal Loans Star Ratings for November 2017) to see if Bankwest’s fees are more or less what the average customer is paying.

Applying for a Bankwest personal loan is straightforward; you can do it online after visiting Canstar’s comparison tables. When applying for a personal loan with Bankwest (or most providers in Australia for that matter), you generally need to meet the following criteria:

• You must be 18 years or old
• You must live in Australia
• You must be an Australian or New Zealand citizen or a non-resident holding a Temporary Residency VISA
• Hold a regular income and good credit rating (see here for more info on how to get a good credit rating)
• Show an ability to afford your loan repayments
• Take out a loan of at least $5,000

If done online, the application process can take as little as 10 minutes, provided you have everything on hand. You may need to provide documents and ID such as:

• A current driver’s license
• Details of your current and previous (if applicable) employer
• Details of your income, assets, expenses and liabilities
• Previous tax returns if you are self-employed

You may also require your current account number for Bankwest if you’re an existing member.

In addition to personal loans, Bankwest also offers a secured car loan. The table below displays a snapshot of Bankwest’s car loan products, sorted by Star Rating (highest to lowest). The results shown are based on a 5-year loan for $20,000 in NSW.

Compare Car Loans

Bankwest was founded in 1895 by the state government to provide for farmers, under the name Agricultural Bank of Western Australia. In a mission to serve customers across the wide and relatively empty state of WA, Bankwest staff would hit the road and travel for miles between farms, sleeping on the side of the road. In 2008, Bankwest joined the Commonwealth Bank Group.

Bankwest was responsible for a number of banking “firsts” in Australia – they launched blue light signature verification units, drive-through bank branches, WA’s first after-hours cash dispenser (the pre-cursor to the ATM), and were Australia’s first bank to fully implement electronic data processing. They were also the first bank in WA to give women jobs as bank tellers.

Source: Bankwest

Bankwest demonstrate a strong level of commitment to supporting the Australian community. In 2013, they established the Bankwest Foundation to improve the well-being of WA communities and Australians around the country, providing grants of $1 million per year. So far Bankwest has provided Easy Grants to over 1,300 community groups.

Bankwest is proud to sponsor worthy causes such as Telethon fundraising for children, the West Australian Ballet, Teen Challenge WA, the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), and the West Coast Eagles AFL Club. They also support the arts through the Bankwest Art Prize and the Bankwest Art Collection, among other initiatives. Bankwest also gives employees time to volunteering for the charitable causes they care about.

As for protecting the environment, Bankwest has done well. Parent company the Commonwealth Bank’s 2015 sustainability report shows that Bankwest has reduced their emissions by far more than their targets (63% over 45% target for scope 1, 39% over 30% target for scope 2).