Canstar's 2023 Personal and Car Loans Awards

Outstanding Value Award — Personal Loans
Outstanding Value Award — Car Loans
Outstanding Value Award — Excellent Credit Personal Loans
Outstanding Value Award — Green Personal Loan
Outstanding Value Award — Green Car Loan

Australia’s largest comparison site, Canstar, releases its
2023 Personal & Car Loans Awards and Green Personal & Green Car Loans Awards.

Released: 9 November, 2023

About the Personal and Car Loans Award

Canstar’s Personal and Car Loans Awards recognise the lenders that provide outstanding value to borrowers through their suite of personal and car loan products available to a range of Australian consumers.

Learn more about our Award process in the methodology.

2023 Personal and Car Loans Awards logo

About this year’s awards

Josh Sale – Canstar’s Group Manager, Research & Ratings

Canstar’s Personal and Car Loans Awards use our unique and sophisticated methodology, which leverages our Personal and Car Loans Star Ratings methodology combined with detailed pricing scenarios of everyday Australians.

There are three individual Awards that make up the Canstar Personal and Car Loans Awards:

  • Outstanding Value Award — Personal Loans: awarded to outstanding value personal loan lenders across six unique scenarios
  • Outstanding Value Award — Car Loans: awarded to outstanding value car loan lenders across six unique scenarios
  • Outstanding Value Award — Excellent Credit Personal Loans: awarded to outstanding value lenders across two unique scenarios

For more information about our Award process, including each unique scenario assessed, you can read our Personal and Car Loans Award Methodology.

Our Outstanding Value Awards for green personal loans and green car loans single out specific products offering outstanding value when it comes to loans designed for purchases lenders consider to be environmentally friendly.

These Awards leverage Canstar’s established Personal and Car Loan Star Ratings methodology, which compares both price and features across personal loan products available to Australian consumers.

To be considered in the Award a product must be designed to fund the purchase of ‘green’ products — such as electric or hybrid vehicles, solar panels or rainwater tanks.

Canstar does not rate any ‘green’ or environmental claims made by the product provider, rather it rates the loan on its pricing and features as a financial product.

For more information about our Award process, including eligible ‘green’ products, you can read our Green Loan Award Methodology.

Congratulations to the Award winners

(Winners are listed alphabetically)

Australian Mutual Bank

Outstanding Value Award— Personal Loans
Australian Mutual Bank is a returning Award winner, receiving the Personal Loans Outstanding Value Award for its Unsecured Personal Loan, which offers a competitive variable rate with a free redraw facility, no early payout fee and no ongoing fees to all new applicants.
Australian Mutual Bank was formed in 1953 and the registered company name Australia Mutual Bank Ltd was created after the 2019 merger between Endeavour Mutual Bank and Sydney Mutual Bank.

Bendigo Bank

Outstanding Value Award— Green Car Loan
Bendigo Bank’s Green Secured Personal Loan has been awarded Canstar’s Outstanding Value Award for Green Car Loans. Boasting one of the most competitive fixed rates in the market (at the time of writing), Bendigo Bank’s Green Secured Personal Loan is available to borrowers seeking to finance eligible electric, plug-in hybrid, hybrid and low emission vehicles for up to 7 years with the flexibility to choose their repayment schedule and access to a free online redraw facility.
Established more than 160 years ago, Bendigo Bank claims to provide banking services to 1.9 million customers in Australia as part of the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank.

Beyond Bank

Outstanding Value Award— Car Loans
A returning Award winner in 2023, Beyond Bank has continued to demonstrate their ongoing commitment to providing outstanding value car loans. For its Great and Excellent credit customers, Beyond’s Low Rate Car Loan sits among the lowest rates available in the market at the time of writing.
Formed more than 60 years ago, Beyond Bank claims to be one of the largest customer owned banks in Australia, with branches in ACT, NSW, SA, Victoria and WA.

Credit Union SA

Outstanding Value Award— Car Loans
Credit Union SA has returned as a top performer in Car Loans, offering an online-exclusive Special Fixed Rate loan with a single fixed rate for all eligible customers. Combined with a strong user platform, Credit Union SA allows customers to easily manage and make changes to their existing loans.
Founded more than 60 years ago for South Australians, Credit Union SA continues to provide banking services to South Australians, claiming to be the third largest credit union in SA.

Great Southern Bank

Outstanding Value Award— Excellent Credit Personal Loans
Great Southern Bank has once again claimed the Outstanding Value Award for Excellent Credit Personal Loans in part thanks to its competitive unsecured Fixed Personal Loan. On top of offering a competitive fixed rate to Great credit customers, Great Southern Bank is offering even further discounts to applicants with Exceptional credit. Borrowers can also make unlimited additional repayments with no prepayment penalty.
Previously known as CUA (Credit Union Australia), Great Southern Bank is a customer-owned bank that was established in 1946.

Greater Bank

Outstanding Value Award— Car Loans
Greater Bank demonstrated exceptional performance across each of Canstar’s Car Loans scenarios, offering competitive rates for new and used car loans with low fees. These combined factors won them this year’s Car Loans Award.
Established in 1924, Greater Bank is a customer-owned bank that is part of the Newcastle Greater Mutual Group, which was formed in partnership with Newcastle Permanent in March 2023.

Horizon Bank

Outstanding Value Award— Car Loans
Outstanding Value Award— Green Personal Loan
Outstanding Value Award— Green Car Loan
Winning the Outstanding Value Award for Car Loans for another year, Horizon Bank maintains its position as one of the lowest cost providers in this market, offering one of the most competitive rates available for new car loans.
Horizon Bank also won the Green Personal and Green Car Loan Outstanding Value Awards this year. Horizon’s Green Personal Loan features a heavily discounted rate with no establishment or early payment fees. Its Green Car Loan (new) allows borrowers to fund a new electric or hybrid vehicle at Horizon Bank’s heavily discounted fixed rate with no monthly or annual fees attached.
Based in the NSW south coast, Horizon Bank is a customer-owned bank with history dating back to 1964 when it was first founded as a credit union.

Liberty

Outstanding Value Award— Excellent Credit Personal Loans
Winning the Outstanding Value Award for another year, Liberty Financial’s Unsecured Loan offers competitive rates and flexible terms to borrowers with Good or Excellent credit scores. With no hidden monthly costs or early repayment fees, customers have the added flexibility to pay off their loan sooner.
Liberty Financial is a non-bank lender that has been providing financial loans to Australians for more than 25 years.

MoneyPlace

Outstanding Value Award— Excellent Credit Personal Loans
A returning Award winner with Liberty Financial, Moneyplace has been awarded the Outstanding Value Award for its Unsecured Personal Loan, which offers competitive rates and flexibility terms to borrowers with Good or Excellent credit. Moneyplace personal loans also have no hidden monthly costs or early repayment fees, meaning its customers have the added flexibility to pay off their loan sooner.
MoneyPlace is a fintech non-bank lender owned and partnered with Liberty Financial.

OurMoneyMarket

Outstanding Value Award— Personal Loans
Outstanding Value Award— Excellent Credit Personal Loans
In addition to receiving the Outstanding Value Award for Excellent Credit Personal Loans, OurMoneyMarket has been awarded the Personal Loans Outstanding Value Award for its outstanding performance across all personal loans scenarios considered. OurMoneyMarket’s competitive Low Rate Fixed Personal Loans offers low rates to Great and Excellent credit applicants, and also markets average rates to higher risk individuals. It also has no ongoing fees and no prepayment penalties.
Founded in 2017, OurMoneyMarket is a financial technology company that provides financial services such as personal loans online.

Plenti

Outstanding Value Award— Excellent Credit Personal Loans
Plenti has once again proven its commitment to providing personal loans with outstanding value to Excellent credit customers, with even further discounts to those deemed to have Exceptional credit. A leader in the Personal Loans space, Plenti have continued to demonstrate the strength of their platform and customer portal, offering a seamless user experience.
Established in 2014, Plenti is a fintech non-bank lender that provides financial loans online.

Police Credit Union

Outstanding Value Award— Car Loans
Police Credit Union has claimed an Outstanding Value Award for Car Loans this year for its low rate Fixed Car Loan, which stands among the strongest loans in the market and rewards those taking out new vehicles with an even more competitive rate.
Police Credit Union was first established in 1970 to service South Australian police but now provides banking services to everyone as a credit union.

Queensland Country Bank

Outstanding Value Award— Green Personal Loan
Outstanding Value Award— Green Car Loan
Queensland Country Bank has received the Green Personal Loan Outstanding Value Award for its Green Reno Loan as well as the Green Car Loan Outstanding Value Award for a second year. Its Green Reno Loan is a home improvement loan available for certain energy efficient purchases such as solar, double glazed windows, electric charging stations and more. While its Green Car Loan allows borrowers to access a competitive variable rate with no early repayment fees and flexible repayment options.
Originating in Mount Isa as the Isa Mine Employee’s Credit Union Limited in 1971, Queensland Country Bank now operates as a member-owned bank and services across all of Queensland and beyond.

RACQ Bank

Outstanding Value Award— Personal Loans
Outstanding Value Award— Excellent Credit Personal Loans
Outstanding Value Award— Green Personal Loan
Outstanding Value Award— Green Car Loan
Winning multiple Outstanding Value Awards, RACQ Bank continues to stand as a leader in the market. Its Variable Personal Loan has a single flat rate for all new applicants. In addition to RACQ Bank’s competitive rates and flexible loan options, customers can also enjoy no ongoing or additional repayment fees.
RACQ Bank also earned Outstanding Value Awards for its Green Personal Loan and Green Car Loan. RACQ’s Green Personal loan offers competitive discounted rates, zero additional fees and unlimited additional payments while its Green Car Loan has zero upfront and ongoing fees, a low fixed rate and flexibility to choose your repayment cycle with unlimited additional repayments.
RACQ Bank is part of the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ), a customer-owned institution that has been operating for over 117 years and claims to have over 1.7 million members.

Teachers Mutual Bank

Outstanding Value Award— Personal Loans
Teachers Mutual Bank once again claims an Outstanding Value Award for Personal Loans with its Fixed All Purpose Loan. This product offers a single fixed rate to all new applicants with no ongoing fees and the flexibility to make additional repayments without early repayment fees.
First founded in 1966 as a credit union, Teachers Mutual Bank now operates as a customer-owned bank and is one division of Teachers Mutual Bank Limited.


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About Canstar

Canstar also has insights and information about financial products and services generally. You can find out about topics such as: interest ratesbuy now pay later (BNPL)business products and tax. You may also be interested in discovering more about calculators and resources, such as our rate checker and free credit score tool, to help you with your financial decision-making.

FAQs

Canstar’s expert researchers review the overall value offered by a provider for its products in a financial services category. We consider metrics such as price and costs against features and functionality, with all of the competitors in a category compared using Canstar’s unique research methodology. The products or providers recognised as winners are those that offer the highest overall value proposition.

In addition to Canstar’s Star Ratings that appear in our comparison tables, Canstar gives Outstanding Value Awards that identify providers with high-performing products. Separately, Canstar’s Customer Satisfaction Awards reveal how content customers are with a particular financial institution or insurance provider.

Canstar recognises financial institutions with annual Awards for outstanding value across a wide range of product categories. These Awards are given to the providers whose products are the strongest overall performers in our Star Ratings over the award period.

Canstar’s Customer Satisfaction Awards are for providers, recognising institutions with the most satisfied customers overall based on consumer surveys.

As Australia’s biggest financial comparison site*, Canstar compares more than 775 brands across more than 30 finance categories. Each of Canstar’s Star Ratings and Awards uses a unique methodology that is brought together by our expert Research team, with products analysed based on price and features. The top 10% of products are recognised with a 5-Star Rating. You can find out more about how Canstar’s value-based rating system works.

For media enquiries, commentary or analysis about Canstar’s Star Ratings and Awards, including our Outstanding Value Awards or Customer Satisfaction Awards, please contact our Corporate Affairs team.


About: Josh Sale, Group Manager, Research & Ratings

Headshot of Josh Sale, Canstar

Bachelor of Commerce, Economics/Finance dual major, Griffith University. Master of Data Science, Strategy and Leadership, RMIT (ongoing studies)

Joshua Sale is responsible for developing the methodology and delivering Canstar’s flagship Star Ratings, as part of Canstar’s Research team. With tertiary qualifications in economics and finance, he enjoys helping Australians find more suitable financial products by transforming complex calculations into a consumer-friendly Star Rating that explains the values and benefits of different financial products.

As one of Canstar’s company spokespeople, Joshua has participated in print, radio and broadcast interviews with the likes of the Australian Financial Review, news.com.au and Money magazine, along with other leading media outlets, discussing topics such as home loan equity, banking incentive schemes, digital wallets and wider finance trends.

Joshua is known for his ability to simplify complex products and technical information, crunching the data into meaningful insights for consumers about finance. He has analysed several consumer markets across banking, insurance and wealth, and is keenly interested in various topics, ranging from how Australians interact with their superannuation funds, to the dynamic nature of the health insurance market, and collecting and redeeming credit card reward points.

Joshua believes that knowledge is the first step towards empowerment. Even while studying, he facilitated peer-assisted study sessions for economics, and represented his University’s Business School in an academic committee.

You can follow Josh on LinkedIn, and Canstar on Twitter and Facebook.


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