Who the big four are

The big four are Australia's four largest banks: Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB and ANZ. Each also owns other brands that lend under their own name and set their own rates, so the major banking groups reach further than the four logos suggest.

The table above shows loans from the four parent brands only. The brands they own are priced separately, sometimes lower, and are listed as lenders in their own right.

What a big four home loan gives you

The case for a major bank is mostly about convenience and reach. You get the largest branch and ATM networks in the country, mature banking apps, and the option to keep your transaction accounts, savings, credit card and mortgage with one institution. That matters most for an offset account, which works best when your salary lands in it and your everyday spending comes out of it.

The majors also sell package home loans. You pay an annual fee, commonly a few hundred dollars, and in return get a rate discount and bundled extras such as an offset account, a fee-free credit card or waived account fees. Whether a package pays for itself depends entirely on the size of your loan, which is covered below.

What it can cost you

The trade-off is price. Big four advertised rates usually sit above the lowest rates in the market, and the gap compounds over a long loan. As a rough guide, on a $600,000 balance every 0.10% of rate difference is worth around $600 a year in interest, so a gap of half a percent is roughly $3,000 a year before any fees.

Like most lenders, the majors also tend to price new customers more sharply than existing ones. A loan taken out several years ago and never repriced is often paying more than a new customer at the same bank would for the same loan.

Is a package worth the annual fee?

The sum is simple: the rate discount the package gives, multiplied by the loan balance, against the annual fee. On a $500,000 loan, every 0.10% of discount is worth about $500 a year, so a fee of a few hundred dollars needs a discount of around 0.10% or more just to break even. On a smaller balance, the same fee buys less, and a no-frills loan often comes out ahead.

The extras only add value when they are used. An offset account you keep empty or a credit card you never take out of the drawer adds nothing to the package's value.

Big four or a smaller lender?

Smaller banks, customer-owned banks and online lenders often undercut the majors on rate, partly because they run fewer branches. In exchange you may get a smaller feature set, less face-to-face service, or a lender you have not dealt with before. All of them must hold an Australian credit licence and follow the same responsible lending rules, and a home loan is money you owe rather than money you have deposited, so the size of the lender matters less to a borrower than it does to a saver.

Where the majors sit against the rest of the market shows in variable rate home loans and fixed rate home loans across every lender, and in the full market on the home loans hub.

How big four home loans compare

The comparison rate puts loans on a like-for-like footing, since it folds in most fees. The LVR tier matters next, because the majors price in tiers and the rate at 60% of the property's value can be noticeably lower than at 90%.

A package fee is worth only the discount it buys, and some majors offer an offset account without one. The repayment calculator shows what each rate means for the monthly figure, and the side-by-side comparison shows rate, fees and features together.

Already with a major? Repricing

The big four all run retention teams whose job is to keep borrowers from refinancing elsewhere, and they often respond to a specific lower rate from another lender. Repricing involves no discharge fee, no valuation and no new credit enquiry. Where the bank will not move far enough, our refinance guide covers what switching actually costs.

This is general information, not financial advice. We are a comparison service, not a lender or a broker.