Commonwealth rated worst home lender

Customers looking for a home loan are preferring smaller home lenders over Commonwealth Bank which lifted its rates on Melbourne Cup Day. Photo / Thinkstock

Commonwealth Bank has been rated the worst of Australia's major home lenders, while the industry's smaller players remain the people's favourites.

Commonwealth's home loans rating fell to 5.9 points, out of 10, from 6.7 points in the latest people's choice survey conducted by financial services comparison website Mozo.

The drop follows the bank's move to lift its rates on variable home loans by 45 basis points on Melbourne Cup Day in November, well above the Reserve Bank's cash rate rise of 25 points. Commonwealth owns ASB Bank.

ANZ was the highest ranked of the big four home lenders, scoring 6.7 points, while National Australia Bank scored 6.4 and Westpac 6.2.

Greater Building Society was named Australia's favourite home lender, scoring 9.4 out of 10, followed by ME Bank (8.8) and CUA (8.2)

In overall customer satisfaction, NAB beat its big four rivals with a score of 7.1. Westpac was second with 6.9, followed by Commonwealth and ANZ, which both scored 6.8.

Smaller players again dominated in the overall satisfaction stakes, with Greater Building Society topping the list on 9.2 points. ING Direct was named best bank, most trusted bank and most recommended bank, while ME Bank was recognised as offering the best customer service.

Mozo managing director Rohan Gamble said competition returned to the banking sector in 2011, illustrated by a step-up in marketing.

"While these stunts certainly grabbed the headlines, customer satisfaction is driven by actions, not marketing," he said.

"The NAB's axing of penalty fees, ING Direct's consistently competitive interest rates and the Greater's commitment to people before profits have made them the big winners in customer satisfaction."

- AAP