ING Home Loan Review 2026

You can link 1 Orange Everyday account as a 100% offset to each eligible loan account. Money sitting in the offset cuts the balance ING charges interest on, and you can still spend it whenever you need to.

The catch: it’s 1 offset per loan account, and the loan costs $299 a year.

Want separate offsets for bills, holidays and an emergency fund? ING can’t do that on the one loan. Our multiple offset accounts guide compares the lenders that can.

Mortgage Simplifier has no monthly or annual loan fee and no offset account. It can suit you if you won't keep enough savings in an offset to make one worth paying for. Both Mortgage Simplifier and Orange Advantage need total borrowing of at least $150k per application.

To choose between the two, start with the savings you expect to keep after settlement and normal spending. Then compare each loan's quoted rate and fees with the interest you could save through Orange Advantage's offset. A balance that looks healthy on payday may be much smaller once the bills come out.

ASIC's Moneysmart offset account guide walks through the same check in more detail.

ING offers fixed terms from 1 to 5 years. Its detailed warning says extra repayments totalling $10k or more in a fixed-rate year may trigger break costs. Selling or refinancing during the fixed term may also trigger a charge.

Before transferring a large amount, ask ING to confirm your remaining extra-repayment allowance. Its headline says "up to $10k" but its detailed warning says "$10k or more", so don't assume exactly $10k is free of break costs. Extra repayments cannot be redrawn during the fixed term, and the fixed loan has no offset.

Planning a renovation? ING may release up to $150k in one payment for non-structural work when the total loan stays at 90% of the property value or less. Structural renovations, a new granny flat, business use and money for living expenses need another lender or loan structure.

ING also has a separate Green Upgrade Loan for eligible existing customers funding approved energy improvements. We can check whether your project, loan balance and property value fit the current offer.

ING’s October variable-rate increase took effect on 9 October 2026. The repayment change follows a different timetable: interest-only amounts changed from 1 November, while principal-and-interest amounts change from 3 December. Check your own change notice in the ING app, online banking or mail for the amount and payment date that apply to your loan.

The loan cannot be used to release extra cash or combine other debts into the home loan. ING also limits who can help and what the guarantor can offer as security.

You must be able to afford the repayments using your own income. The guarantor is responsible for an agreed part of the loan, not the whole amount.

Our guarantor home loan guide explains how a guarantee works, the risks for your family and how it may be removed.

ING does not automatically rule out a guarantor because they are retired. It looks at their age, assets and how they could repay the guaranteed amount if ING ever asked them to. This may help when a retired parent owns their home but receives the age pension.

The CBA and Bankwest policies reviewed for this guide were stricter when government benefits were the guarantor's only income.

ING limits its guarantor loan to a spouse or de facto partner, parent, grandparent, sibling or child. You cannot use cash or a term deposit instead of property, and the loan is not available for construction.

NAB and Macquarie do not offer this type of parent-backed guarantor loan through the broker channel.

Before anyone agrees to guarantee the loan: the guarantor should get independent legal advice and understand the maximum amount they could be responsible for, plus how the guarantee may later be removed.

ING may count the income you will earn after returning to work. You need to show the return date, role, hours and pay. ING will also check whether your savings and other income can cover the period before your normal pay starts again.

Our parental leave home loan guide explains the return-to-work evidence and savings to prepare.

• Have your employer confirm your return date, role, hours and ongoing pay. If you plan to return part-time, use those hours when preparing your budget.
• List the leave payments or other income you will receive before returning, including when each payment ends.
• Map out the repayments and household costs until normal pay resumes, then compare that gap with the savings you have available.
• Allow for childcare and other expenses once work resumes, so the budget covers life after leave as well as the months away from work.

ING checks how much of your income it can count, your debts and living costs, and whether you could manage repayments if rates rise.

ING may leave your HELP repayment out when working out how much you can borrow. You'll need a current ATO record showing a balance of $15k or less, plus enough savings left after your deposit and buying costs to cover that balance in full. ING needs to verify those savings.

If you owe $12k, for example, you'd need at least $12k left once the money needed to complete your purchase is accounted for.

Before paying extra towards HECS, I'd compare your borrowing power and the savings you'd have left under each option. Your compulsory HELP repayments still continue even if ING leaves them out of its home loan calculation. Our HECS and home loan guide explains the options.

ING can count your children differently when you share care, as long as you have a child support agreement or court order. It decides case by case, so we'd check with ING before you rely on a bigger loan. Our child support guide explains what to have ready.

How much you can borrow depends on your income, credit history, postcode and property. Above 80% of the property value, ING normally charges lenders mortgage insurance (LMI), an extra cost for borrowing with a smaller deposit. Investors can borrow up to 90% on principal and interest or interest only. Some higher-risk postcodes may be capped at 90% for an owner-occupied purchase.

ING also compares your total debt with your gross annual income. This is called debt-to-income, or DTI. For example, $600k of total debt against $100k of gross annual income is a DTI of 6.

ING generally wants total debt to stay below 8 times gross annual income.

The limit tightens. ING generally wants total debt to stay below 6 times gross annual income.

For credit cards, ING uses the card limit, not what you currently owe. A large existing mortgage, investment debt or unused card limit can reduce the amount ING will lend, even on a strong salary.

ING also assesses repayments using the higher of 5.50% or 3% above the actual rate. This is a safety test, not the rate you will pay.

ING can use up to 95% of standard rent, or 85% in a postcode it sees as higher risk. The catch is that rent cannot make up more than half of the total income ING uses in the application. It also ignores Airbnb, Stayz and other short-term or holiday rental income.

ING may look generous when you check one property's rent, then become restrictive once rent dominates the household income it can use. Investors with several properties should let us compare what each lender will lend before choosing ING.

When you borrow more than 90% of the property value, ING generally wants at least 5% of the purchase price to come from genuine savings.

An acceptable rental history can help show a regular saving habit. It does not give you the cash for a deposit: you still need funds for the purchase and its costs.

Our gifted equity guide compares how the discount, valuation and buying costs fit together.

Signed an off-the-plan contract more than 12 months ago? If the property has increased in value, ING may use the current valuation and lend up to the agreed purchase price while staying inside its usual limits on the share of the property value you can borrow. That growth may do part of the deposit work.

Using the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme? ING is not currently listed as a participating lender. If the scheme is part of your plan, we'll compare the current participating lenders first.

Work in medicine or another high-income profession? ING has no professional LMI waiver for any profession. We'd compare the deposit, LMI cost and full loan result across lenders rather than assume your profession gets you special treatment.

A 5% deposit does not always mean you have enough to buy. You also need money for purchase costs and any shortfall if the valuation comes in below the price.

Send us the address and contract early, plus any strata or letting agreement. We’ll check whether ING accepts the property, especially for apartments, acreage or anything with a management agreement.

See our guide to rural property home loans.

Check the strata letting rules. An apartment can look standard but still fall outside ING's rules if the by-laws or management agreement restrict owner use or require holiday letting.

Our apartment loan guide explains how size, building type and use can affect lending.

We'll go through the application, settlement and discharge costs with you, as well as the ongoing fee. A fixed loan can also have break costs if you repay early or change the loan.

ING publishes its current assessment times on its broker website, and they can change from day to day. When we checked on 17 October 2026, these were the times for complete applications. They do not include waiting for a valuation.

Selling, refinancing or paying off your ING loan? Our ING discharge guide explains how to start, what to have ready and how long to allow.

We’ll check the current ING broker service levels against your finance deadline and allow time for the valuation, missing documents and any follow-up questions.

In our experience, eligible Broker Express files can move faster than the standard ING broker path. We’ll check whether your application is eligible, particularly if an auction is close or your contract has a short finance deadline.

We’ll explain whether your ING pre-approval has been fully assessed and what conditions remain. A fully assessed result gives you more confidence that your finances fit, but ING still needs to accept the property and valuation. We’ll work through the outstanding loan conditions with you before you commit to an unconditional purchase.

What customers said in 2026: ING recorded 92.1% home-loan customer satisfaction in Roy Morgan's May 2026 results, the top result among the banks in Roy Morgan's report, 5 points ahead of the next bank. See ING's announcement and survey details

The lender pays us commission, which we disclose before you proceed. Hunter Galloway is independently owned.

We compare more than 30 lenders and explain why we recommend a loan before you apply. Our Brisbane team can compare ING with other lenders and explain which options fit your situation. Read more about how we review lenders

Client examples are based on real situations. Names and identifying details have been changed.