Interest Rate Check - January 2011

[charlieandkath]

Was wondering what interest rate people are paying and who they bank with? Has anyone swapped banks or lenders lately?

We are on 7.21% Variable with Commonwealth Bank. Have not swapped banks for five years. Maybe willing to swap if could get a better deal.

 

[Nathan]

Charlie and Kath,

There is some more important things then rates to consider. Depending on your position if your looking at expanding your portfolio, one must consider the terms and ease of gaining new funds.

If you change today, next interest rate hike may be less for CBA and more for your new lender wiping out your savings.

Food for thought.

 

[The Sniffer]

How much is your loan. You might be able to get CBA to reduce the rate?

 

[charlieandkath]

Charlie and Kath,

There is some more important things then rates to consider. Depending on your position if your looking at expanding your portfolio, one must consider the terms and ease of gaining new funds.

If you change today, next interest rate hike may be less for CBA and more for your new lender wiping out your savings.

Food for thought.

Great points Nathan, I learn so much from this forum.

I guess I was interested if someone came up with say 6.21% variable with such and such a lender I would be interested to know that. Cheers

 

[mortgageman]

mortgageman

Hi CharlieandKath,

Depending on the loan amount you have, you may be able to get a better deal elsewhere in the market. There are products out there with rates as low as 6.9%, or some lenders are price discounting at the moment.

Regards,

Cameron Perry

 

[kero]

according to Feb's API magazine:

1st in basic variable home loans- State Custodian 6.97%

1st in premium variable home loans- LJ Hooker Home Loans 6.65%

1st in introductory 1 year home loans- Hemisphere Financial 6.29%

1st in 1 year fix home loans- Iden Money 6.33%

1st in 3 year fix home loans- ANZ 7.1%

1st in 5 year fix home loans- HSBC 7.55%

 

[charlieandkath]

How much is your loan. You might be able to get CBA to reduce the rate?

$550,000.00. Just ask them you reckon?

 

[charlieandkath]

Hi CharlieandKath,

Depending on the loan amount you have, you may be able to get a better deal elsewhere in the market. There are products out there with rates as low as 6.9%, or some lenders are price discounting at the moment.

Regards,

Cameron Perry

Cheers mortgageman. 7.21% not too bad then? What is the greater building society like?

 

[charlieandkath]

according to Feb's API magazine:

1st in basic variable home loans- State Custodian 6.97%

1st in premium variable home loans- LJ Hooker Home Loans 6.65%

1st in introductory 1 year home loans- Hemisphere Financial 6.29%

1st in 1 year fix home loans- Iden Money 6.33%

1st in 3 year fix home loans- ANZ 7.1%

1st in 5 year fix home loans- HSBC 7.55%

Thanks Kero, that 3 year fixed from ANZ is looking good. Would shave a bit off mine and give some certainty for a while. I guess all these loans are subject to your financials. I got plenty of assets but no real cashflow.

 

[artlez]

Keep in mind the costs of changing loan providers can be quite high, i.e. the fees for exiting CBA and the fees for joining ANZ. The time it takes to recover the costs may take a year or more.

 

[The Sniffer]

Thanks Kero, that 3 year fixed from ANZ is looking good. Would shave a bit off mine and give some certainty for a while. I guess all these loans are subject to your financials. I got plenty of assets but no real cashflow.

If you call CBA and ask for their customer retentions team you should get an automatic 0.7% off (7.11%). Over 500k they can go 0.8% however anything over 0.7% is on a case by case basis.

They had promoted they would match ANZs 3 year rate - you just need to ask to see if the offer is still current. I had a CBA 7.1% 3 yr fixed approved 2 weeks ago.

Your cash-flow position will be irrelivant as you don't need to refinance.

You can also search your BSB by googling "BSB search". The first 2 numbers in a CBA BSB is "06" - the other 4 are usually on your statement.

When it comes to CBA and NAB - if your BSB relates to Broker Chanel (search brings up a head office or third party reference) - it will be a little harder to get pricing approved. If it is a branch then speak to that branches manager - if he/she has a revenue based annual bonus he/she wont want loans falling off the BSB (reflects badly in reporting).

If you don't get the pricing you want. Just lodge a complaint stating how long you have banked with them, how many accounts you have and that they offer this to other clients????

They will generally come around.

 

[charlieandkath]

Keep in mind the costs of changing loan providers can be quite high, i.e. the fees for exiting CBA and the fees for joining ANZ. The time it takes to recover the costs may take a year or more.

Thanks artlez, I think sniffers post above covers the thoughts you provided.

 

[charlieandkath]

If you call CBA and ask for their customer retentions team you should get an automatic 0.7% off (7.11%). Over 500k they can go 0.8% however anything over 0.7% is on a case by case basis.

They had promoted they would match ANZs 3 year rate - you just need to ask to see if the offer is still current. I had a CBA 7.1% 3 yr fixed approved 2 weeks ago.

Your cash-flow position will be irrelivant as you don't need to refinance.

You can also search your BSB by googling "BSB search". The first 2 numbers in a CBA BSB is "06" - the other 4 are usually on your statement.

When it comes to CBA and NAB - if your BSB relates to Broker Chanel (search brings up a head office or third party reference) - it will be a little harder to get pricing approved. If it is a branch then speak to that branches manager - if he/she has a revenue based annual bonus he/she wont want loans falling off the BSB (reflects badly in reporting).

If you don't get the pricing you want. Just lodge a complaint stating how long you have banked with them, how many accounts you have and that they offer this to other clients????

They will generally come around.

Awesome stuff thankyou The Sniffer. If I could match that ANZ fixed rate of 7.1% with the CBA that would give me some breathing space and certainty. I will wait to see what some other people reckon but if this is the best option then I owe you some beers or something similiar.

Cheers and thanks again

 

[mortgageman]

Charles and Kath,

If you are unable to provide proof of income, I would probably be inclined to stay put as low docs are still quite difficult and would be more expensive than what you are paying. You can try asking CBA to reduce your rate, however if you are on a low doc it is unlikely they will agree. If you are on a full doc product, you may well be able to shave an extra 0.1% off.

Regards,

Cameron Perry

 

[Navish]

according to Feb's API magazine:

1st in basic variable home loans- State Custodian 6.97%

1st in premium variable home loans- LJ Hooker Home Loans 6.65%

1st in introductory 1 year home loans- Hemisphere Financial 6.29%

1st in 1 year fix home loans- Iden Money 6.33%

1st in 3 year fix home loans- ANZ 7.1%

1st in 5 year fix home loans- HSBC 7.55%

Check Carrington National Home loan
and 3 years fixed would be Westpac 7.09%

 

[Bigtone]

CBA will match the 3 year 7.1% offer,

just call them up it is easy process

 

[charlieandkath]

thankyou mortgageman, navish and bigtone for above posts.

I think my best approach at the moment is stick with CBA and try and get on the three year fixed at 7.10%. Thanks everyone. As they say many heads are better than one.

 

[Anh]

I am with CBA, professional package where i pay $350/y and i get to have multiple loans (LOC, Var, Fixed, Offset etc) and with that package if you borrow $250k over you get a discount of .7% on the var rate and .15% on a fixed rate. I used to deal with them direct until i found a mortgage broker which saved lots of time and she suggested how i should structure my loans etc.. I have since asked for a discount and get another .15% off the current rate which is .85% in total with my high borrowing (current rate is 6.96%) only after i was ready to refinance with Newcastle Permanent as their rate was 6.76% and they are similar to CBA in term of features.

Also i found that LOC tends to be .1% more expensive than other loans.

 

[charlieandkath]

I am with CBA, professional package where i pay $350/y and i get to have multiple loans (LOC, Var, Fixed, Offset etc) and with that package if you borrow $250k over you get a discount of .7% on the var rate and .15% on a fixed rate. I used to deal with them direct until i found a mortgage broker which saved lots of time and she suggested how i should structure my loans etc.. I have since asked for a discount and get another .15% off the current rate which is .85% in total with my high borrowing (current rate is 6.96%) only after i was ready to refinance with Newcastle Permanent as their rate was 6.76% and they are similar to CBA in term of features.

Also i found that LOC tends to be .1% more expensive than other loans.

Thanks Anh, your post makes a lot of sense and i can now see why we are paying 7.21 %. We are on the wealth package so that gets us the 0.7% discount. This leaves 0.25% difference between your and our rate which would be made up of the 0.15% further discount you are getting and the fact we have a LOC so that bumps it up the other 0.10%.

How did you go about asking for the discount?

Cheers and have a great day.

 

[Mick C]

NAB - Package- 6.98%