Trending Financial News 12 August

Bankwest slashes loan approval times

Bankwest has announced new mortgage approval timeframes to
try and lure customers who don’t want to wait weeks for loan processing.

Commonwealth Bank owned Bankwest has cut mortgage
application approval times from 13 days to 4 days. Approvals for increases to
existing loans will be processed in under one day said Bankwest. Bankwest is
introducing e-signatures for all bank loan documents but some paper forms from
other agencies, including state government land tax forms, may still be
required.

Loan processing times have increased at most banks along
with tougher prudential controls on lenders. As loan rates have declined, banks
have sought to compete on service.

Your credit report will detail your hardship

If you apply for, and receive, financial hardship
assistance from a bank or lender, that information will soon appear on your
credit report, if government amendments to the Privacy Act are passed by
parliament. Currently the Privacy Act precludes disclosure of hardship
arrangements in credit reports.

Financial hardship assistance can be requested if
your circumstances change (you lose your job for example) and you can no longer
afford to make your debt repayments.

Attorney-General Christian Porter announced that
inclusion of hardship arrangements in credit reports will benefit consumers by
making sure credit products are suitable.

Consumer groups are concerned that borrowers could
be deterred from applying for assistance with hardship if it is included in
credit reports.

Are you getting ANY interest on your deposits?

The amount of money being deposited in banks but
earning little or no interest is rising.

The major banks reported in June 2019 that they had
paid no interest on just under 10 per cent of the value of their (retail and
wholesale) deposits according to the Reserve Bank.

The banks paid less than 0.50 percentage points in
interest on another 10 per cent of their deposits, the RBA reported, up from
about 5 per cent in February.

Money held in transaction accounts typically earns
little or no interest. Savings
account interest rates have been falling since June when the Reserve Bank
began cutting interest rates.

Property market warming up for spring

Auction clearance rates have risen above 70.4 per
cent (national average) on the weekend of Saturday 10 August according to
CoreLogic preliminary data, albeit on low volumes.

In Sydney, 77 per cent of 324 residential property
auctions produced a sale according to Domain. In Melbourne, 70 per cent of 474
auctions produced a sale. There were very few auctions in Brisbane or Adelaide. ivermectin tablet price in pakistan

Property analyst Louis Christopher from SQM Research
told the Australian Financial Review that the results are the first signs of a
property recovery and that buyers are clearly returning to the market.

Aussie homebuyers are worried

Over the first half of 2019, Australian households have
increasingly become concerned about their ability to continue to afford their
debt repayments, bills and expenses.

ME Bank’s latest
Household Financial Comfort Report reported a decline in the availability of
credit and continuing affordability concerns.

“There remains
high levels of housing debt worry and actual payment stress among Australians,”
said the report.

“This is largely a consequence of continued decreases in the value
of residential property,” said economist Jeff Oughton.

Top Australian financial worries

44 per cent of
Aussies are worried about the rising cost of necessities according to the
latest Household Financial Comfort Report from ME Bank.

34 per cent of
households said their number one concern is their level of cash savings on
hand.

Among households with mortgages, 43 per cent said they pay about
one-third of their disposable income on their loan repayments.

The highest levels of financial comfort were identified in
NSW/ACT, closely followed by VIC. 

Conversely, overall comfort fell in QLD, TAS, and SA/NT, with the
levels recorded by Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide residents plummeting to match
the low levels reported in regional Australia.