Trending Financial News 14 October

Is Facebook Libra falling apart?

eBay, Visa, Mastercard and Stripe have joined PayPal in exiting the Facebook Libra coalition. There are now just two payments companies backing the proposed Facebook cryptocurrency. They are Mercadopago from Argentina and PayU from the Netherlands.

Facebook’s head of Libra, David Marcus, tweeted: “I would caution against reading the fate of Libra into this. Of course, it’s not great news in the short term, but in a way it’s liberating. Stay tuned.”

Government orders new investigation into banks

The treasurer Josh Frydenberg has ordered the competition regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to investigate the big four banks and other lenders over the pricing of home loans.

None of the big four, CBA, ANZ, NAB and Westpac, along with many other lenders, have not passed on the full amount of RBA rate cuts the RBA has delivered since June.

Smaller banks and non-bank lenders will also be included in the inquiry which will report by 30 March 2020 and look at difference in prices for new and existing customers, differences between reference rates and actual rates and mortgage switching.

Five-year fixed loan rates fall under 3%

There are now 16 five-year fixed rate home loans with advertised rates under 3 per cent pa listed on InfoChoice and 12 four-year fixed rate home loans under 3 per cent pa.

For example, the UBank UHomeLoan has a five-year fixed rate of 2.94 per cent pa (comparison rate 3.34 per cent pa). On a $300,000 loan this loan charges about $1413 per month

Amazing FIVE-YEAR FIXED rates – under 3%:

Buying could be cheaper than renting – for next 5 years

Vadim Taube, CEO of leading Australian financial comparison site InfoChoice.com.au, said borrowers can lock in record low monthly repayments for the next five years.

“It’s possible to lock in loan repayments on a $300,000 home loan of around $360 per week for the next five years,” said Vadim Taube, CEO of InfoChoice.com.au

“Plenty of people will be looking at the low monthly repayments now being charged on fixed and variable rate loans and deciding that buying might be cheaper than renting.”

Lowest variable rate home loans now listed by InfoChoice.com.au 13 October 2019

Big banks cut savings rates

ANZ, Commonwealth Bank and NAB have cut savings account bonus rates by 0.25 percentage points. Commonwealth Bank shaved 0.05 percentage points off the NetSaver account and 0.25 percentage points from the GoalSaver account. GoalSaver is now paying a maximum rate of 0.90 per cent pa.

ANZ’s Progress Saver account rate has come down 0.25 percentage points to 1.60 per cent. NAB’s Reward Saver has been sliced to 1.61 per cent.

UP and 86 400 cuts savings rates

New online neobank 86 400 has cut the variable bonus interest rate on its ‘Save’ account by 0.25 percentage points to 2.25 per cent. The base rate on the Save account remains at 0.40 per cent, while the bonus rate has been reduced 0.50 percentage points to 1.85 per cent. The bonus rate is paid on balances up to $100,000.

The UP Saver account maximum rate has also come down, from 2.50 per cent to 2.25 per cent pa.

Greater Bank and MyState Bank have ongoing bonus savings account rates set at 2.50 per cent pa. Compare savings accounts from Australia’s banks, credit unions and other institutions at InfoChoice.