Trending News 11 June

More NAB home loan borrowers will get compo

National Australia Bank will pay back almost 5,000 more home loan customers who were overcharged interest. The 5,000 customers had offset accounts, which did not calculate their loan interest correctly.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said NAB had failed to link offset accounts to mortgages that were originated by mortgage brokers between April 2010 and August 2017.

Previously NAB had identified 592 borrowers requiring repayments but has now found 4,930 additional borrowers who will now receive their share of more than $8 million in payments.

NAB has not been able to find 567 customers who are owed a total of $593,546.

RBA tells home loan borrowers: shop around

Most banks and credit unions are passing on all of the Reserve Bank’s June 0.25 percentage point rate cut, but a few lenders, including ANZ, Westpac, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank, Suncorp and Heritage Bank have held back some of the cut from retail borrowers.

The governor of the Reserve bank, Philip Lowe said he was disappointed with ANZ and Westpac for not passing on the full rate cut to borrowers.

“All I can do is encourage people to shop around.

“If your bank has not passed this [rate cut] through,” said Mr Lowe, “then I encourage you to go and look for a better deal.”

“When people do go and look for a better deal from another bank, or even actually ask their own bank, they can normally find a better deal,” said Mr Lowe.

Compare variable rate home loans from all of Australia’s major banks, credit unions and non-bank lenders here.

Savers brace for rate cuts

Savers could be hit by cuts to their savings account and new term deposit rates following the RBA’s June 0.25 percentage point cut to the official cash rate.

Most banks and credit unions have not yet passed on the full cut to savers, and many savings accounts may well be spared from the full impact of rate cuts.

More than 50 term deposit rates have been cut by banks and credit unions in the last few weeks according to a report in The New Daily.

However, many term deposit rates have not been cut. The best six month and 12 month term deposit rates right now in Australia are about 2.70 per cent p.a.

Compare savings accounts from Australia’s major banks, credit unions and building societies here.

Compare term deposit rates, fees and features from Australia’s major banks, credit unions and other financial institutions here.

Queens Birthday dampens Auction results

Lenders have been cutting home loan interest rates all week but a holiday long weekend in major markets has put a dampener on residential real estate auction results for the weekend of 9 and 10 June 2019.

There were just 803 homes put to auction across Australian capital cities, down from 904 homes one year ago on Queens Birthday weekend last year.

The clearance rate of 51 per cent was also down from 58 per cent last week when 1661 properties were put up for auction.

Post-election property ‘euphoria’ has fizzled out to a state of “calm and caution,” real estate agent Shannan Whitney told The New Daily.

Investors and first home buyers are still having trouble accessing finance said Ray White NSW’s chief auctioneer Alex Pattaro.

Falling house prices brings RELIEF

Aussies are happy that house prices are going down!!

Old people, first home buyers, owner-occupiers, and even Aussies who are not interested in buying a house are relieved that growth in house prices has eased over the last 18 months.

88 per cent of Australians said housing affordability remained an important concern despite recent price falls according to a survey by ME Bank’s Quarterly Property Sentiment Report.

However, 59 per cent of Australians surveyed said they were glad that home prices have been falling. Meanwhile 62 per cent of homeowners said they were concerned that their own house might be losing value.

28 per cent of Australians believe that house prices will continue to fall, 32 per cent are expecting prices to rise.

70 per cent of those surveyed said they were concerned about tightening credit and lending policies by the banks.

Auction results from the Queen’s Birthday weekend were subdued with just 803 homes put to auction across Australian capital cities, down from 904 homes one year ago. The clearance rate of 51 per cent was also down from 58 per cent last week.

Post-election property ‘euphoria’ has fizzled out to a state of “calm and caution,” real estate agent Shannan Whitney told The New Daily.