April 2019    Published 01/05/2019   

Fixed rates for Home Loans are tumbling. Three of the four major banks dropped fixed rates during April and the lowest three year rate is down 20bp in the last month.  

In an unusual move, a second tier bank owned by one of the four major banks increased Credit Card purchase rates across its range of cards.   

Interest rates on Personal Loans were stable throughout the month, but there were two rate cuts of note.  

At Call Deposit rates were largely spared the knife this month with only two changes to report, unlike fixed term deposits.  

Term Deposit rate cuts have accelerated with a total of 35 institutions reducing rates in April, while top rates and averages for many terms are lower than they were in March.  

 

 

 

   

 

1   

 

 

Home Loans  

A handful of lenders made strategic cuts to variable home loan rates in April, however it was fixed rates that received the bulk of the attention during the month with almost every change being a rate reduction. This included cuts by three of the four major banks. The best three year fixed rate in our database is now 3.49%, down from 3.69% at the start of the month. 

 Key Changes - Variable Rates 

AMP cut 10 basis points from selected tiers on its Professional Package home loan. For Owner Occupiers paying Principal & Interest, loan amounts above $500k are now 3.79%, while above $750k, the applicable rate is 3.74%. 

Bendigo Bank slashed 49 basis points from its Basic Home Loan and 10bp from the Express Home Loans during April. Both now 3.79% for Owner Occupiers paying Principal & Interest. 

G&C Mutual Bank cut 32 basis points from its FHB focused First Home Loan Premium product, now priced at 3.59%, allowing a loan-to-value ratio up 95%. 

 

Key Changes - Fixed Rates 

Commonwealth Bank reduced owner occupier rates by 10bp on 3 and 4 year terms (now from 3.79% and 4.24% respectively), and 30bp on 5 year rates (also from 4.24%). Investor rates were cut 10bp on 2, 3 and 5 year terms (2 year from 3.89 and 3 year from 3.99%). They were the first of the major banks to adjust fixed rates in this cycle. 

 

2   

 

 

Heritage Bank cut 5 to 40bp from its entire fixed range, reductions focused at longer terms. Owner occupier packaged 5 year rates now 4.09%. 

ING also cut owner occupier fixed rates during the month. 2 year rates were cut 16bp, 3 year cut 19bp and 10bp for 5 years. The 3 year packaged rate now priced at 3.64%. 

loans.com.au introduced a 3 year fixed rate special at 3.59% for owner occupiers making principle & interest repayments and with a loan-to value ratio of up to 80%. 

Macquarie also adjusted fixed rates, cutting 20bp from 2 and 3 year terms, and 40bp from 4 and 5 year rates for owner occupiers. The 5 year rate now comes in at 3.89%. 

Following moves by other major banks, NAB cut 3 and 5 year rates for owner occupiers but 10bp (now 3.79% and 4.09% packaged, respectively). For investors looking to fix rates, 2 year rates were cut 10bp, 3 year cut 20bp, and 5 year down 6bp. 

Suncorp cut its 3 year rates dramatically, slicing 45bp from both its Owner Occupier and Investor terms, now just 3.49% and 3.69%, respectively. These rates now represent the lowest in the Mozo database for each borrower type. 

Westpac was the second major bank to cut fixed rates in April. Owner occupier fixed rates were reduced by 10bp for 3 years (now 3.79% packaged), 20bp for 4 years and 10bp for 5 years. Investor rates were cut 6bp for the 2 year term, 20bp for 3 years (now 4.39% packaged) and 10bp for a 5 year fixed period. 

 

Market Snapshot  Major banks  Basic Variable, Owner Occupier 

ANZ  Simplicity PLUS  3.81% 

Commbank  Extra Home Loan  3.79% 

NAB  Base Variable Rate Home Loan  3.79% 

Westpac  Flexi First Option Home Loan  3.98% 

 

3   

 

  

Major banks  Best package variable rates, Owner Occupier 

ANZ  Over $500,000 (<80% LVR)  4.46% 

Commbank  Over $750,000  4.67% 

NAB  Over $750,000  4.46% 

Westpac  Over $750,000  4.48% 

 

Major banks  Best package fixed rates, Owner Occupier 

  1 year  2 years  3 years  4 years  5 years 

ANZ  4.09%  3.75%  3.99%  4.49%  4.19% 

Commbank  3.89%  3.79%  3.79%  4.09%  4.09% 

NAB  3.89%  3.79%  3.79%  4.14%  4.09% 

Westpac  4.09%  3.79%  3.79%  4.09%  4.09% 

 

Rate leader, best variable rate for Owners, 80% LVR  Variable rate 

FreedomLend  Variable Home Loan  3.44% 

 

Rate leader, best fixed rate for Owners at each term  Fixed rate 

Greater Bank  1 year  3.49% 

Mortgage House  2 years  3.57% 

Suncorp  3 years  3.49% 

Greater Bank  4 years  3.74% 

Greater Bank  5 years  3.74% 

   

 

4   

 

 

Credit Cards 

 Purchase rates on credit cards don’t shift terribly often, but this month the St.George group, a subsidiary of Westpac, increased rates across all of their cards. There were also a number of adjustments to introductory and bonus points offers.   

Key changes 

ANZ reduced the introductory bonus points offered on five of its cards, while adding or increasing an accompanying cash bonus. For the Rewards Black card, the introductory points were cut from 120,000 to 100,000 ANZ Reward Points, and a $100 cashback was added. The spend required to activate this offer was also reduced from $7,500 in the first 3 months to $4,000. The Rewards Platinum, Frequent Flyer, Frequent Flyer Platinum and Frequent Flyer Black cards were adjusted similarly. 

Bendigo Bank introduced a 0% balance transfer for 18 months on its Low Rate Mastercard, reverting to the competitive cash advance rate of 13.99%. A 2% set fee is applicable to the offer. 

The St.George Group (including Bank of Melbourne and BankSA) increased purchase rates by 25 basis points and cash advance rates 100 to 200 basis points on its entire personal range of credit cards during April. The Amplify rewards program cards now have 19.74% purchase rates while low rate Vertigo branded cards now have purchase rates of 12.99%. All cards now have uniform 21.49% cash advance rates. 

Westpac added an introductory 0% purchase rate for 9 months on the Low Fee Platinum card while reducing the 0% balance transfer rate from 24 to 18 months on the Low Rate card. The annual fee for the Low Rate and Altitude Platinum cards are now also waived in the first year. 

 

5   

 

 Market Snapshot 

Majors  Summary of card offers 

ANZ  ➢ 0% for 18 months BT (+2% fee) on First & Platinum. ➢ 0% for 15 months BT on Low Rate. ➢ 25,000 to 100,000 bonus points on Frequent Flyer and Rewards. 

Commbank  ➢ 0% for 12 months intro purchase rate on all cards, excluding Essentials. ➢ 5.99% for 5 months BT on all cards. ➢ $0 first year annual fee on Low Fee, Low Fee Gold cards. 

NAB  ➢ 0% for 6 months BT (+2% fee) on all cards. ➢ 0% for 6 months intro purchase rate on Low Rate, 15 months on Low Rate 

Platinum. ➢ Between 30,000 and 90,000 bonus points on Qantas and Rewards cards. 

Westpac  ➢ 0% for 9 months purchase rate on Low Fee. ➢ 0% for 18 months BT on Low Rate. ➢ $0 first year annual fee on Low Rate and Altitude Platinum. ➢ $0 first year annual fee on Low Fee in first year or if spend $5,000 ($10,000 

for Platinum). ➢ 60,000 bonus points on Altitude Platinum, 80,000 on Altitude Black. ➢ 75,000 bonus points on Altitude Platinum with American Express, 120,000 

on Altitude Black with American Express. 

 

 

 

Top offers     

0% BT  Citi Bankwest Bankwest Bank of Melbourne BankSA St.George 

Platinum Breeze Breeze Platinum Vertigo Platinum Vertigo Platinum Vertigo Platinum 

26 months (1.5% fee) 26 months (2% fee) 

0% purchase  NAB  Low Rate Platinum  15 months 

Lowest purchase  American Express Community First Easy Street MOVE Bank 

Low Rate McGrath Pink Visa Easy Low Rate Low Rate Credit Card 

8.99% 

 

6   

 

 Northern Inland CU  Low Rate Visa 

Bonus points  Citi Citi Citi Bank of Melbourne BankSA St.George Qantas Money 

Prestige Signature Platinum Amplify Signature Amplify Signature Amplify Signature Qantas Premier Titanium 

400,000 Citi 300,000 Citi 200,000 Citi 200,000 Amplify   150,000 Qantas 

  

    

 

7   

 

 

Personal Loans  One credit union made a large reduction to its unsecured loan rate while an online lender applied a cut to its already competitive rate for used cars.  

Key Changes CUA cut the interest rate on its fixed Unsecured Personal Loan from 11.99% to 9.89%, a reduction of 210 basis points. 

loans.com.au cut 50 basis points from its fixed Used Car Loan to match its rate for new cars, now both 5.44%. 

SCU reintroduced the $100 application fee on its variable rate New Car Loan. The interest rate for this secured lending product remains 6.45%. 

 

Market Snapshot  

Major banks  Secured  Unsecured 

ANZ  n/a  12.45% 

Commbank  8.49%  13.70% 

NAB  n/a  12.69% 

Westpac  8.49%  12.99% 

 

Rate leaders       

loans.com.au  Clean Green Car Loan  4.74%  Secured 

G&C Mutual Bank  Fair Rate Personal Loan  5.99%  Unsecured 

     

8   

 

 

At-Call Deposits  While there were plenty of changes to fixed term deposit rates in April, there were only two changes made to at call savings rates this month. Both were reductions.  

 Key Changes Newcastle Permanent cut the base rate on its Online Savings Account from 1.10% to 0.85%. The introductory rate of 2.80% for the first 3 months from account opening remains unchanged. 

Police Bank cut the ongoing bonus rate from 2.40% to 2.30% on its Bonus Savings Account. The base rate of 0.50% and a $100 deposit, no withdrawals during the month remain. 

Market Snapshot   Major banks  Ongoing bonus rate  Introductory rate 

ANZ  2.40%  Progress Saver  2.30% for 3 months 

Online Saver 

Commbank  1.65%  GoalSaver  2.51% for 5 months 

NetBank Saver 

NAB  2.30%  Reward Saver  2.55% for 4 months 

iSaver 

Westpac  2.30%  Life  2.51% for 5 months 

eSaver 

 

Rate leaders     

BOQ  3.00%  Fast Track Saver  Ongoing bonus 

HSBC  3.10% for 4 months  Serious Saver  Introductory 

 

9   

 

 

Term Deposits  The pace of term deposit rate cuts has accelerated over the past few months with April’s tally being more than double the number of cuts that we recorded in May, and higher than we’ve seen for years. Over the last month the best 1 year rate is down 5bp to 2.80% and the average for that term dropped from 2.49% to 2.44%. The best 2 year rate fell from 3.00% to 2.90% and the best 5 year rate is down from 3.20% to 3.05%. 

 

Key Changes AMP implemented some of the largest reductions during April, cutting all terms from 1 month to 5 years by 20 to 40 basis points. Many of these rates still hold competitive market positions, though they have dropped out of the running as leading rates. 

While Bank of Sydney increased a couple of minor terms during the month, the vast majority were cut by up to 30bp. It previously held the top spots in the Mozo database for 9 out of the 12 months it held rates in. 

Across the board rate cuts were observed from Bank of Melbourne, BankSA, BankVic, Citi, Commonwealth Bank, ING, Macquarie, MyState Bank, NAB and St.George. These reductions ranged from 5 to 20 basis points. 

Other institutions only looked to reduce their longer term deposit (more than a year) rates during April. These included ANZ, Auswide Bank, Bankwest, P&N Bank, People’s Choice Credit Union, Rabobank, RACQ Bank, Rural Bank and Suncorp. These cuts also ranged from 5 to 20bp. 

 

 

 

 

 

10   

 

 

Market Snapshot  

Major banks  Up to 1 year  1 year  2 years 

ANZ  2.45% for 8 months  2.20%  2.30% 

Commbank  2.40% for 5 months  2.10%  2.10% 

NAB  2.45% for 9 months  2.20%  2.30% 

Westpac  2.35% for 4 months  2.20%  2.25% 

 

Rate leaders     

Less than 1 year  Arab Bank Australia (6 months) Rabobank (6 months) 

2.85% 

1 year  Arab Bank Australia Firefighters Mutual Bank Health Professionals Bank Teachers Mutual Bank UniBank 

2.80% 

2 years  Firefighters Mutual Bank Health Professionals Bank Police Bank Teachers Mutual Bank UniBank 

2.90% 

3 years  Australian Unity Firefighters Mutual Bank Health Professionals Bank Qudos Bank Teachers Mutual Bank UniBank 

3.00% 

4 years  Australian Unity  3.00% 

5 years  Police Bank  3.05% 

* rate tables based on a deposit of $25,000    

 

11   

 

 

Mozo Banking Roundup  

The content of this report is produced using Mozo's extensive database of banking products, which is updated every day.  

If you'd like access to more detailed information, please contact us at data.services@mozo.com.au 

 

 

 

 

 

 Important Information 

Product details in the Market Snapshot are as at the end of the month and product changes referred to are changes since the start of the month, unless otherwise specified. 

Under Mozo's Australian Credit and Financial Service Licence it is permitted to provide factual or general information that is sourced from external providers and not from Mozo itself. The information published in this email is of a general nature only. 

The information contained in this email is governed by Mozo's standard Terms of Use. To the extent permitted by law, you indemnify and agree to keep Mozo indemnified against any loss or claim arising out of your use of any information contained in this email. Where Mozo collects information such as rates, pricing and product information we make every effort to ensure that all information displayed is accurate. Mozo does not warrant that the information contained in this report will be faultless or that all of the information displayed will be completely accurate and we accept no liability whatsoever for any errors or omissions. 

 Copyright © 2019 Mozo Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved. ABN: 68 128 199 208. AFSL & ACL 328141 Level 11, 263 Clarence St, Sydney NSW 2000 

 

12