Rate Rise

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) decision to lift its key interest rate again is always unwelcome news.

The RBA raised the cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.0 per cent after Tuesday’s monthly board meeting, a move expected by a majority of economists. So far the lenders have reacted by following the 25 basis points increase on their books as well.

Decreasing Fixed rates?

Friday afternnoon and some good news on the 2 and 3 year fixed rates. Over the past few weeks lenders have slightly decreased their fixed rates, not by much but anything decreasing your repayments at the moment is a huge bonus nowadays.

Check out this new 3 year fixed rate special from one of our lenders, really good rate and one of the most flexible fixed rates in the market today as it allows for unlimited lump sum repayments as well as 100% offset accounts.A cheaper and more flexible fixed rate than this wil lbe pretty hard to find. Click here for more information.

Reserve Bank Keeps Rates on Hold

Australia’s big four banks say they will hold standard variable home loan rates steady after the central bank left the official interest rate unchanged on Tuesday, a move which surprised most economists.
The central bank decided to leave the rate unchanged and the major lenders hiking the rates by more than the last reserve bank rate rise has been one of the reasons why.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) left the official interest rate unchanged at 3.75 per cent on Tuesday. This is good news for our borrowers as people need a breather from their Christmas expenses and many borrowers are struggling with their mortgage repayments at the moment.
As a broker we can still find borrowing solutions for people finding it hard to cope or are struggling with repayments so please do not hesitate to contact us and discuss your situation, our advice is free.
A home loan health check once or twice a year is always a good idea. Cheers to a prosperous 2010.

Rams withdraws from broker market

As of 26th February 2010, Rams Home loans will be withdrawing from the broker market.

This has come as quite a surprise to the broker channel as Rams has been well supported since re-establishing themselves in this sector.

At the same time Westpac have announced a reduction in their LVR (loan to value ratio) to 85% for new customers. Existing clients can still access the 95% lend. By doing this it looks like they are trying to limit their mortgage lending exposure and try and sort out some funding issues.

Fortunately as a brokerage we have access to many different lenders and what the one lender does not offer we can access from another lender. Hopefully we will also see a lot more new  and exciting products come through the non bank lender channel especially in the lo doc sector so watch this space!