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Visit the official ATO at http://www.ato.gov.au

Many predicted that interest rates would be on the move in October, although some had held their prediction back to November, and sure enough… interest rates rose today by 0.25% from 3% to 3.25%.  In a statement issued today, Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens cited lower unemployment and solid housing credit growth as among the reasons for the increase. He said the “risk of serious economic contraction in Australia [had] now passed”. (more…)

Fixed rates are generally a good indicator of which way the banks are thinking interest rates will move in the future, since banks have to set their rates to make some sort of profit during the course of a fixed rate period.  Interestingly, we’re now seeing majority of banks hiking fixed rates up, under the radar. (more…)

Just to keep you up to date, four other banks, Suncorp Metway (SUN), St George (StG), Westpac (WBC) and ANZ, have decided to follow the lead of the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and pass on some, but not all, of the rate cut.  Each of them dropped their interest rates by .1%, while the NAB refused to pass on any of the rate reduction.  For reference the standard variable rates with each bank are as follows:

ANZ: 5.81% Effective 17th April

CBA: 5.64% Effective 17th April

NAB: 5.74% Continuing

StG: 5.79% Effective 17th April

SUN: 5.8% Effective 20th April

WBC: 5.81% Effective 20th April

Yesterday, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut interest rates by another .25%, as expected by many.  The April reduction brings the cash rate to the lowest recorded rate since it was established in Australia.  Of course, this is great news to borrowers and people who are still looking to purchase that first elusive home… but before you start dancing a jig, there’s some bad news that comes with it. (more…)

The last of the 100% products has been taken off the shelf.  RAMS and St George (BankSA) were the last remaining lenders offering 100% loan products to the marketplace, and they have announced that those products will be discontinued.  RAMS is effective immediately, while St George will still be available until the end of next week (Thurs 9 April). (more…)

Two weeks out from the next Reserve Bank meeting, all the talk is regarding whether or not interest rates will be cut again or not.  This month’s meeting saw the Board decide to take a breather on rate cuts and just wait and see what impact their decisions over the last 6 months have had.  Common sense, I call it. (more…)

The latest Unemployment figures were released yesterday, and they confirm a lot of fears.  A rise in unemployment was recorded in the last month to the tune of almost 50,000 people.  A pretty large increase in a single month, which takes the unemployment rate to 5.2% (seasonally adjusted).  That’s 1.3% higher than this time last year, prompting calls for another interest rate slashing. (more…)

As most of you would know, the RBA decided to keep rates on hold this month.  Finally, some common sense amidst the chaos.  The reason the RBA kept rates on hold was a simple one.  In fact, it’s what I’ve been crying out for since they started forcing rates up.  (more…)

So, yesterday the RBA were kind enough to grant Australians a 1% interest rate cut, which has been passed on in full by majority of the banks, with most making it effective by the end of the week.

 The news is, on the average mortgage (which has been identified as $254,000) a 1% rate cut will save you (more…)