 Westpac cuts home loan rates
Westpac has moved to cut their standard variable rate by 10 basis points. The bank is the third, behind Commonwealth and ANZ, to cut rates following the Reserve Bank cutting official rates yesterday.
But while the RBA cut 25 basis points off the official rate, the three banks have only cut home loan rates by 10 basis points.
Westpac's standard variable mortgage rate will fall to 5.81 per cent
from April 20. Westpac group head of retail and business banking Peter Hanlon said
in a statement the bank is cutting rates for homeowners even though the cost of borrowing has increased for them in recent months.
“Over the past six months we have passed on a significant amount of
the reduction in the official cash rate to all our customers,” he said.
“However, we recognise that many of our small business customers are
managing difficult economic circumstances and as a result we believe
now is the right time to pass on in full the latest interest rate
reduction to these customers.”
Westpac also slashed 25 basis points off its rates for business loans and credit cards.
National Australia Bank is also talking about higher funding costs, and says due to the rising costs, they will not be passing on any RBA cuts or reducing their rate.
April's RBA meeting saw the central bank cut official interest rates by 0.25 per cent, to 3 per cent. This is the lowest cash rate since 1960.
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