
Good Morning All,
I trust you have had a great week!
I’m going to flip my roundup around for the next little while and try bringing this to you on a Friday!
Over the last week there has been quite a bit of talk around the increase to 4 year fixed rates increasing and what this might mean economically. My viewpoint here is that the lenders are seeing a trend upward to the economy, mainly buoyed by the housing market and that we ‘may’ well see base rates from the RBA rise before their 2024 prediction.
There are still some cracking 4 year rates available these namely being 1.94% from Bank of Melbourne and St George, NAB at 1.98%, ING and Westpac at 1.99%
3 year fixed rates are 1.89% with Move Bank, 1.9 Bank Australia, 1.93 with Bank of Melbourne and St George, 1.94 with Better Choice BOQ, 1.98% with NAB Westpac and Virgin Money, bearing in mind that these rates are for under 80% Loan to Value Ratio Loans and borrowing over $400k
Service levels are still terrible across the board, though many lenders are trying to get back to ‘normal. Meeting settlement dates has been another thorn in my side the last little while with many lenders seemingly not caring whether they meet these dates. I have spent an inordinate amount of time lately trying to get things to settle, pleading with lenders and unfortunately needing to get clients involved to also put pressure n the lenders to get to settlement on time. Some lenders have also chosen to book a settlement date and then not turn up which is just RUDE!
Interestingly I read an article today in which CBA’s Chief Matt Comyn stated that there is a disparity between the turnaround time for the banking channel and the broker channel. That an application done in house gets taken care of sooner than brokers application does. I was only mentioning to a client the other day that there needs to be a royal commission into the current service levels because clients are certainly getting the raw end of the deal. Brokers are widely known and recognised as being able to achieve much better pricing for loans that are ‘new to bank’ and we keep the banks honest when it comes to retention. They are certainly not making it easy for us to love or even like them let alone want to give them any business.
I must say in all of this that it has made me recognise those bank reps that have gone above and beyond to get applications through the quagmire of credit assessment. Reps that have helped us meet those deadlines as best as we can and ACTUALLY give customer service. Help not based on how much volume I write for that particular lender but because the client matters. Because of that help and those relationships it often means those are the lenders I will look to first because of those particular reps. There are plenty of banks out there who offer the same products and just have different faces, they generally don’t get a look in, unless.
Rant Over.
Have a smashing weekend!
JC
Scenarios and rates quoted are indications only and don't take into account your personal situation.
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