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The Commonwealth Bank has announced the availability of a $1,250 refinance rebate for “select applications” along with a series of rate changes.
In a broker note released today (12 September), CBA advised brokers that the bank is offering a $1,250 rebate for “new external refinance investment and owner-occupied principal and interest home loans”. The rebate can be accessed via CBA’s home loan pricing tool.
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ING DIRECT in late August acknowledged that its recent $1,000 refinance offer extended to customers had put brokers in an "uncomfortable predicament" as the offer was only available via the bank's proprietary channel. However, head of distribution Mark Woolnough added that the bank does not have plans to extend the offer to the broker channel.
He said: "We never wanted to put you or your customer in that predicament where they could potentially question your honesty and integrity by not telling them.
"So, will we make it available to brokers? As it currently stands? No. But do we need to look at the way it is currently operated at the moment? Yes."
Rate changes
In the same note, CBA announced a series of reductions to certain fixed rate loans. Effective immediately, four and five-year term fixed rate principal and interest owner-occupied home loans will both fall by 20 basis points to 4.19 per cent per annum (p.a.).
Additionally, fixed interest-only investment rates with four and five-year terms will fall by 10 and 20 basis points, respectively, to 4.99 per cent p.a.
All impacted loans fall under CBA’s mortgage advantage package (MAV).
The changes follow a spate of rate adjustments announced by ANZ, MyState and Suncorp this week.
ANZ increased its fixed rate two-year investor loans (with principal and interest repayments) by 31 basis points to 4.34 per cent p.a., while its two-year fixed resident investor loan with an interest-only repayment structure fell by 10 basis points to 4.64 per cent p.a.
Suncorp also reduced fixed rates on its two and three-year investment home package plus loans by 20 and 30 basis points, respectively. The new rate for both is 4.29 per cent p.a., provided that the loan is for more than $150,000 and the loan to value ratio (LVR) is less than 90 per cent.
Suncorp said that the changes to its “two most popular fixed rate products for investors” were “a reflection of recent reductions to fixed rate funding costs”.
[Related: CBA calls for ‘consistent approach’ on broker remuneration]
