Home Loan

A 100% offset account for a home loan enables you to pay off your loan sooner, and still have access to a lump sum of your savings when you need them. An offset account is a regular savings account that has ATM, cheque book and internet access, which is linked to your home loan when the loan is established. The... Read more

House prices continued to improve in the last months of 2012, according to the latest figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Preliminary estimates show the price index for established houses in the eight capital cities rose 1.6% in the December quarter 2012. This was the strongest quarterly growth in almost three years. In the final quarter of 2012,... Read more

At its meeting today the Reserve Bank Board announced interest rates would remain unchanged at 3.0%. The last rate cut took place in December, when a 25 basis points reduction took the cash rate down to the near 50 year low set by the Reserve Bank during the GFC in 2009. Patricia Williams is a credit representative (400458) of BLSSA... Read more

Any person in Australia who has ever applied for finance of any kind will have a credit report in their name.  With the rules around credit reports changing, do you know what yours looks like and whether it is correct?Credit Report Changes A new scheme that has just been approved by the government allows for even greater detail to appear... Read more

The Government called it a “victory for Australian families” when mortgage exit fees were abolished on all new home loans since 1st of July 2011 as a measure to promote competition in the banking system.  The smaller lenders will now compete vigorously by offering cheaper interest rates, and the pressure will keep the rates low at the big banks so... Read more

Many of the large banks offer the services of a personal banker, otherwise known as a private banker or relationship manager. Supposedly if you have a personal banker you get preferential treatment, special access to advisors and the best solutions offered to you. You’d also expect that you’re being offered the best rates on your deposits and loans. In this... Read more