News Archive for October 2015

Mozo has calculated that borrowers who remain with a Big 4 home loan despite recent interest rate hikes are missing out on a collective $6.08 billion of cash savings each year or $17 million a day.

Almost a quarter of women who believe their shoe collection is worth more than $3,000 don’t believe they would have enough insurance to replace their collection.

American Express announced yesterday that Apple Pay will become available in key global markets such as Australia and Canada by the end of this year, allowing cardholders to pay on the go with their iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch.

Mozo’s People’s Choice Banking Awards reveal that Australia’s favourite banking providers are smaller, online and non-bank lenders.

Australia’s first 100 per cent renewable energy utility company Zen Energy was launched in Adelaide on Tuesday. The company plans to use a combination of solar power generation, battery storage, and localised energy grids to create self-sustained communities that will buy back the power they generate, according to abc.net.au.

Supermarket giant Woolworths has scrapped its QFF points program and will be replacing it with a loyalty scheme that rewards its 9 million customers with cash discounts off their shop.

One in every five homes in Western Australia has rooftop solar panels, making the state one of the fastest to embrace solar technology.

As expected, the Commonwealth Bank and NAB have followed Westpac’s lead by lifting the interest rate on their  variable rate loans by 0.15% p.a. and 0.17% respectively.

Australia could become one of the largest markets for home battery storage allowing households to store energy from their rooftop solar panels keeping electricity costs down, a new Climate Council report has revealed.

Personal loan comparison site Mozo.com.au has unveiled the winners of the Mozo Experts Choice Awards for Personal Loans. Our experts filtered through 181 personal loans from 55 Australian lenders to narrow down the top value personal loans and car loans in Australia, across five categories: Best New Car Loan, Best Used Car Loan, Best Secured Car Loan, Best Unsecured Car Loan and Best Personal Line of Credit.

Homebuyers may be able to breathe a sigh of relief as new data suggests that Sydney’s property boom appears to be over.

According to research by Roy Morgan, consumer confidence has fallen 2.0% in the wake of Westpac’s announcement to increase its standard variable interest rates for both owner occupiers and investors by 0.20%. The drop follows a growth in consumer confidence of 5.1% in the previous week.

Good news for environment conscious car lovers - Porsche Cars Australia (PCA) has announced that it will purchase 10,000km-worth of accredited renewable energy on behalf of every buyer of a Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid, reported msn news.

The holiday season is fast approaching, which means thousands of Aussies will soon be jetsetting overseas for a much needed vacay. While a break in a foreign country can be a fantastic experience, if an incident occurs Mozo Director Kirsty Lamont says many travellers face the risk of having their claims rejected due to not following some of the golden travel insurance rules.

While Australian housing prices have skyrocketed over 2015, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia there are signs the Sydney and Melbourne property markets could be beginning to slow with auction clearance rates falling and price growth easing in Sydney.

Australians are losing an estimated $11.6 billion a year by not switching their banking, insurance, grocery and utilities providers, according to a new consumer behaviour study.

Mozo has predicted that Westpac’s decision to independently increase interest rates on its owner occupier loans will be followed by other lenders.

RBA deputy governor Philip Lowe issued a reminder that people looking to take advantage of the low rates on offer should be careful not to over extend themselves. The senior RBA official was speaking at the CFA Institute Australia Investment Conference in Sydney, reported Your Investment Property.

With the temperatures going up steadily, energy providers are competing to offer customers attractive deals to keep their bills in check. Keeping up with the trend, Origin Energy is offering cash vouchers worth up to $200 to new as well as existing customers.

Can you believe it’s already midway through October? So it won’t be long until the silly season is upon us and we’ll be forking out cash for everything from Kris Kringle gifts to Christmas lunch.

ANZ has recently announced its decision to fund and facilitate investment of at least $10 billion by 2020 to help its customers especially those within “sensitive” industries such as energy and mining to make a smooth transition to a low carbon economy.

Australian homes can expect electricity storage to become a common concept in a matter of just a few years. With the savings that can be made from combining battery storage facilities with rooftop solar panels, this technology could well become the ‘norm’ according to the head of California-based company Enphase Energy, reported the SMH.

Today Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull joined OnMarket BookBuilds CEO Ben Bucknell at the launch of the OnMarket direct bidding app, a free platform that allows you to buy IPOs and placements from your phone, tablet or desktop.

These days you can earn frequent flyer points on just about everything from flights and hotels through to your weekly grocery shop. Now with Qantas teaming up with taxi booking app goCatch, you can even earn Frequent Flyer Points on your taxi fare when you book and pay via the app.

As predicted  by Australian economists, the Reserve Bank of Australia has left the official cash rate on hold at 2% after today’s board meeting.

We all know one of the biggest challenges for first home buyers is getting a deposit together. Now new research has revealed a growing number of first home buyers are using credit cards and personal loans to fund their deposits.