News Archive for August 2017

Fierce lender competition for prime home loan customers is delivering a rate cut bonanza for owner-occupier borrowers this spring.

ANZ customers are being warned to pay more attention to their inboxes due to a recent and incredibly realistic phishing scam.

If you are one of the thousands of Australians who have already made the switch to solar or are wanting to make the switch to a GreenPower energy plan, the results are just in for Mozo’s Experts Choice Residential Electricity Awards.

According to the results of Mozo’s 2017 Experts Choice Residential Electricity Awards, using the wrong energy provider is costing Aussie households thousands of dollars annually.

With interest rates stuck at record lows, savers are facing tougher choices than ever when it comes to deciding where to park their hard earned cash.

In an event set to make any online shopper swoon and your bank balance cry, Afterpay is hosting a 24-hour shopping spree, called ‘Afterpay Day’, with up to 40% off its top 100 retailers including Country Road, General Pants and Mon Purse.

Aussies in their 50s and 60s are struggling to build up an adequate savings nest egg ahead of retirement, according to recent research from MLC, part of NAB’s wealth management division.

Satisfaction levels among Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and NAB home loan customers has fallen to 76.1%, according to the Roy Morgan’s banking consumer satisfaction survey for July.

Rooftop solar systems are set to save Aussies $1.6 billion on their power bills over the next decade - which is great news for those families who can afford them.

The momentous shift in the way we bank may be happening faster than anticipated, with new research by Roy Morgan revealing that 3.5 million extra Australians are using mobile banking in 2017 than just four years ago.

The soaring costs of new car repairs are likely to have an impact on car insurance premiums in 2018, with IAG (Insurance Australia Group) announcing that it will increase its premiums next year - following fellow car insurance giant Suncorp’s move earlier this month.

Australians could be shortchanging their savings balances to the tune of hundreds of thousands come retirement time, at least that’s according to Industry Super Australia (ISA) - the representative body of industry super funds across the country.

According to new research from Capital Economics, moving money abroad is becoming unnecessarily expensive and Aussie’s don’t really understand all the costs.

Many Australian small business owners rely on external financing to fund business growth, but drawn out application processes and insufficient credit could put development on hold, according to new research from GetCapital.

The whole point of having a rewards credit card may be to rack up extra value through points, bonuses and freebies, but if you’ve chosen your plastic unwisely, it may just be costing you more than it's worth.

UK Bank, Barclays, has unveiled its latest banking feature, Siri Payments, which allows its personal banking customers the option to use Siri to make payments through their mobile without the need to open the Barclays Mobile Banking App (BMB).

Aussie travel-lovers will be vying for bargains when Click Frenzy’s 24 hour ‘Travel Frenzy’ goes live at 7PM AEST tonight, offering thousands of dollars worth of savings from over 100 travel brands and retailers.

Sports cars and SUV drivers are the worst drivers on our roads, while drivers of sedans and  small cars are the most polite according to a recent survey by TomTom Telematics.

Auction clearance rates took a dive in Sydney last weekend after remaining unseasonably high throughout the majority of winter.

New research from the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) has found that almost a third of Aussies are stressed about their finances, with a low bank balance being the biggest roadblock from achieving their desired lifestyle.

Professional opinions are divided over the future of Melbourne’s highly sought-after apartment market after a number of economists offered up their growth predictions for the next 12 months.

Despite the fact that millennials are popularly thought of as lazy, irresponsible and only interested in avocado breakfasts, recent research from Westpac has revealed that an overwhelming 91% of Aussies aged 18-35 are setting and proactively working toward their savings goals.

Aussies love our rewards points, but recent Mozo research has revealed that they may not love us back, as the value of a rewards credit card is now lower than ever, ringing in at a net gain of just $27 each year.

Mozo has completed its Annual Rewards Card Survey for 2017, analysing 122 rewards credit cards to see what kind of value they offer Aussie spenders. And the news is not great for points chasers.

ANZ has bucked the trend of falling term deposit rates by upping its 9-month Advance Notice Term Deposit rate by 50 basis points to 2.70% as a handful of banks and financial providers continue to cut rates.

Police across NSW are urging Aussies to use tap n’ go with their credit cards to prevent fraud through “ghost” terminals.

Saving for a deposit is one of the biggest obstacles first home buyers face when it comes to property ownership, Westpac’s Head of Consumer Banking, George Frazis, has said.

A federal senate committee has stated that it is ”deeply concerned” by a lack of transparency in Australia’s $3.1 billion general insurance industry, and has implored the government to adopt a number of recommendations that would improve consistency and comparability between insurers.

South-east Queenslanders could save hundreds of dollars a year on energy bills following Alinta Energy’s partnership with the state government.

After posting a massive full year profit of $9.93 billion, the Commonwealth Bank has today significantly cut rates on it’s fixed home loan package, bringing it in line with other major lenders.

On Wednesday, Westpac released their latest Consumer Sentiment Index, giving us an idea of where Aussie heads were at regarding their finances.

For many of us, the Great Australian Dream of owning your home is the reason we get up in the morning, or so we thought.

Buying an apartment in certain high-density suburbs in the nation's capital cities could now prove potentially more difficult following reporting from the AFR that a number of postcodes have been placed on a ‘blacklist’ by Citibank.

Aussies have endured a winter of dropping temperatures and rising energy costs, making the decision to turn on the heater more complicated than ever.

Mortgage stress is on the rise in Australia and just because the RBA has left rates at the record low of 1.50% for another month, doesn’t mean the banks are following suit.

For many of us, August can mean different things. It might remind you that we’ve already passed the halfway mark for the year or if you’re like me, it means you can start your countdown for the last month of winter! But no matter how much or little time you have, getting up to date with your finances is something you’ll never regret doing. So if you’d like to make August your ‘money month’, here are seven things you might want to add to your finance checklist.

Aussie savers took another hit today after ME Bank announced a cut to its previously market-leading ongoing bonus savings account rate.

Australians are being reminded about the importance of staying fire safe this winter as a recent analysis by the RAC (Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia) has found that the number of fire insurance claims in WA has increased over the last four years, with majority of the claims being made during winter and early spring.

According to new research from Westpac, rentvesting has become the new trend for young Aussies when it comes to getting into the property market.

Growing concern about a shortfall in the amount of money they will have available at retirement is incentivising more and more Australians to focus on slashing their debt and boosting their savings balance a new report has found.

As electricity providers face scrutiny over spiking power bills, energy retailer Origin has announced plans to trial new technology that will allow households to track which of their home appliances are sucking up the most power.

An Australia-wide survey from Suncorp has revealed that over a quarter of Aussies struggle to talk about their finances for fear of judgement or embarrassment.

Insurance giant Suncorp has announced it expects home and car insurance premiums to rise by up to 5% next year, due mainly to a rise in the cost of making repairs.

It turns out soaring house prices are not the only deterrent to Aussie homebuyers, after industry body HIA revealed that the average stamp duty bill in Australia has risen by 16.4% over the past year.

The emerging shift from Aussies opting for card payments over cash could continue to accelerate, with a recent report into the Australian black economy making a number of recommendations that could drastically disincentivise cash transactions.

Suncorp customers around Australia now have more than double the access to fee-free ATMs thanks to a partnership with Cuscal Limited, owners of the rediATM network.

Aussies have never been at greater risk of online credit card fraud according to a report by industry body, the Australian Payments Network.

Long gone are the days when tech giants Apple and Alphabet (parent company of Google) stuck to making computers and selling ads, with both companies recently indicating further forays into the renewable energy sector.

As anyone that’s ever lived in a sharehouse will know, it can be seriously difficult just to find the right people to share with in the first place – so once you do it’s critically important to make sure the household runs smoothly to avoid any unnecessary friction.

Is your rewards credit card delivering less value than it used to? You’re not alone.

A lot happened in the first month of the new financial year. Our coldest month reignited the energy price debate, the property market continued to prove problematic and we welcomed a new era of banking.

Australian universities are losing almost an entire working week each month to processing international payments, according to research from global payment service Western Union and the University of Sydney.

The Reserve Bank has opted to leave interest rates on hold at 1.50% yet again this month, amid concerns about household debt and stagnant wages.

Estimates from the State Treasury have revealed that the NSW Government has pulled the plug on the newly developed fire and emergency services levy (FESL). The decision has caused outrage amongst taxpayers thanks to its $25 million price tag.

NAB have continued to grow its commitment to small Aussie businesses, recently adding an overdraft facility as part of its unsecured, self-service digital financing suite.