News Archive for October 2017

According to recent analysis by Mozo, Aussie households are paying up to 29% more for electricity than this time last year.

Forgot your wallet? And your phone? Nevermind, Westpac customers can now make contactless payments via their watch, wristband or fitness tracker thanks to some nifty new tech.

Although CommBank recently announced it was slashing upfront fees on international money transfers by as much as 70%, customers sticking with a big bank when sending funds overseas are still being ripped off, according to specialist IMT provider Transferwise.

Capturing the hearts (and wallets) of millennials across the US, Uber have just released their own Visa credit card filled with perks tailor made for young people.

Ever wanted to own your own slice of a lucrative Aussie banking business? Well here is your chance. In a bid to become Australia’s first ever neobank, Xinja have launched a round of retail crowdfunding which will allow the everyday Aussie to become a groundfloor investor for as little as $1000.

Following a meeting with The Palaszczuk Government, 7 energy retailers have now agreed to sign up to the Premier’s Affordable Energy Pledge in an effort to save Queenslanders money on their blazing energy bills.

That’s exactly what’s happening in the US right now with major insurer, John Hancock offering its life insurance customers the chance to run, lift, swim or cycle their way to a $25 ($32 AUD) Apple Watch.

Student life is becoming a more common experience in Australia, with more than half of Aussies now holding a post-school qualification - a bachelor's degree, diploma or trade certificate - according to 2016 census data released this October.

Credit card heavyweight, American Express has dominated in a range of categories to take out the ‘Provider of the Year’ award in the Mozo’ Experts Choice Awards released today.

That’s the hope of RaboDirect who today launched its “Feel Good AR” augmented reality app to help Aussies stop and think about the link between food waste, sustainability and savings.

Crunching the data on a whopping 190 credit cards from 60 providers, Mozo today announced the winners in its annual Experts Choice Credit Cards Awards.

The Commonwealth Bank has been on a fee-slashing spree lately, doing away with foreign ATM fees, cutting account fees and scrapping bank account transaction limits and more recently, dropping the monthly account fee on its Equity Unlock For Seniors reverse mortgage.

Aussie businesses that rely on international money for importing and exporting goods and services are getting whacked with over a billion dollars in exchange rate markups and other fees, a new study has found.

Term deposit rates have been falling for months now, but recently there have been a few good value options available for savvy savers who know where to look, Mozo data shows.

Credit card interest is the biggest of three banking costs that, when combined, drain Aussie households of $1200 a year and make up almost a third of Mozo’s top 10 money wasters.

Between dealing with in-laws, last-minute shopping trips and the office secret santa, Christmas can be a super stressful time - especially if you’ve got one eye on a dwindling bank balance the whole time.

Everybody uses a credit card differently, whether it’s to stack up rewards points and freebies, or just for the convenience of spending on plastic. But there’s one thing all spenders can agree on - there’s nothing better than scoring cold hard cash back from your spend.

Westpac has today announced that up to 200,000 insurance and banking customers may be eligible for a share in $65 million worth of refunds following a failure by the bank to properly apply discounts to certain package deals.

In a recent turn of events, younger Aussies are now scoring big time on the property market at record levels, according to CommSec, and the number of delinquent home loans has dropped.

If sky high electricity bills are keeping you up at night, EnergyAustralia’s newly launched Secure Saver plan might be a welcome change, promising to lock in usage and supply charges for the next two years.

Redraw facilities, offset accounts, split home loans and interest vs comparison rates - these are the home loan terms that a large portion of Aussies find pretty damn baffling according to new data from Gateway Credit Union.

ANZ Access debit card holders, get your iPhones ready because you’ll now be able to use Apple Pay on your next coffee run.

The traditional notion of bundling your home and contents insurance is being turned on its head with single-item insurance now an option for the customers of a number of top Aussie insurers.

As we head into summer, Aussies everywhere are feeling the burn of high power bills and we’ve got both good news and bad news about that.

Aussie seniors will now be able to save up to $200 a year on their grocery bills as well as hundreds of dollars on a range of other products like home insurance, thanks to a new partnership between the NSW Government and supermarket giant, Woolworths.

The property market is an expensive place to be these days, but we’ve uncovered a strategy that might allow homebuyers to loosen the budgetary belt a bit: haggling.

1 in 3 Aussies have a less than one month buffer on their home loan repayments, despite the recent decline of interest rates, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s biannual Financial Stability Review.

It’s not quite time to deck the halls and break out the mistletoe, but with baubles and tinsel hitting shop shelves everywhere, it is time to start thinking about your Christmas spending!

You might think your little vices, like cigarettes, a punt on the pokies or forgetting that you have a gift card at the bottom of your purse don’t add up to much in the end - but you’re wrong.

The average Aussie household can now expect to pay an annual energy bill in excess of $1500 and small businesses are not exempt from the power price hike either, according to competition watchdog ACCC.

Change is rife in consumer banking right now, with a host of brand new banking products hitting the market.

With Sydney’s property boom beginning to slow at last, the inner city and eastern suburbs homeowners have been hit hardest by backsliding prices, with declines of a massive 6% over the September quarter, according to Domain’s latest State of the Market report. But hopeful first home buyers shouldn't get too excited just yet.

Energy retailers in eastern and southern parts of the country are preparing for a massive supply of smart meters to be installed in Aussie homes and small businesses, according to The Australian.

Picture this: you’ve finally decided to do an overdue wallet cleanout - there’s a few maccas receipts, business cards from places you don’t recognise, scatterings of 5 cent pieces, which would be better off in your bank account, and an expired gift card to your favourite store.

Westpac customers, rejoice! The big four bank has announced plans to scrap the transaction limits on your personal bank account, slash your account keeping fees and have hinted at a potential partnership with digital payments platform, Apple Pay.

In the latest round of low interest credit card wars between the big four banks, the Commonwealth Bank has today announced the introduction of a new card with a purchase rate of just 9.90%.

SocietyOne posted record amounts of lending in 2017, but those about to tie the knot might be overlooking the potential value of a personal loan, according to a new survey from the peer-to-peer lender.

With Christmas shopping season rapidly approaching Myer has become the first Aussie retailer to launch a rewards credit card that features both Android and Apple Pay services.

Major bank NAB has today announced it will be canning American Express companion cards on its rewards credit card range, and at the same time, adjusting points earn rates on affected Premium Visa rewards credit cards.

In a drastic effort to stop blackouts during summer, Queenslanders may face the ultimate test of discipline by being asked to keep their air conditioners at 26 degrees.

With summer just around the corner many Aussies will already be in the midst of planning their overseas vacations, but a falling Australian dollar could mean that now is the time to exchange travel money before rates drop any lower.

As it gets harder for first homebuyers to step into the property market, many Aussies have begun looking to long-term renting. And thanks to a recent review of the Victorian Residential Tenancies Act, Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, has announced a new set of rules, designed to give renters more power and greater access to information.

Home insurance customers could make savings of up to $221 per policy if they’re willing to welcome the new Insurtech movement, according to Juniper Research.

Scoring a lower rate on your home loan may be as easy as asking for it, with the big banks willing to offer discounts of up to 0.82% to those willing to haggle, Mozo’s annual home loan mystery shop has revealed.

Aussies aren’t too pleased with their credit providers if the Financial Ombudsman Service’s 2016/2017 Annual Review is anything to go by.

Queensland car insurer RACQ, which last year merged with QT Mutual Bank, has now launched as RACQ Bank, and hopes to offers Aussies an alternative to the big banks when it comes to banking products like home loans.

Didn’t your mother ever tell you it’s better to be safe than sorry? Apparently not, according to the Survey of Australian Travel Insurance Behaviour (2017) report, which found that nearly 1 million Aussies travel without insurance.

The nervous wait between transferring your money to a mate and them actually getting it will soon be a thing of the past for Aussie banking consumers thanks to the imminent arrival of instant funds transfers early next year.

When you think about the terms and conditions on your mortgage, do you draw a blank? You’re not alone. According to UBS analysts, 1 in 3 Aussies don’t understand their interest-only home loan, unintentionally placing themselves in “substantial” stress once the repayment amount rises.

For young Aussies, the downside to parents shelling out a collective $65.3 billion to help their kids get into the property market may be that leaving an inheritance is no longer a priority for the older generation, according to a report from National Seniors Australia.

NAB customers with a nerdy streak will relish the news that you can now make general enquiries across a range of banking products via its recently launched ‘Talk to NAB’ app.

Despite the intense focus on rising house prices and stagnant wage growth among politicians and media outlets, the struggle for first home buyers trying to enter the Australian property market has continued - but it seems many may be finding a solution in ‘rentvesting’.

According to a study by Quantum Market Research, 83% of Aussies have underinsured their home and contents, which is a cause for concern, as a recent Climate Change Report found many parts of Australia have experienced an increase in extreme fire weather.

The big banks (and some smaller ones) may have recently made ATM fees a thing of the past for Aussie spenders, but don't be too quick to celebrate. We're still shelling out hundreds in bank fees every year - in fact, the average Aussie household paid $477 in bank fees last year according to the RBA.

The 12th Annual Choice Shonky Awards were held today, naming and shaming the biggest lemons from 2017. Among the “winners” was big bank Westpac, for it’s much-hyped Bump Account.

Millennials could be losing more than a quarter of their super balance to fees if they haven’t chosen their super fund correctly, revealed the 2017 Stockspot Fat Cat Funds report.

Attention Aussie car owners, online car insurance company and Mozo Experts Choice Award winner Progressive Direct is planning to transfer its business across to Hollard Insurance early next month.

Speaking from experience, once you graduate from university, it takes a while for your brain to catch up. You’ll still have moments where you’ll find yourself thinking ‘I still have those readings to do tonight’ or you’ve become used to constantly having assignment-related stress. But once you slowly start to let things go, you’ll soon face a new worry - managing your paycheck once you get a full time job. If you’ve just graduated from uni or are about to, here are 5 money tips to get your new uni-free life off to a great start.

As expected, the Reserve Bank has left interest rates on hold at 1.50% again this October, and likely won’t make another change until next year.

We’re not too handy at keeping track of our coinage and it’s costing us $466 million per year, according to new research by financial provider ING.

According to the Australian Bankers’ Association Chief Executive, Anna Bligh almost two-thirds of Australians have accounts at more than one bank, suggesting that people are shopping around to find the best deals and the right products for their needs.