News Archive for March 2021

Without an everyday transaction account, you’d be hard pressed to transfer money to your friends, pay your bills, withdraw cash from an ATM or make over-the-counter purchases via your smartphone. Whatever you use it for though, you'll want the absolute best bank account to suit your circumstances, right?

No matter your age or where you live in Australia, if you own a vehicle or you are looking to purchase one, you’ll want to hunt down the best car insurance deal you can for your situation and budget.

Whether it's offering protection from flat tyres to flight cancellations to falling trees – insurance is a part of daily life no matter the season.

There’s nothing quite like a day at the Easter Show. Australians have been flocking to this agricultural celebration for decades (since 1823, if we’re really counting), and it has become the country’s largest annual ticketed event.

Australia's east coast has been deluged with two of the wettest years on record. More rain generally means if you live near a creek, river, major storm water drain, or in a low-lying area, your property could be in a flood-prone area.

Update - February 2, 2022: Since the publication of this article, Finspo has also launched an online mortgage broking service. The Finspo app is still available though, providing alerts and personalised insights to help users save time and money on their loans.

Whether you overindulged during some retail therapy or had a large and unexpected bill, credit card debt has a way of creeping up on us. But the good news is, you don’t have to just let it sit there accruing interest. In fact if you’re ready to put an end to your mounting debt, there is a way to do it interest-free. A balance transfer credit card allows you to move the balance on your current credit card onto a card with a 0% interest rate for a fixed period of time. If you’re thinking about picking one up, we’ve rounded up four offers to get your search started.

The home loan market is running red hot, with plenty of competition from banks and other lenders on both fixed and variable offers. Rates are already at some of the lowest levels we’ve seen though, so in order to stand out some lenders are rolling out additional incentives, including cashback deals.

In this current low-rate environment, refinancing has become common practice for many home loan holders to shave thousands off their mortgage. But is refinancing your car loan a good idea? Let’s take a look at the numbers: Since 2016, there have been eight cuts made to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) official cash rate. It now sits at an historic low of 0.10% from 2.00%. The current average variable car loan rate for new and used vehicles sits at 6.68%. When you compare that to the average rate at the same time five years ago, 7.82% - that’s a 1.14% difference.  In the case of home loan interest rates, the current average variable rate is 3.30% from 4.72% five years ago. While that is a 1.42% difference, the small margin can make a significant difference because home loans are generally around 25 to 30 years. So the question is, should you refinance your current car loan? We’ve weighed it up.

JobKeeper and other government support such as the NSW commercial lease package have officially ended. For many small businesses, a big question now is how they'll be able to manage dips in cashflow as a result of withdrawn financial relief. According to recent research from Scotpac, when it comes to plans for recovery and growth for the rest of 2021, 65% of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) want to restructure their business. That includes looking for other avenues of funding.Among those surveyed, 20% SMEs said they will need to cut costs to balance out the loss of stimulus funds. Nearly 20% are looking to make arrangements with the Australian Taxation Office, while about 16% plan to apply for a business loan. Unfortunately, another 25% of respondents said they have no strategy to get back on track. There are also more SMEs than last year who said they may have to shut down or sell their business if the market doesn't significantly improve - 34%, up from 31% in 2020. These figures were based on a national poll with 1,253 small businesses, conducted as part of ScotPac’s biannual SME Growth Index. Scotpac’s chief executive, Jon Sutton said that while there are a few “green shoots” indicating that the small business sector has withstood the worst of the pandemic, “the recovery is uneven and varies significantly by state, region and industry”. “Many businesses are forecasting growth, but many are not out of the woods yet,” he said. On the one hand, according to ScotPac's survey, 44% of SMEs feel more confident about running their business compared to pre-COVID, and about 55% have expressed plans to invest in growth over the next six months - up 3% since late last year. Scotpac’s SME revenue growth forecast is also up eight points for the first half of 2021. On the other hand however, Sutton said a lot of small businesses continue to do it tough. “There are positives, but we have to be realistic about what lies ahead. We still have half of the businesses polled this round, saying they are not yet ready to invest back into their business,” he said.

With international travel restrictions still very much in place, this Easter many Aussies will be holidaying in their own backyard - and a lot will be doing it in a caravan!

Neobank Up is taking innovation to a whole new level by partnering up with TikTok to create the first-ever gamified TikTok effect in Australia.

A storm of the century has been tearing through New South Wales, causing widespread flooding across the state and forcing thousands of people to evacuate over the weekend. Right now flood evacuation orders are in place for several towns and suburbs including Brushgrove and Cowper, Moree and Ulmarra as well as areas along the Hawkesbury River including Colo River, Agnes Banks and Freemans Reach.Although the rain has now eased, authorities are urging people to remain vigilant as some rivers have yet to reach their peak levels. In the meantime, the government and the banks have also rolled out a number of financial support measures for households and businesses affected by the floods. Read on for a snapshot of their flood relief packages and details on how to access them.

A recent report from KPMG shows that 91% of millennials and 92% of over-75s are now prepared to pay more for an ethically produced product, compared with just 40% before Covid-19.

On Monday, the flood conditions in New South Wales were declared an insurance catastrophe by the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA).

The Commonwealth Bank has announced a number of changes to its fixed rate home loans this morning, including a new low rate of 1.94% (3.93% comparison rate*) for owner occupier borrowers on a 2-year fixed term.

Ready to cut loose and hit the road this Easter? A year of limited travel options has certainly left a lot of us itching to fly free. Now don't get us wrong we totally understand your need to escape. We just don't want a speeding ticket or double demerit points to spoil your long weekend.

It’s been more than two years since the banking royal commission handed down its recommendations for reforms across financial service industries in Australia.

Athena has done it again in 2021!  For the second year running, the online lender has snapped up a Mozo Experts Choice Award for Home Loan Innovation. And this time around it's for the AcceleRATES home loan that was introduced last year. “Athena has proven again that it is an innovative lender as it continues to offer competitive rates to customers in new ways,” said Mozo Expert Judge, Peter Marshall. “As judges, we were impressed by the AcceleRATES feature which automatically decreases the variable rate on the loan as the balance is paid down and a customer’s loan-to-value ratio lessens.” Marshall explains that what stood out to the experts this year was the fact that as customers pay down their debt, Athena ensures that they are offering the home loan lowest rate available from the lender. “This is a well-deserved win by Athena for the second year in a row. Unlike some other lenders that reserve their top rates for new customers only, AcceleRATES means existing customers also benefit from lowering their LVR and staying loyal.” On top of the Home Loan Innovation Award, Athena also took home two additional 2021 Mozo Experts Choice Awards in the Low Cost Loan and Investor Loan categories.

CommBank has just become the latest company and the first major bank to enter the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) market. Similar to other BNPL products, customers can split up their purchases into four equal fortnightly instalments for transactions above $100. In order to access the service, customers will need to link it through their CommBank bank account. Other notable features of the CommBank BNPL product include:

In this day and age, words like ‘side hustle’ and ‘entrepreneur’ have generated a lot of buzz, as a growing number of people look to earn extra cash or kickstart a passion project outside of their day job.In fact, recent ING research found that nearly half (48%) of all Australians have a side hustle or are planning to start one. But while social media and online marketplaces have made it more accessible for people to start their own businesses, whether it’s an Instagram bakery or an Etsy art store, statistics show a gender imbalance still exists in the realm of entrepreneurship. For instance, as reported by SBS , of the 355,000 startups that were registered in Australia in October last year, only 22% were all women-led. That figure has only risen by 3% over the past two decades. Susie Jones is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Cynch Security, a Melbourne-based cybersecurity business. As an entrepreneur herself, Jones says women face more barriers than men when founding their own businesses. One barrier is the gender pay gap. Since launching a startup will usually require a certain amount of capital upfront, Jones says “fewer women are in a starting position to take the financial risk of founding a startup.” She adds that it’s also been well-documented that investors are less likely to invest in female-founded startups. Plus the fact that women are still expected to bear more responsibility in the home means “they simply have less time to dedicate to a startup”, says Jones. Case in point: Mozo’s Pink Recession report found that 83% of women generally act as a primary carer for their children compared to just 17% of men. Given how daunting it can be to start a business especially in the context of those additional challenges, it certainly helps to hear from others who have been in your shoes. So, we spoke to two women entrepreneurs about their journeys of growing their ventures to the thriving small businesses they are today, and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.

There’s no easy way around it; losing a friend or family member is a distressing time in anyone’s life. Aside from the emotional exhaustion that comes with someone passing away, there’s also the duty to take care of their possessions. And in some cases, you may also find yourself staring down the barrel of an inheritance. According to a 2013 HSBC’s global Future of Retirement report, Australians pass on an average inheritance of $561,636 to recipients. Generally, children inherit the lion’s share, nieces, nephews, or grandchildren inherit 20% of the money, friends receive 4%, and charities may get 2%.If you’re a millennial and expect to come into some inheritance money, you might be wondering what the best way is to go about managing it. Our guide will walk you through the steps you may want to take and provide suggestions on what not to do.

Low-cost online share trading platform Superhero has announced the abolishment of its $9 premium account fee and the expansion of premium features to its entire customer base.

As many as 110,000 Australians could lose their jobs once the government’s JobKeeper scheme expires on March 28, according to new research from the Commonwealth Bank. JobKeeper was introduced at the start of the pandemic as a fortnightly wage subsidy of up to $1,500 per employee and since then that amount has been reduced to $1,000. Now with the scheme set to wrap up in less than three weeks, CommBank’s economic report has found that certain sectors will be hit harder than others.“We see transport, arts and recreation and accommodation and food services industries most at risk of job losses at the end of JobKeeper,” CommBank said. “These industries are sensitive to international travel and also suffer badly when restrictions and lockdowns are imposed.” Up to 25% of JobKeeper recipients in these “travel-sensitive industries” are expected to be out of work, totalling to about 69,000 job losses. This is followed by ‘medium risk’ industries - retail trade, education and rental and hiring - where 10% of recipients (or 18,000 out of 174,700) could be stood down once the scheme ends.As for ‘low risk’ industries which include all other sectors such as construction, health care and professional services, 5% of recipients (or 23,000 out of 450,400) may lose their jobs.CommBank has based its estimates on the assumption that around 900,000 individuals are currently receiving JobKeeper.

The Federal Government has announced it will subsidise 800,000 half-priced flights to regional areas in a bid to rekindle domestic travel and support struggling tourism-reliant economies.

With the end of JobKeeper approaching in just over two weeks, the federal government today announced it will be extending its loan guarantee scheme for small businesses, in an effort to boost economic recovery. The new scheme will see the government guaranteeing 80% of business loans issued by participating lenders to small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), instead of the current 50%. Under the scheme, SMEs could take out much larger loans of up to $5 million over a longer period of ten years. And instead of a six-month repayment holiday businesses can opt to pause their loan repayments for 24 months. Another important change is that the new version will cover refinancing, which means SMEs may be allowed to switch to a better interest rate available under the scheme as well as access other benefits like longer loan terms. “The SME Recovery Scheme is part of the next step in our plan to help small businesses stand on their own two feet as the economy recovers from COVID-19,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said.“The expansion and extension of the loans will back businesses that back themselves and will help businesses who continue to do it tough build a bridge to the other side of the crisis and keep their staff employed.” To be eligible, businesses must have been on JobKeeper between 4 January and 28 March. Applications open from 1 April 2021 and must be approved before 31 December 2021. The government expects that over 350,000 JobKeeper recipients will qualify for this new scheme. Australian Banking Association’s chief executive, Anna Bligh welcomed the extension, saying it will give Aussie businesses the funding and backing they need.“This is the right product for the times. It includes more flexibility, and will allow small businesses to re-stock, rebuild and recover,” she said.Council of Small Business Organisations Australia’s chief executive Peter Strong also voiced his support. “This sends a message to businesses that wish to perhaps expand their manufacturing base, or those businesses that are still going through a difficult time but know they have a viable, that they can go to their bank and openly discuss their situation,” he said. For more COVID-related resources, visit our guide where we cover the many financial support measures available to your household and small business. Or scroll down below to start comparing a few business loan options.

From alarms that wake us up in the morning to messaging services that keep us connected, our phones can pretty much be used for anything these days. We can make purchases, manage personal finances and even keep track of our health and wellbeing, all using this one device. It’s no wonder 43% of Aussies would rather lose their wallet than their phone.

Most people tend to think of banks as intermediaries between people with savings and people who want to borrow money. They loan out deposits to borrowers, and make a profit by charging more interest than they pay savers.But is this an accurate description of how banks work? Nowadays, there’s a lot of debate about where banks actually get the money for loans, with some suggesting deposits may not be the source after all. Below, we explore a few of the main theories.

From consistently killer rates to their unorthodox approach to lending, Athena home loans has been changing the home loans game since day one. Maintaining its reputation, Athena has broken the status quo once again by paying off one lucky customer’s home loan for an entire year!

Digital payment giant PayPal has today announced it will be venturing into the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) space. Similar to other BNPL companies, PayPal’s product will allow customers to have a limit of up to $1,500 for transactions, which can then be paid back in four equal instalments interest-free, with the first instalment being paid at the time of purchase. There is a $10 late payment fee, which is capped at $30 for purchases over $125, or $10 for purchases under $125. As the product does not charge interest, it will not be regulated under Australian credit laws. However, Toon says the company will be conducting extensive background checks on customers to ensure appropriate applicants are approved. PayPal is also looking into the new BNPL Code of Practice which was released last Monday. “PayPal has developed a reputation over many years as being a responsible payments platform, and that is absolutely the focus of what we’re looking to achieve through the entry into the buy now, pay later space,” said PayPal Australia’s general manager of payments, Andrew Toon. According to Toon, the decision to launch the BNPL product came in response to the high volume of requests the company received from its Australian business customers. “They’re looking for us to be able to deliver choice and flexibility to their customers in the PayPal checkout,” he said. The PayPal BNPL product was already launched in the US last year with huge success. “In six months in the US, they got 45 million BNPL customers with the same product,” said chief executive of payments consultancy McLean Roche, Grant Halverson. “They would be the biggest [BNPL] threat to come here.”If you’d like to find out how PayPal’s new BNPL product stacks up to other offers on the market, head on over to our comprehensive Buy Now Pay Later guide or our in depth Buy Now Pay later statistics report.

In the week of International Women’s Day it’s important to acknowledge that women all over the world have extremely varied life experiences. Femmes are a broad group of people with different cultural backgrounds, different income levels and varying degrees of privilege.

A new CoreLogic report into women and home ownership shows men dominate real estate in Australia.

These days we're more aware than ever that a carbon footprint is attached to pretty much everything we do. From the food we eat to the transport we use, everything has an impact on the environment. Even how we choose to pay for products and services can make a difference.

After a year of travel and transport restrictions, Australians are slowly moving around on the roads and rails once more. A question many may be asking during this transition is how to approach transport in the most sustainable and cost-effective way possible post-COVID.

With international (and often domestic) travel off the table, more and more Aussies have been investing in cars. In fact, the purchase of vehicles rose a considerable 31.8% last year, that’s according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Fintech lender Plenti (formerly known as RateSetter) has launched a brand new interest free option for Aussies looking to invest in renewable energy technologies, such as solar panels and batteries. Customers who apply for the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) product will be able to pay off their investment within 3 to 6 years, or up to 72 monthly instalments. As mentioned, the product is interest free, however customers will be charged a fixed $6 monthly fee to cover the cost of accessing the loan. In case you weren’t aware, the BNPL model allows customers to purchase items upfront and pay them off in either fortnightly or monthly instalments without incurring any interest. According to Plenti, the initiative is already off to a positive start thanks to its pilot program that was rolled out three months ago. The lender found that solar applications through these selected partners jumped by 80%, compared to the average demand in the last six months. “The fact that so many green home Aussies want to invest even further in solar is a huge positive in times of economic uncertainty,” said head of renewable energy finance at Plenti, Louis Edwards. “To me this shows more people are realising the technology curve we are on, the benefit with new products like home batteries and the need to get in early to invest in their home energy future.”

Although the festive season has well and truly passed, new Mozo research has found that some Aussies have been left with a reminder they’d rather forget. We found that 52% of Australinas used a credit card to get through the Christmas period, with one in two (56%) concerned about how they are going to pay it off. Despite the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) boom, only 10% of shoppers opted to use BNPL to manage their Christmas spending. “Although there has been a lot of hype around the popularity of buy now pay later services, it seems that when it comes to the crunch credit cards are still one of Australia’s most popular forms of payment, particularly when it comes to spreading the cost of Christmas” says Mozo Director, Kirsty Lamont. Mozo’s findings come as the latest figures from the RBA revealed that the country collectively has $20.16 billion worth of credit card debt. Lamont suggests to Aussies struggling to get on top of their credit card debt to consider a balance transfer credit card. These are credit cards which feature 0% interest for a fixed period of time. “Credit cards can be a useful way to manage multiple purchases however, if you’ve gone overboard  and need to get respite from high interest charges to help get back in the black, balance transfer offers are worth looking at,” says Lamont.At the time of writing, there are 82 balance transfer deals available in the Mozo database, with zero interest offers ranging from 6 to 30 months. Following a quick number crunch, Mozo found that a 12 month balance transfer credit card could save a customer $679 on a debt of $4,200.

2021 may have barely begun, but it’s already been a busy year on the property front. Values have increased across the country and the appetite for new loans from both owner occupiers and investors shows no sign of easing up just yet.

The Reserve Bank of Australia handed down its second policy decision of the year this afternoon, announcing it will keep official interest rates at their current setting of 0.1 per cent.After a wild few weeks which saw bond yields surge on the view the economy would recover sooner than expected, RBA Governor Philip Lowe doubled down on the Bank’s outlook for inflation and unemployment.“Further progress in reducing spare capacity is expected, but it will be some time before the labour market is tight enough to generate wage increases that are consistent with achieving the inflation target,” he said.“The Board does not expect these conditions to be met until 2024 at the earliest.”Under the RBA’s central scenario, unemployment is expected to remain at 6 per cent at the end this year and 5½ per cent at the end of 2022. Inflation will hover around 1¼ per cent over 2021 before increasing to 1½ per cent over 2022.Lowe said current monetary policy settings have delivered substantial aid to the economy by keeping borrowing costs low, and bond purchases made earlier this week have helped ensure the smooth functioning of the market.“To date, a cumulative $74 billion of government bonds issued by the Australian Government and the states and territories have been purchased under the initial $100 billion program,” he said.“A further $100 billion will be purchased following the completion of the initial program and the Bank is prepared to do more if that is necessary.”RELATED: Property prices rise at fastest pace in 17 yearsThe rapid growth in the property market is expected to continue on the back of record low interest rates, raising concerns that first home buyers could be shut out as property prices surge.But unlike the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, which recently agreed to consider housing affordability when setting monetary policy, the RBA won’t be sounding any alarms so long as lending standards remain sound.Last month, CoreLogic’s monthly home value index saw prices in Australia jump up by 2.1 per cent, marking the largest month-on-month change the property research firm has recorded since August 2003. Gains were distributed fairly evenly across the country, with regional markets posting average increases of 2.1 per cent and capital city markets rising by an average of 2 per cent.Analysts from the major banks are now confident we’ve passed the bottom of this property cycle, with Westpac the latest to upgrade its forecasts. It now predicts a 20 per cent increase in property prices over the next two years, which would see Sydney values rise by more than $200,000.This momentum will be supported by low fixed rates in particular. The latest ABS lending indicators show new fixed rate commitments for January 2021 were more than 200 per cent higher than they were before the RBA began its bond purchasing activities last year.According to research by Mozo, 29 per cent of the major banks’ mortgage books are now fixed, an increase of 12 per cent over the past financial year.Among lenders we track, the average 2-year fixed rate currently sits at 2.32% p.a., almost a full percentage point lower than the average variable rate of 3.29% p.a. While cuts to variable rates continue to flow through, lenders look to be competing mainly on the fixed rate front.Greater Bank currently occupies the top spot in our database, offering owner occupiers 1.69% p.a. (3.49% p.a. comparison rate*) on 1-year terms for its Great Rate Home Loan. Online lender UBank has also extended its UHomeLoan discount offer, which is among the lowest rates on the market. Owner occupiers who apply before 29 April 2021 can receive a 1.75% p.a. fixed rate (2.22% p.a. comparison rate*) on 3-years terms.For more information about mortgage and lending trends, head over to our home loan statistics page. And if you’re in the market for a home loan, visit our home loan comparison page, or browse the selection below.

A rental car could come in handy while holidaying in Australia, whether or not you own your own vehicle. You might have flown interstate and need wheels to explore new roads, or perhaps you’re travelling locally and need more robust transport for multiple mates and camping packs.

Lunar New Year is one of the most significant times of the year in Chinese and many other Asian cultures. The occasion is marked by traditional family feasts and other festivities which take place over a two-week period.

Like a gymnast at a limbo competition, savings account interest rates keep edging lower.