Has your home loan lender passed on the May RBA rate cut?

By Kelly Emmerton · · 3 min read
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<<UPDATE>> The RBA has slashed rates even further to 1.50%, at its August board meeting. See which home loan lenders have passed on rates here. 

After the Reserve Bank’s decision to cut rates to a record low 1.75% today, all eyes are on home loan lenders to see which ones will follow suit and pass on rate cuts to customers.

Of the big four, NAB was quick to pass on the full rate cut on its variable rate home loans, starting from Monday 16th May. This brings the standard variable home loan offer interest rate down from 5.60% p.a. to 5.35% p.a. (5.69% to 5.45% comparison rate*) for owner occupiers, and from 5.75% p.a. to 5.50% p.a for investors (5.84% to 5.60% comparison rate*).

NAB Group Executive Personal Banking Gavin Slater said that NAB’s decision “balances the needs of our home loan customers with our shareholders.”

The Commonwealth Bank and Westpac also announced plans to reduce interest rates on standard variable rate home loan products by the full 0.25%. CommBank's reduction will start from the 20th May, while Westpac's changes will come into effect on the 23rd May.

That leaves ANZ as the only one of the big four not passing on the full interest rate cut. Instead, it is decreasing standard variable rate home loan products by 0.19%, dropping its standard variable rate to 5.37% (5.47% comparison rate*), as of the 13th May.

Suncorp joined ANZ as one of the lenders not passing on the full rate cut, instead choosing to lower home loan interest rates by 0.20% for owner occupiers and 0.15% for investors.

AMP and Bendigo Bank have each reduced rates by 0.20%, dropping AMP's standard variable rate home loan to 5.53% (5.70% comparison rate*) as of May 20th and Bendigo Bank variable rate residential home loan to 5.48% (5.65% comparison rate*), effective 30th May.

Update: ME announced it would reduce rates by 0.05% putting its Flexible Home Loan variable rate at 5.03% (5.06% comparison rate*), effective from the 16th May. The non-major lender cited funding cost pressures in the decision not to cut rates by the full 0.25%, but pointed out that it's rates were still well below those of the big four.

Other lenders passing on the full 0.25% interest rate cut to home loan customers include:

  • Bank of Queensland - bringing the standard variable home loan interest rate down from 5.86% to 5.61% (6.02% to 5.77% comparison rate*), effective from the 18th May
  • UBank - reducing the UHomeLoan from 4.32% to 4.07% (4.35% to 4.10% comparison rate*), as of the 16th May
  • St.George - dropping the standard variable home loan interest rate from 5.69% to 5.44% (5.85% to 5.61% comparison rate*), from the 23rd May
  • Newcastle Permanent - cutting the Real Options Home Loan offer from 5.30% to 5.05% (5.30% to 5.05% comparison rate*) as of the 19th May
  • Greater Bank - reducing the standard variable home loan interest rate down to 4.75% (4.80% comparison rate*), from 16th May 
  • RAMS - dropping the full feature home loan from 5.55% to 5.30% (5.62% to 5.37% comparison rate*) from the 23rd May
  • ING Direct - bringing the Mortgage Simplifier home loan down from 4.90% to 4.65% (4.92% to 4.67% comparison rate*) as of 20th May
  • CUA - dropping the standard variable rate loan from 5.05% to 4.81% (5.12% to 4.87% comparison rate*), effective 19th May
  • QPCU - reducing the standard variable interest rate from 5.29% to 5.04% (5.40% to 5.15% comparison rate*) from 23rd May
  • Update: Yellow Brick Road - introducing its lowest variable interest rate ever, reducing rates on the Rate Smasher offer from 4.07% to just 3.82% (4.10% to 3.85% comparison rate*), effective immediately for new loans or from 25th May for existing.

Mozo will be watching the market to see which lenders are being generous toward their customers. Keep an eye on our naughty or nice table to see which other providers have passed on the RBA rate cut.

*WARNING: This comparison rate applies only to the example or examples given. Different amounts and terms will result in different comparison rates. Costs such as redraw fees or early repayment fees, and cost savings such as fee waivers, are not included in the comparison rate but may influence the cost of the loan. The comparison rate displayed is for a secured loan with monthly principal and interest
repayments for $150,000 over 25 years.