ABCDiamond

St George Bank have just brought DOWN their 5 year fixed rate to 6.95%, that's a 0.34% drop.

quote: "St.George's Three and Five Year Fixed Rates fall to 6.95% pa, making them the lowest rates for these terms currently on offer from a major bank."

cookies

And there was me thinking they were going up! We hope to get a mortgage soon........so we will be watching the rates with interest.

Steve

ABCDiamond

BEWARE
Variable rates wil go up.. at least in the short term
maybe another 0.25% or 0.5%

It wasnt that long ago that the fixed rates were going up, as the variable rates were coming down.

You need to ask the experts what will happen with interest rates.
I did that a little while ago, and some said they wont move, some said they will go down and some said up. The answer that gives me is that some experts are right. So all I need to do now is work out which experts will be right next time

bondipom

Are you suggesting St George might be profiteering to gear itself for a takeover?

ABCDiamond

My personal view is that they want as many people as possible to lock in their rates to fixed rate.
reasons:
1: If rates stay low (less than 6.95%) the banks will profit with the higher fixed rate.

2: If rates go up, and people have to sell, then the banks can charge the break costs, the high fees payable to get out of FIXED rate mortgages.

I'm no expert with this, but I may be right

dracupg

St George are fairly aggressively targeting new mortgage business. As well as offering low rates, they have cut a lot of their charges and are handing out large chunks of cash to mortgage advisers and brokers.

I reckon its just a loss leader thing and once they have their mortgage book where they want it they will step back in line.

Grayling

Hi all
What interest rates are available for savings?

G

bondipom

INGDirect 5% Citibank 5.25%

www.ingdirect.com.au
www.citibank.com.au

ABCDiamond

Here is a web site that may be of interest, (no pun intended)
http://www.infochoice.com.au/banking/

Good for comparisons