What are lenders doing following the June RBA rate cut? RateCity

Home loan lenders have continued to cut rates following the RBA rate cut announcement on Tuesday.

The big four banks all cut within a few hours following the decision for the RBA to cut rates to 1.25%, the lowest in history and the first time they've moved since August 2016.

ING, Bank of Queensland, Virgin Money, Qudos Bank and Newcastle Permanent have moved their variable interest rates since the last RateCity.com.au update yesterday.

ING, the nation’s fifth largest home loan lender chose to pass the full 0.25 per cent cut on to their variable rate customers, effective 25 June 2019

BOQ is only passing 0.15 per cent on to their most popular product, the Clear Path variable rate package, while all other variable rate loans will be cut by the full 0.25 per cent.

Virgin Money is passing on 0.22 per cent to their variable rate customer.

Popular banks still yet to announce their intentions include BankWest, Bendigo Bank, Adelaide Bank, ME Bank, HSBC and AMP.

The first to cut was Athena, a small Sydney-based non-bank lender who only entered the market this year. They cut their rates by the full 25 basis points within 15 minutes of the RBA decision.

The online lender announced a new headline variable rate for owner-occupiers at 3.34 percent.

The first big four bank to cut was the ANZ, just nine minutes after the RBA's announcement, however they've been outed by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg because they only cut 18 basis points, as opposed to the 25 basis points the RBA cut by.

“I think the ANZ has let down its customers,” Frydenberg said.

Commonwealth Bank were next, announcing their 25 basis point cut at around 3.30pm. 

Effective from June 25, CBA's standard variable rate will drop by 0.25%.

NAB joined CBA with a full 25 basis point cut for their standard variable rate which will be the lowest rate they have offered in four decades.

Westpac were the last to cut, only passing on a 20 basis point cut.

TERM DEPOSITS

We saw a huge flurry of cuts to term deposits in the lead up to Tuesday’s RBA rate announcement, as banks moved to price the expected cut in. Over 50 banks have cut term deposit rates in the past two months.

This week, the term deposit rate cuts continue to come in, particularly from Westpac and ANZ. A stocktake of the big 4 banks below:

• ANZ – ANZ has cut almost 20 term deposit rates and has hiked just a couple since Tuesday. The biggest cut on our database is 0.60 per cent;

• Westpac – Westpac has also changed a range of term deposit rates since the beginning of the week, cutting by up to 0.50 per cent and increasing one by 0.25 per cent. Westpac’s at-call deposits remain under review;

• CBA – no change to date;

• NAB – no change to date.

RateCity.com.au’s research director Sally Tindall said Tuesday’s rate announcement was like rubbing salt into a wound for savers.

“It’s been a tough slog for savers over the last three years, and while a range of factors influence deposit rates, we’re expecting them to sink even further," Tindall said.

“It is especially frustrating to see ANZ and Westpac hold back part of a home loan rate cut with one hand and slash some of their deposit rates with the other.

“It does still pay to shop around. Right now, you can find term deposit and savings rates that offer up to around 3 per cent, however, these rates are unlikely to last for long,” she said.