Pepper Money Has Implemented A New Offer For Brokers

By Shane | News

Pepper Money is Australia’s leading non-bank lender, which covers both mortgage brokers and for many non-bank lenders as a financer for wholesale. As a non-bank, they operate a slightly different way as compared to banks and other major financing institutions.

With this regard, Pepper Money just released a new offer for brokers and their prime and near-prime customers. Australia’s number one non-bank lender has announced that brokers will be able to offer their customers discounted interest rates offered in various LVR (Loan-to-Value Ratio) bands applicable to all of their prime and near-prime products. It shall cover all full documentation and alternative documentation customers except for construction loans.

In this manner, brokers can now offer their prime home loan customers rates from 3.36% per annum, which has a comparison rate of 3.56% per annum.

At the same time, brokers will also be able to access near-prime rates from 4.26% per annum with a comparison rate of 4.76% per annum. This limited-time offer is valid until August 30, 2019.

The Director of Sales and Distribution for Pepper Money has stated that their goal is to help more families and more people to achieve their dream of homeownership in Australia which we all know that in real life, the right interest rate can make all the difference.

He also added that they are committed to providing brokers and their customers with flexible and competitive home loan products to help them achieve their goals. This is the main purpose of their offering, which is to deliver real-life solutions for all sorts of real-life situations.

Pepper Money’s decision was in addition to the 0.25 percentage point rate cut declared last month. Their declaration also takes place following their move to reduce variable interest rate for their existing customers by 20 basis points, this is in compliance with RBA’s (Reserve Bank of Australia) cash rate decision.

Virgin Money Decided To Cut Their Fixed Rates

By Shane | News

RBA Announced Their Official Cash Rate In Time For Christmas

By Shane | News

There have been speculations whether or not the RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia) would cut interest rates once again to boost Christmas sales. The speculations have already been cleared as the RBA has already decided. The RBA Has Announced Their Official Cash Rate In Time For Christmas during its last meeting of the year held on Tuesday (December 2, 2019) to hold official interest rates steady as it waits to see if the economy closes out 2019 on a positive note.

The bank decided to hold the official cash rate at a record low of 0.75% in line with the financial market and economist expectations.

The market has already expected that the RBA to let its rates steady with the prediction that the bank would wait to see how the Christmas and New Year spending activity will affect the economy, before making another decision early next year. This just explains that there are still open possibilities for future cuts if the low cost of borrowing and tax cuts fail to stimulate the economy.

RBA Governor Philip Lowe has stated, “Outlook for the global economy remains reasonable”, adding that “while the risks are still tilted to the downside, some of these risks have lessened recently”.

“Given these effects of lower interest rates and the long and variable lags in the transmission of monetary policy, the board decided to hold the cash rate steady at this meeting while it continues to monitor developments, including in the labour market, and is prepared to ease monetary policy further if needed to support sustainable growth in the economy, full employment and the achievement of the inflation target over time,”

 “The main domestic uncertainty continues to be the outlook for consumption, with the sustained period of only modest increases in household disposable income continuing to weigh on consumer spending,” he added.

He also noted that “The low level of interest rates, recent tax cuts, ongoing spending on infrastructure, the upswing in housing prices and a brighter outlook for the resources sector should all support growth.”

Property prices and investors appear to have been the biggest beneficiaries of the RBA’s 0.25% interest rate reductions in June, July, and October.

How Can A Recession Affect The Economy

By Shane | News

What Is A Recession?

It is a term of an overall economic decline and is usually followed by an immediate decline in the stock market, an increase in unemployment, and a drop in the property market. A recession is normally less serious than depression. It is a decrease in economic activity over a certain period of time.

The Impact Of Recession On The Following Economic Factors

Supply And Demand

Though the Central Bank has other means to adjust the interest rate, it still doesn’t have full control of it. The laws of supply and demand are reasonably affected by interest rates. During a period of recession, people will usually choose to save their money because of their lack of confidence. 

Most people usually are expecting to lose their jobs so they hesitate to spend or borrow, and instead, they chose to borrow. As a result, there is more supply of money than demand in borrowing. During a period of recession, a paradox of thrift is deemed, it is because the consumers chose to save their money rather than use it for consumption, and this causes the recession to get worse.

It is not a bad thing to save, however, if all people chose to save, they further limit the decision of consumers to spend, thus it makes the recession more severe.

Borrowing

While there is a decline in the economy, the demand for borrowing is also decreasing. A lack of demand drives interest rates to decline. Furthermore, the monetary policy employed by the central bank in times of recession is to increase the supply for money to reduce interest rates. Low-interest rates boost economic activity through consumer spending and investment in business and cheaper financing with low-interest rates.

Interest Rates

Interest rates largely depend on the economy’s condition.

When there is economic growth, the demand for money increases, and it influences the interest rate to drive upwards.

On the other hand, the economic downturn affects the downward impact on interest rates. Therefore, interest rates during a recession tend to drop, and this is because the inflation rate is low, and the central bank would like to deal with and encourage the economy.

Essentially, lower interest rates should help the economy from recession, as it reduces the cost of borrowing, and it should promote investment and consumer spending.

Property Values

During a recession, with unemployment continuously increases, it is expected that most of the people will not be able to afford their mortgages, and therefore we can observe home repossessions. In this situation, an increase in the supply of housing but a decrease in the demand is expected.

Investment

The investment will drop as companies minimize on taking risks and uncertainty. Borrowing can also be more difficult at this time banks are short of cash.

It comes, and it goes, that is what recession is all about. There are periods of recessions that are more severe and last longer than the others. However, as they say, there is always a rainbow after the rain, and therefore, a recession always ends. When problems in the economy are solved, it is always followed by economic growth.

What Are The Effects Of Negative Interest Rates

By Shane | News

We will try to let you understand what Negative Interest Rates truly mean and how does it affect the lives of an ordinary citizen.

Interest rate cuts have been one of the principal means by the Central Bank in adjusting their monetary policies. Thus, every time there is a crisis, the initial solution of the central bank is to lower their interest rates. If the interest rates are already at zero, and the economy is still not well functioning as it intended to be, therefore, the traditional policy of cutting the interest rates into negative will not also work.

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What Does A Mortgage Broker Do And Why Should You Use One?

By Shane | Finance , News

Investing in the property market requires you to maximize your budget, especially if you are planning to buy a new home for your family. Joining in the property market would cost you a lot. You will have accountabilities such as legal expenses, deposits, and some other costs adding up.

But, nowadays, anyone can already reach their dream of having their own home in a cost-effective way. To find a home loan that is perfect for your budget and lifestyle, you need the help of a mortgage broker.

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The Things You Should Consider Before Fixing Your Home Loan

By Shane | Finance

Borrowers have one important question to themselves regarding their Home Loan and that is either “to fix or not to fix?” It is crucial to think about your decision many times in order for you not to encounter difficulties in the process of settling repayments.

Australian borrowers are mostly attracted to fixed-rate home loan offers because of assurance. A fixed-rate home loan is the advisable home rate loan for first-home buyers as they are the ones who are tight on their budget. In doing so, they can carefully plan for their budget and stay on top of their repayments.

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Home Loan Rates Beginning With 2 Is The New Norm

By Shane | Finance , News

There are 6 lenders with variable Home Loan Rates with a 2 at the beginning, according to a report from RateCity.

They are expecting 6 to climb to 20 at the next RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia) cut if banks pass on at least 0.20 % to borrowers.

Sally Tindall, the RateCity research director have stated that the owner-occupier rates beginning with a ‘2’ could become the new norm if the central bank made 2 more cuts to the cash rate.

“With 2 more rate cuts on the cards, we could see the lowest variable rate drop below 2.60, maybe even below 2.50%.”

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The Concept Of Open Banking

By Shane | Invest

What Is Open Banking?

Open banking refers to large, traditional banks opening up the data they have on customers in order to allow new products and services to be created, supporting all of that up with strict technical standards.

In essence, it allows customers to share their financial transaction data with authorized third parties, and allow authorized third parties to accept payments from their bank accounts.

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How Do Home Construction Loans Work?

By Shane | Build , Finance

What Are Home Construction Loans? 

Home Construction Loans allows a new home to be built through the term of construction. It is based on the time needed to build a home, and it usually ranges from 6 months to a year. Once your construction loan is approved, your lender will pay your builder every period, after work is completed. As soon as the home construction ends, your loan repayment begins.

Most first home buyers prefer having their home construction loan be combined with their standard mortgage plan, into something termed as a construction-to-permanent loan. This avoids the need to refinance after construction and go through 2 different closings.

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