Several banks have pulled the pin, at least for now, on formal offers of cash for customers taking out home loans.
But some key ones still do.
From April 1, Kiwibank, Westpac and TSB Bank all quietly withdrew their offers, following BNZ who had done so a week or two earlier.
That just leaves four banks with cash incentive offers in the market: ANZ, the Co-operative Bank and SBS Bank, all with an "up to $2,000" offer for new loans of $250,000 or more, plus ASB and its "healthy cash bonus" which is ASB's way to signal it will match rivals.
Although most banks are not stating a cash incentive offer, almost all will still match a rival if that is what it takes to win or keep a customer.
Clients who use a mortgage broker should ensure their broker is maximising this possibility.
Home loan borrowers who do their own negotiation will need to work harder to access these benefits.
Explicit cash incentive offers, as opposed to cash to cover lawyers fees etc, have burst into the New Zealand mortgage market in recent years, but we do not have precise details of when that was. We would appreciate reader help with this detail.
In 2012 interest.co.nz reported on how banks in some cases were coughing up several thousand dollars to secure home loan customers, and were even paying break fees to help win business from customers on fixed-term loans with rival banks. This type of aggressive behaviour coincided with the period when ANZ culled its popular National Bank brand.
In April 2015 it looks like their time is coming to and end - at least until the renewed competition that will come with the 2015 spring selling season.
Here is a summary of the current situation:
| Current cash incentive | Previous cash incentive | for new lending of ... | |
| as at April 1, 2015 | up to ... | up to ... | |
 |
$2,000 | $2,000 | $250,000 |
 |
"a healthy cash bonus" | "a healthy cash bonus" | $100,000 |
 |
(none) | $2,000 | ($250,000) |
 |
(none) | $2,105 | ($100,000) |
 |
(none) | "a healthy cash bonus" | ($100,000) |
 |
$2,000 | $2,000 | $250,000 |
 |
(none) | (none) | |
| SBS Bank | $2,000 | $2,000 | $250,000 |
 |
(none) | $1,000 + iPhone6 | ($100,000) |
Our full list of current cash incentives is here.
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