ASB cuts 2-year mortgage rate, cancels Olympic special

Property

ASB cuts 2-year mortgage rate 10 basis points to 5.45%; New lowest two-year rate with no strings attached

10th Aug 12, 5:26pm by Alex Tarrant

ASB has cut its two-year mortgage rate by 10 basis points to 5.45%, the new lowest advertised 'no-strings-attached' two-year rate offered by a bank.

TSB is the only bank offering a lower rate than ASB, although its 5.30% offer requires at least a 20% deposit.

ASB said the change was effective from August 11.

At the same time, it has ended its NZ Olympic 4 year fixed rate special, which had a rate of 5.79%.

See and compare all mortgage rates offered to the public here.

ASB has also removed its 4.10% 4 month term deposit rate, reverting to 3.25% for this term, which is the same offer it has for all terms 3-5 months.

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12 Comments

by Wolly | 11th Aug 12, 8:02am 1344628932

"No strings"....bollocks.....the string is one round the borrower's neck that will strangle them when the inflation arrives.....as it will.

That's why these parasites are offering a low bait.....catch the last of the suckers...get them to buy property at the bloated prices....save the bank balance sheets...keep the credit scam going...

Smart Kiwi are using these offers to escape debt...and so they should.

Meanwhile Kiwi building costs are continuing to rise...Labour dept scaffolding 'tax' has added $4000 to a house build cost...when they could have enforced the use of the harness by roofers....not the Lab dept bosses way..they were out to score points in the ministerial shakedown...a piece of theatre...

The very best advice to young Kiwi.........Do Not plan on a new house....dont be a sucker.

by Stephen Hulme | 11th Aug 12, 9:53am 1344635617

Housing is also a necessity, but it does not follow that it is a high-yield investment. Rather, it has become a sinkhole for hard-earned, scarce cash. Read more

Then note the need to follow the diversion of NZ Government DHB healthcare cash to make this privatising the profits endeavour workout -

The Stewart family had long been investors in the Acurity assets, including hospitals in Wellington, the Hawke's Bay and Tauranga, as well as clinical practices in Auckland, Stewart said.

He saw further growth in the private sector and that was part of the reason for a company that needed "a whole lot more cash . . . that's why we feel that now is a good time to make an offer".

How much pork do the National Party owe this private family investor? - the Stewart family cannot be expecting private health care insurance to be capitalising their investment - The old Wakefield Health recently noted a downturn from this sector but an increase in contracts from the DHB and more ACC work.

by rastus1 | 12th Aug 12, 12:39pm 1344731999

Speaking of Olympics

Olympic chiefs believe the $60 million of funding given to New Zealand athletes has paid off at the London Games.

http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/article.aspx?id=151984&fm=newsmain%2Cnrhl

Yikes!

$60 Mill for 13 medals. Wow what a pay-off! I'm over the moon!!!!

by Houses Overpriced | 13th Aug 12, 8:55am 1344804945

Rastus, its money well spent, compared to the billion paid out to failed finance companies, WFF, rent supplement and landlord reimbursements!!!!

by WHODUNNIT | 13th Aug 12, 2:12pm 1344823921

What on earth is roger714 on about -- it looks like some sort of extract from a non english speaking press release??? Anyone else out there got any idea... ?

by iconoclast | 13th Aug 12, 3:03pm 1344827023

yes .. it's a common scam .. seeking back-links to another web-site .. site-owners employ cheap-labour (work from home .. must be reliable .. have computer .. typing skills) to post nonsense garbage (filled with links), on forums .. chaston needs to delete this .. unless he's been paid for it ..

Not sure if Google still use it .. but in the early days a site was ranked according to the number of external sites that referenced it .. ie: had links to the subject site ... they're called back-links .. less than reputable SEO operators use this technique ...

by Alex Tarrant | 13th Aug 12, 4:21pm 1344831670

They get through every one in a while. I've deleted it now

Cheers

by Bernard Hickey | 14th Aug 12, 10:49am 1344898166

FYI from an emailer:

You will be aware that Australia recently made it illegal for their banks to charge mortgage exit fees, and after wanting to reduce my mortgage here in NZ (after reading your article some months back) I was astonished at what my exit fees would be.

My question is: Is this something that would work here and if so I'm thinking of starting a petition/ groundswell to get some media interest around it and then hopefully we may get a government to consider it here? Would love to know your thoughts on this matter.

Many thanks

http://www.canstar.com.au/exit-fees/ http://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/exit-fee-ban-shaves-157m-off-banks-income-20120621-20q4b.html

by Bernard Hickey | 14th Aug 12, 10:53am 1344898432

FYI here's the official detail of what happened in Australia.

http://www.bankingreforms.gov.au/content/Content.aspx?doc=faqs.htm

cheers

Bernard

by Bernard Hickey | 14th Aug 12, 11:35am 1344900951

Hi.

I actually don't think break fees for fixed mortgages are unfair, as long as they're worked out in a fair way.

Those wanting to avoid break fees should float.

Remember, Australians were having to pay break fees on floating mortgages, which is unfair. That's not the case here.

cheers

Bernard

by Bernard Hickey | 14th Aug 12, 11:38am 1344901092

FYI my emailer responds:

Yes well I stupidly fixed a couple of years back which is very painful.

> However, the Aussies have done it so why couldn't it work here?

> Come on Bernard you seem to be a warrior for much of the unfairness that I

> think happens in NZ, especially compared to Oz. Do you think the media would

> get behind this? ;-)

by Equilibrium | 16th Aug 12, 3:02pm 1345086133

Your talking about two distinctly different things here Bernard.

Exits Fees are charged by some banks when you leave them within a certain length of time usually 3 years.

Break Fees are economic costs incurred by the bank when you ask to break a fixed rate loan before it's maturity and the banks incurrs costs to relend that money to someone else at a loss (if not a loss then the break fees are sometimes minimal if at all).

The break fees are very valid however the exit fees are debatable. In all honesty in this competitive environment a good customer with a reasonable amount of lending should be able to refinance their loan to another lender for a better rate and receive a cash contribution to cover these break fees (usually just a few hundred dollars) plus more.

Australia was quite a different story. I sold my house in Brisbane and repaid the loan within 3 years and was charged $900 on each loan split I had and these loans were all floating. Australian banks also love their application fees and ongoing monthly or yearly charges. As most well travelled people know Australia is also a very hard place to do business in many respects. It's a much more pleasant banking experience in New Zealand.