Westpac may be advertising a floating home loan rate of 5.60%, but if you're a member of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA), the bank will give you 5%.
As "banking privilege partner" to the NZICA, Westpac is offering the accounting body's members 5%, noting its carded rate is 5.6%.
"Being NZICA's banking privilege partner is not something we take for granted. That's why we wanted to make sure you knew about these great deals we're offering on home loans," Westpac said in an email to NZICA members.
The email goes on to note the 4.99% one-year fixed special Westpac launched earlier this month, for which borrowers must have a minimum of 20% equity in their property. This is 50 basis points below Westpac's standard fixed, one-year mortgage. And the bank also points to a 5% floating, or variable, rate encouraging recipients to call Westpac with their NZICA ID at hand. The 5% floating offer doesn't specify minimum equity in the property but the small print does note establishment and low equity fees may apply.
Due to strong competition among the banks for home loan customers in recent months banks' have been significantly undercutting their advertised, or carded, rates for selected customers and even paying break fees to help win business from customers on fixed-term loans with rival banks.
Aside from Westpac, the NZICA's privilege partners include BMW, American Express, Xero, plus insurers Vero, Fidelity Life, Crombie Lockwood and Accuro Health Insurance.
See all banks' advertised home loan rates here.
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