More lenders are following the lead of the country’s biggest banks by raising the rates of their variable home loans out-of-cycle.

Fifteen more lenders have recently announced increases of up to 0.20 percentage points to take effect soon. Citibank’s increases are already in effect.

Bank of Queensland and CUA were the most recent additions to the growing list of lenders on the variable rate hike bandwagon, having announced their increases on November 4.

Their standard variable home loan rates are set to increase by 0.18 and 0.13 percentage points, respectively. CUA additionally announced a 0.14 percentage point drop to one of its home loan products but raised the rates of eight other products.

The average rise in variable home loan rates was 0.17 percentage points.

Westpac, Macquarie Bank, Citibank, and ME Bank all have the biggest increases of the pack, at 0.20 percentage points. The increased rates mean an additional $33 per month to a $300,000 mortgage. Bessie Hassan, consumer advocate for finder.com.au, noted that these hikes are only going to put more pressure on numerous households who are preparing for upcoming holiday expenses.

“It’s clear that the Reserve Bank is having less of an impact on interest rate movements so there’s no point for borrowers to wait for a cash rate cut and expect lenders to follow. However, the silver lining is that there are hundreds of home loans out there and many smaller lenders are offering very competitive deals,” Hassan stated.

Hassan urged all borrowers to carefully shop around for home loans, or even ask their lenders for a better discount, before the rate hikes come into effect.

 
Lender Standard variable rate rise New standard variable rate Effective date
Adelaide Bank 0.12% 5.68% November 20, 2015
AMP Banking 0.18% 5.72% November 20, 2015
ANZ 0.18% 5.56% November 20, 2015
Bank of Queensland 0.18% 5.74% November 20, 2015
Bankwest 0.18% 5.65% November 17, 2015
Bendigo Bank 0.12% 5.68% November 20, 2015
Citibank 0.20% 5.94% October 30, 2015
Commonwealth Bank 0.15% 5.60% November 20, 2015
CUA 0.13% 5.06% November 24, 2015
Macquarie Bank 0.20% 5.70% November 20, 2015
ME Bank 0.20% 5.08% November 20, 2015
NAB 0.17% 5.60% November 12, 2015
St George Bank 0.15% 5.69% November 20, 2015
Suncorp Bank 0.16% 5.70% November 20, 2015
Westpac 0.20% 5.68% November 20, 2015










 

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