Feb 15
Lenders put up variable rates on home loans
icon1 admin | icon2 Home Loans | icon4 02 15th, 2012| icon3Comments Off

After the RBA had decided to leave interest rates on hold this month, most lenders turned around and announced interest rate increases to their variable home loans outside of RBA. ANZ and Westpac were the first to take such actions. However it did not take long for the others to follow suit.

Westpac-owned St George will lift its standard variable rate (SVR) home loans by 12 basis points to 7.42 per cent from February 20, it said on Wednesday.

That’s two basis points beyond the most significant increase announced by the big four, which was passed on by Commonwealth and Westpac banks.

Another Westpac subsidiary, Bank of Melbourne, also raised its SVR on Wednesday, by 10 basis points to 7.4 per cent.

“This was a difficult decision,” chief executive Scott Tanner said in a statement.

“It is important to balance our customers’ needs with the importance of ensuring that we remain a strong and viable business into the future