NAB moves rates - mostly upwards
Starting in a week's time, NAB will become the first of the Big Four banks to change its home loan interest rates in the current cycle.These changes include a new fixed rate for first home buyers - the lowest rate ever offered by NAB - and increases to interest rates for new and existing owner occupier and residential investor borrowers.From 16 March, NAB is offering first home buyers a record low 3.69 per cent per annum fixed rate for two years, for owner occupier, principal and interest loans. This compares to NAB's current advertised two-year package fixed rate for home loans of 3.98 per cent per annum."Interest rates remain at near historic lows, and around 85 per cent of NAB customers pay below our current standard variable rate through a range of discounts available on our home loan products, including NAB Choice Package, and our highly competitive fixed rate terms," said Antony Cahill, NAB's chief operating officer.What Cahill did not mention is that the Reserve Bank of Australia's bulletin stated: "decline in wholesale funding rates over 2016 and the refinancing of maturing bonds at lower interest rates have contributed to a reduction in the major banks' outstanding wholesale funding costs."Other NAB rates to move from Friday 24 March are: standard variable home loans rate for owner occupiers, which will increase by 0.07 per cent per annum, to 5.32 per cent per annum; the rates on several loan products aimed at residential investor borrowers: NAB's variable rate for residential investment home loans will increase by 0.25 per cent per annum, to 5.80 per cent per annum and the NAB Homeplus rate and the NAB Homeplus Residential Investment rate (two broker products no longer available to new borrowers) will move upwards by 0.07 per cent per annum and 0.25 per cent per annum, respectively; NAB's Business Options loans will increase by 0.07 per cent per annum; and line of credit products will also increase by 0.25 per cent per annum.