Extending the discounts

In a bid to remain competitively priced, one of the major banks has announced it will extend the discount on one of its main standard variable rate mortgages.

Effective from today, Westpac will offer borrowers that take out a full doc standard variable between $150,000 and $250,000 a discount of 0.7 per cent – up from 0.4 per cent.

In terms of overall competitiveness, what does this actually mean ?
Well, Westpac's Standard Variable Rate is currently 7.46%, so a 0.7% discount will deliver a rate to you today of 6.76% - and that's "in the ballpark" for the majors.

Having said that, a discount of 0.7% for loans under $250,000 is pretty attractive - normally, those sort of discounts don't kick in til the loan is over $250,000.

Talk to your Home Loan Connexion Broker first though for all the Terms and Conditions and to ensure that the overall product is suitable for your needs.