Westpac splits mortgage card: Offers 5.64% floating rate

Media advisory

9 December 2013

Westpac splits mortgage card to match LVRs: Offers market leading floating rate

Westpac is the first bank to split its full mortgage card to above and below 80% LVRs and has dropped its standard floating rate to a market leading 5.64%.

The move to split the card across all fixed and floating rates is in response to the Reserve Bank’s LVR requirements and to help make the decision making process easier for customers in assessing what options are available to match their circumstances.

The introduction of the new market leading 5.64% standard floating rate for new lending is designed to give a competitive floating option for customers with more than 20% equity.

General Manager Retail Bank, Ian Blair, said as conjecture on when the official cash rate might move continues, more customers are looking at their options and splitting their loan to take advantage of rate certainty (fixed) and repayment flexibility (floating).

“Our new floating rate is highly competitive and offers customers who are now considering splitting their home loans between fixed and floating real value,” Mr Blair said.

“At 5.64%, our floating rate is very similar to our two year fixed term special rate (5.59%), which is a popular one and also market leading. This is about giving customers competitive choice in how they structure their home loans.”

With the splitting and simplifying of the card, the 25 and 50 month terms for high LVR borrowers are no longer needed. Instead, fixed rates are available for all terms from 18 months to five years along with floating and capped one and two year term options. Customers can choose to offset their transactional and savings balances against their standard floating loan balance to save on interest.

The split card rates for new low and high LVR customers can be found on this link:
http://www.westpac.co.nz/home-loans/interest-rates/

ENDS

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