With the initial six-month mortgage holiday having run its course, Australia’s major lenders would have been banking on most customers resuming their repayments by now. But the latest dataset shows most have yet to return to normal. Data collected by the Australian Banking Association (ABA) found 270,000 home loans were still on hold as of October 11. Although that’s well below the peak of nearly 500,000 in June – or one in 10 mortgages nationally...
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The corporate watchdog has joined the banking regulator in cracking down on interest-only home loans, announcing targeted surveillance of lenders and mortgage brokers inappropriately spruiking the loans. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) also said eight lenders, including Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and ANZ, will be forced to provide remediation, including possible refunds, to consumers who suffered financial difficulty as a result of shortcomings in past lending practices. [More]
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When calculating the breakeven point of an investment it pays to consider the full impact of negative gearing over the life of your investment. Those with negatively geared property need to factor in the opportunity cost associated with losing money over a period of time when calculating the breakeven point of their investment. According to Smartline Personal Mortgage Advisers, understanding the real impact of negative gearing costs reinforces the argument that it’s generally best used...
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