The best rates are from the small lenders

12/08/2010

The best standard variable rates currently on offer are from NSW based online lender State Custodians at 6.39 per cent, Homestar at 6.47 per cent and IMB Banking and Financial Services at 6.52 per cent. Community First Credit Union and Holiday Loan Credit offer the best three-year fixed rate at 7.09 per cent, followed by Rams at 7.23 per cent. With expectations of further rate rises to come perhaps after the federal election and later this year or next year, many borrowers are weighing up the option of fixing their mortgage rate.

InfoChoice chief executive Shaun Cornelius says the three-year fixed rate is offering good value. In that past few months, he says, the three-year fixed rate has dropped, in some cases by more than 50 basis points, and that now was a better time to lock in a fixed rate than it had been in 18 months. Despite that, Cornelius says that what history has told us is that "more people tend to have lost than gained when they have tried to lock in a rate".

Source: The Australian