Helping Customers Through COVID-19, Initiatives From The Banks
We're here to help through this uncertain time! If you, or anyone you know, has been impacted by the consequences of COVID-19, here's a summary of what the banks are offering in terms of supportive measures for home loan and small business customers.
A quick summary of the supportive measures
1. Fixed rates:
The banks are offering 2.19, 2.29, 2.39, & 2.49 percent now after Thursday’s RBA emergency meeting, for owner occupiers, making principal and interest repayments. This measure is designed to help the home owner here, not necessarily the investor.
2. Variable rate discounts:
Not all the banks passed on the most recent cut from the Emergency RBA meeting. One as we know so far has passed on .15% of the most recent cut and we’re monitoring the rest of the lenders to see what they come out with.
3. Repayment freezes for both home loan and business customers:
For anyone experiencing financial difficulty, subject to eligibility, they can defer their repayments for up to 6 months. This means that the interest will simply accrue over the 6 months, you won’t actually have to make a repayment on the loan for 6 months. More details on eligibility to come through and you may need to call your specific bank to find out if you qualify.
4. Face to face meetings:
Most lenders are now accepting the broker meeting with our borrowers over Facetime, Skype or Zoom or any other video conferencing platform. However, to actually fulfill the verification of identification requirement, borrowers still need to be verified by the broker in person, or by someone at the post office, branch, or by a person that can come to you via the ZipID process. If someone’s unwell, then we simply need to wait until the self-quarantine period is over before we look at these identification methods.
Links to some of the support measures from the lenders
ANZ
CBA
Westpac
St George
NAB
Bankwest
Macquarie
ING
Newcastle Permanent
Note: Most lenders have provided links on their websites detailing their financial assistance packages, these are just a handful of the lenders we work with. Please reach out to us to see what options are available and/or your bank directly.
In terms of eligibility, the banks will most likely want to know what your conduct has been like prior, what amounts you have in redraw or offset, and then also what industry you're working in. It's not clear yet what the specific parameters are around these measures but it's likely that it will have something to do with this.
In summary
There are your 4 big measures, hopefully, summarised for you in Black & White. There’s a few more but these are the main ones.
We will continue to keep you informed through these changing and challenging times.
Please keep the calls, the texts, the watsapps, and the emails all coming.
Continue to keep washing your hands, let's keep looking out for one another and remember again, the team and I here at Black & White Finance have your back. We just might have your back, here from home. Stay safe.
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We’re also keen to receive your questions and if you want to know of some other great terms or rates on offer at the moment, and would rather email, please send a note to peter@blackandwhitefinance.com.au
* Your full financial situation would need to be reviewed prior to any acceptance of any offer or product. Subject to lenders terms and conditions, fees and charges and eligibility criteria.