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So late yesterday (after I finished my other post, naturally) Westpac announced it will be increasing rates by 0.14% p.a. quoting increased wholesale funding: In particular the bank bill swap rate, which is a key wholesale funding rate for mortgages, increased by about 25 basis points between February and March this year and has remained elevated. “We initially hoped that this increase would be temporary, and therefore we have incurred these costs over the last six months. The rate changes announced today will not recover these costs..." - Official Westpac Media Release, 29 August 2018 I.e we didn't increase them then, but we are now, and not by the full amount needed cover costs. Interpret that as you may. So the big question is when/if this will cause a domino effect with the other big banks? There have been rises in smaller banks but none of the big four, perhaps due to the target already firmly on their backs as a result of the Royal Commission. Will they follow suit hoping that Westpac will take the first wave of anger and disapproval? Or will they stand fast in an effort to claw back a little customer sentiment? (Along with some nicely crafted marketing giving themselves a cheeky gold star of course). No doubt we will find out shortly. Bottom line, the only real way to guarantee your rate and repayment is to be on a fixed rate, but they come with restrictions - so do you homework first to see if it is right for you. As I have already mentioned elsewhere rates are so low at the moment that when they eventually go up again it will be a shock to the system for many that have only ever known low rate environments. So prepare yourselves. Those of the era of double-digit interest rates know what I mean. The RBA knows it too and have flagged rising rates as something to prepare for. Some economists now argue this recent move by Westpac (and potentially by others) may now delay any increase decisions by the RBA. Time will tell.

Just to let you know that we got charged 70$ because 2 Direct Debit bounced back. Then we were charged by the service provider another 10$ each, so total loss of 90$! I just couldn't believe it, felt like crying! When you don't have money 90$ is a lot. We were charged because it bounced back but the bank didn't honour the payment and we still have to pay them a fee. Very weird I think. We spoke to Commonwealth and they said as courtesy they would refund 35$, but so far nothing! Plus a few weeks ago I don't know if you guys notice you couldn't view your statement online, all the information disapeared. We mentioned that to them that because of it we were confused about how much money was left in our account, but they said that it happened a few days before, so it was our fault. Apparently it happens quite a lot here with different banks. see details below: http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=159&ContentID=151892 http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25720851-2702,00.html