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RBA UPDATE: Big banks lead the rate cut charge

RBA UPDATE: Big banks lead the rate cut charge

03 Mar, 2020 - 2 min read

Australia’s two biggest banks, CBA and Westpac, have committed to passing on the full 0.25 per cent rate cut to their variable customers on the back of today’s emergency cash rate cut by the RBA.

Westpac’s average home loan customers will be $55 a month and $662 a year better off as a result, while CBA’s average customer will save $58 a month and $691 a year, based on their current discounted variable rates on a $400,000 home loan.

	Standard Variable Rate	Discounted Variable Rate	Lowest variable rate
CBA	4.55%	3.85%	2.97%
Westpac	4.58%	3.19%	2.93%
NAB	TBC	TBC	TBC
ANZ	TBC	TBC	<> TBC

So far 10 lenders have announced their rate cuts, on the back of today’s announcement. See RateCity’s live list of rate cuts here.

RateCity research director Sally Tindall said: “This must have been a tough decision for the big banks, but it’s the right decision both for their customers and the economy.”

“This decision from the big banks will put pressure on the other lenders to follow suit and pass the cut on in full to new and existing customers.

“This is money that will give many families that little bit of extra breathing space, and take pressure off the never ending cycle of bills, groceries and the mortgage payment.

“We’ve now got two of Australia’s biggest banks offering variable rates under 3 per cent,” she said.

Who’s moved?

LIVE UPDATES: www.ratecity.com.au/rba-cash-rate.

Lender	Cuts	New lowest variable rate	Effective date
CBA	0.25%	2.97%	24 March
Westpac	0.25%	2.93%	17 March
St George	0.25%	2.69%	17 March
Bank of Melbourne	0.25%	2.69%	17 March
BankSA	0.25%	2.74%	17 March
Homestar Finance	0.25%	2.44%	1 April existing customers, immediately new customers
Reduce Home Loans	0.25%	2.44%	Immediately
Loans.com.au	0.25%	2.53%
86 400	0.25%	2.84%	4 March
Athena	0.25%	2.59%	Immediately

Disclaimer

This article is over two years old, last updated on March 3, 2020. While RateCity makes best efforts to update every important article regularly, the information in this piece may not be as relevant as it once was. Alternatively, please consider checking recent home loans articles.

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This article was reviewed by Research Director Sally Tindall before it was published as part of RateCity's Fact Check process.

Laine Gordon

Money Editor

Laine Gordon is the Money Editor at RateCity and an experienced journalist and research specialist. With a background in news and feature writing, covering finance, media and even food (a passion of hers) at Reed Elsevier publications, Laine brings almost two decades of experience to the team. Having covered major areas of interest to the general public from hip pocket issues to rising and falling interest rates and the impact to mortgages, credit and saving in Australia, she is passionate about researching and telling people’s stories to help others make better decisions about their own finances.