Robbed Again: Banks Behaving Badly Making Mortgages More Expensive! [v9ydNifLUSb]
According to a recent ASIC report, millions of Australians rely on mortgage offset accounts to reduce the cost of their home loan, but an ASIC review has found customers may have been unknowingly paying more interest than they should because some banks failed to properly manage offset accounts. That's because banks have not been delivering the savings that are promised with offset accounts, according to corporate regulator. So far, $55 million has been paid in customer compensation for the failures, with further compensation likely on the way. ASIC reviewed the offset practices of eight banks, representing more than 70% of Australia’s $2.5 trillion home loan market. According to the Reserve Bank of Australia, 55 per cent of mortgages have an offset account attached to them, with financial regulator APRA confirming the amount of money in offset accounts at a record high of about $349 billion. That means that around 1.8 million mortgages may need to be checked. About $61 million worth of interest is being offset every day, according to Canstar. That said an offset arrangement might not be the best option, depending on cash flow balances, versus additional charges. While an offset account does not change the required loan repayment amount, it means a greater share of each payment goes towards paying off the home loan rather than interest. Overall, they found a lack of awareness, insufficient oversight and inadequate responses by some banks were costing customers. They identified four key findings: Banks struggled to readily identify customer offset account requests – Many banks could not readily identify if, or when, customers had requested an offset account. There was inconsistent detection of offset account failures – Some banks were unaware they were failing to deliver on promises to link offset accounts to home loans. Because the monthly repayments on a loan stay the same, errors can remain hidden for years. ASIC suggests that customers should regularly check that their offset account: has been set up, is linked to the correct home loan, and is receiving the benefit of saving interest. The bottom line for me is once again, some of our large banks have been found wanting again, putting their own interests ahead of their customers. Best practice by one bank is identified in the ASIC report. The bank, not named in the report, provides an offset dashboard in its mobile app and online banking website that displays key details, including which offset accounts are linked; which home loan they are linked to; and, the interest saved over the financial year. Details of our one to one service are here: Go to the Walk The World Universe at Find more at where you can subscribe to our research alerts Please consider supporting our work via Patreon: The full detailed set of post code data is available as a subscription service. Or make a one-off contribution to help cover our costs via PayPal at: We also can receive bitcoins at: 13zBL1oRib9VJu8Uc9zUGNhxKDBBgUpDN1 Please share this post to help to spread the word about the state of things.... Caveat Emptor! Note: this is NOT financial or property advice!! 🚨BEWARE OF SCAMMERS🚨 As there are accounts impersonating Walk The World in the comments on YouTube, note that our comments will have a distinguishable verified symbol. And remember that we will never message you asking you to give us money or talk to us on other platforms such as WhatsApp or Telegram