The behind-closed-doors deal has been revealed on Facebook
ASB has been outed as matching BNZ’s heavily discounted 4.99% one-year mortgages in a behind-closed-doors deal.
A secret mortgage rate discounting war erupted last week, with BNZ offering 4.99% one-year rate to new customers, which it only advertised to mortgage brokers.
According to independent economist Tony Alexander, banks struggling to hit home loan sales targets were using “under-the-line” discounts to retain and attract customers, Stuff reported.
An ASB customer revealed in a Facebook post, however, that they were able to get the bank to match BNZ’s rate.
“Good news – ASB have just approved me two loans both matching BNZ’s 4.99% for one year opposed to the ASB 6.84% advertised online,” the poster said.
The borrower said he clinched the deal with even having to push hard.
“All I did was enquire personally to my personal business broker team who came back to me really quickly and approved the loan through their finance team,” he said.
ASB did not confirm whether it was matching BNZ’s rate.
“Home loan rates are fluid, and we regularly review our rates to ensure we remain competitive,” a spokesperson said.
She said lending was reviewed on a case-by-case basis and took market conditions, individual circumstances, and the property into consideration.
Borrowers have been urged by mortgage brokers to negotiate discounts on their home loans, as rates skyrocketed from pandemic lows of near 2% to more than 6.%% for one- and two-year fixed rate loans.
According to data from the Reserve Bank, in December 2020, banks lent just over $9.6 billion in new home loans, which dropped to $7.9bn in December 2021, then to just $5.1bn in December last year.
BNZ’s 4.99% one-year rate offer, though it had not been advertised, was also available to existing customers who took out new home loans, and to new customers, even if they did not come through brokers, Stuff reported.
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