Aussies ready to switch lenders


Australians have been revealed as all too willing to change mortgage lenders, according to new data released by mortgage comparison website, finder.com.au.
According to the finder data, 560,965 borrowers actually ditched their lender in pursuit of a better home loan over the past three years.
It said this meant that more than one in every five households with a variable home loan had ditched their lender since June 2010.
As well, it said the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data released this week had shown that there were 18,056 loans refinanced in July - the highest number of loans refinanced since April 2008 at the peak of the global financial crisis.
Commenting on the findings, finder.com.au spokesperson Michelle Hutchison said the number of borrowers who were dissatisfied with their lender was surprising.
"You'd think most borrowers would sit back and enjoy their extra savings coming in from lower interest rates, but this isn't the case," she said.
"We've seen the Reserve Bank drop the cash rate eight times since November 2011, by a total of 2.25 percentage points — for a typical $300,000 home loan, that's almost $400 less in repayments (comparing 7.5 per cent and 5.5 per cent rates over a 30-year term)."
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