"Effective 29th June 2009 a number of changes have been made to the terms and conditions for mortgage products. Most of the changes are minor. However, more significant changes have been made to specific clauses for fixed rate and equity line customers.
- Fixed Rate customers:The clauses relating to “early repayment costs on fixed rate loans”.
- Equity Manager and Home Equity Loan: Clauses introducing the right to: - reduce or cancel a credit limit at any time; and demand payment of any outstanding balance."
We have had concerns for sometime in this tightening credit market that lenders may move to 'free up' capital to lend to buyers by reducing unused credit limits or lines of credit that held by existing clients. Ths is clearly the first definite step in this direction by a lender - and one that has been leading the way in being cautious (they were the first to reduce LVR's).
I have suggested to some client in the past to place 'surplus funds' in a totally separate bank account - preferably with a bank you have no other loans with! Yes, this will cost you the differential between interest charged on the loan and the interest received on the deposit - but this is simply insurance that you can access the money when & if you need to.
If you have an ANZ equity facility you may want to follow this suggestion sooner, not later! It wont guarantee you get to keep access to the funds, but you will be lower down the list than someone who hasnt removed the surplus. (You might like to even go one step further and convert the equity facility to a standard loan!)
Hope you all have a great weekend,
Fiona
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