Non-bank lenders withdrawing rates due to US markets

Lenders in New Zealand are watching developments in the United States anxiously as conditions in credit markets deteriorate.

Tuesday, September 30th 2008, 4:09PM

by Maria Scott

Several non-bank lenders and mortgage managers have withdrawn all fixed rate loans from the market over the past few days after being told by Australian funder AMS, part of the giant GE Money group, that it had decided to suspend lending on fixed rates.

Lenders have been told that this is because of volatility in credit markets and a sharp increase in the cost of funds.

Last week AMS withdrew funding for longer term fixed rates but one-year fixes remained available. Now, its distributors have been told that only floating rates are available.

Keven Shaw, operations manager at GEM Home Loans said that AMS had told the company it was concerned about volatility and that it had seen a significant jump in the cost of 12-month funds.

John Grant, national director of GE Money Home Lending told Good Returns last week that conditions in the credit markets were “pretty grim”.

This was before the latest developments in the international credit crisis. More banks in the US, the UK and Europe have had to be rescued and the US House of Representatives has rejected a plan to relieve US banks of “toxic” debt.

Media calls to GE in New Zealand were being referred to GE in Australia and Good Returns has not yet received a response.

The latest developments will put particular pressure on non bank lenders and mortgage managers because they generally rely on “wholesale” funds from credit markets – rather than deposits from savers – although GE funds from its own balance sheet. Grant said last week that the company still had funding available although many other organisations did not.

Non-bank lenders do not compete as fiercely on rates as mainstream banks but Shaw said most clients preferred to some fixed rate pricing in their packages. The company has a second line of funding which still offers fixed rates. These were also withdrawn for a time and although now available again had not come down in recent months, said Shaw.

He said he did not know how current events would affect the lending industry now. “It’s a whole new world,” he said. “We can’t compare it with anything we’ve seen before.”

William Cairns of Cairns Lockie, another non-bank lender to have withdrawn AMS-funded fixed rates said the industry was in choppy waters.

“Oil is jumping around all over the place, so are the share markets. Interest rates may well go up, but who knows?

“We are all very dependent on the USA.”

To check and compare mortgage rates, click on Mortgage Rates

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OCR cut to 7.5% »

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