Kiwibank cuts one-year rate to match floating

It would be great if Kiwibank instead of offering gimmicky fixed terms i.e. 12 months stopped charging their home loan customers fees to hold interest rates in advance of maturity & settlement. None of the other banks pass on these kind of costs to their home loan customers so this begs the question why does Kiwibank? Just how short of capital are they under the new core funding ratio rules introduced by the Reserve Bank? At present most people aren't in any particular hurry to lock in an interest rate with their bank for a home loan but rest assured when rates do start to move upwards later this year Kiwibank will have a lot of unhappy home loan customers on their hands clearly!

Kiwibank don't charge customers to hold rates, well they didn't for us. You must of got the wrong end of the stick or just pitting down the competition. Go kiwi is all I can say...! Don't kiwibank have a 6 year guarantee anyway, the Aussie banks have never put there wallets on the line... Why would they when they have a monopoly

Hi Mike, excuse me but Kiwibank DO charge these costs to their home loan customers. As I mentioned no one is (yet) in that much of a hurry to lock in a fixed rate 2 months out from maturity or settlement. Most people are floating hence they haven’t had to have a conversation with Kiwibank about this subject. Rest assured though when rates start moving upwards later this year lots of Kiwibank home loan customers will be very annoyed when told they now have to pay a fee/s to hold a rate in advance of their loan maturing or settling. NO other bank in New Zealand charges their home loan customers these kind of fees. The 6 year guarantee that Kiwibank advertise for home loan customers is highly contestable Mike especially given the above fees now being charged. When you include Kiwibank’s low equity premiums that borrowers with less than 20% deposit must pay (they are the most expensive premiums in the market by the way) Kiwibank is actually the least competitive. I’m actually a fan of what Kiwibank bank set out originally to achieve i.e. keep the Aussie banks honest but now most kiwi’s with a home loan are actually better off NOT banking at Kiwibank. Sad but true Mike. P.S. belonging to a “kiwi” owned bank sounds great but I think most borrowers automatically “assume” this means they are getting the best deal when in fact this is not the case.