Banks to start passing on rate cut from today - but not for everyone

Millions of Australian mortgage holders will see their home loan interest rate drop by 0.25 per cent today after the Reserve Bank decided on the cut last week.

Commonwealth Bank and ANZ variable home loan customers will receive the cut today, while Commonwealth also dropped its lowest fixed rate to the same rate as its new lowest variable, 5.34 per cent.

The other big four banks, NAB and Westpac, will pass on the rate cut on Monday and Tuesday next week, respectively.

READ MORE: Millions facing days of flood risk as torrential rain eases

Canstar found that the vast majority of lenders said they would pass on the latest rate cut in full, though Aussie Home Lones is only passing 0.1 per cent to its Aussie select variable rate mortgages.

Canstar said the only other exception was Credit Union SA, who said a very small number of investor loans may not get the full cut.

For a borrower with a $600,000 mortgage, minimum monthly repayments have dropped $272 so far this year with RBA cuts in February, May, and now August.

READ MORE: CCTV shows violent attack on one of NSW's most notorious prisoners

However, the banks differ in their approach to repayments, so the full savings may not be passed on automatically.

Commonwealth, ANZ, and NAB, will keep borrowers' repayments the same, unless the customer asks them to lower it.

Westpac automatically readjusts payments in line with the cut for customers paying the minimum via direct debit.

Canstar said Commonwealth Bank data showed just 14 per cent of borrowers asked to lower their repayments after the May cash rate cut, roughly in line with figures from NAB (10 per cent) and ANZ (11 per cent).

READ MORE: Great for Melbourne, bad for Sydney: The factors causing August's strange weather

As an example of the difference this makes, Canstar said a borrower with a $600,000 mortgage and 25 years remaining at the start of this year's rate cuts, if they did not adjust their repayments, would currently be looking at saving $76,536 in interest overall, and would pay off their mortgage three years and three months early.

But in the meantime, the minimum monthly repayments would remain $272 above what they had to pay.

"It's great to see so many borrowers getting ahead on their loans, but it begs the question – how many customers are doing this out of complacency and how many don't even realise that's what's happening," Canstar.com.au data insights director Sally Tindall said.

View gallery

When bank robbery failed, he got the money he needed from a Hollywood studio

"Leaving repayments unchanged after a rate cut is a great way to save thousands in interest, particularly for owner-occupiers. It's a rare case where doing nothing might actually work in your favour, however, it's worrying that some people might not be making an active choice."

Tindall also urged people to consider shopping around for the right home loan plan.

"If you are looking to fix your mortgage, understand what might happen to the cash rate in the fixed rate term but most of all, spend time shopping around," she said.

"Despite CBA's fixed rate cuts this morning, there's 0.65 percentage points difference between the bank's lowest fixed rate and the lowest fixed in the market."

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.