Single dad's mortgage repayments jump 60 per cent thanks to ongoing rate rises

Aussie families are staring down the barrel of a ninth consecutive rate rise today with already struggling finances set to be stretched even further.

Single father Steve Whittington has appeared on Today previously to discuss the circumstances the RBA's rate rises have put his family in, but the latest one could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

"When I first spoke with the program back in May before the first rise, my mortgage repayments at the time were about $2100 per month," Steve said.

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"If even a 0.25 rate rise is announced today my mortgage payments will be $3600 per month - That is a massive rise for me."

Steve said it felt like he was in lockdown again with how much he has had to cut back on spending and things like takeaway coffees and meal deliveries were a thing of the past.

He said continuing rate rises aren't working and the RBA needs to take a different approach.

"Surely someone has to be telling the RBA there is a new paradigm and continued increases are hurting too many people too greatly, all while other spending goes unchecked," he said.

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Economist Shane Oliver said interest rates should be kept on hold to allow for any lags to "work through the system".

"If we keep jacking up interest rates in response to inflation - which is a lagging indicator itself - then we will knock the economy into recession as many households struggle to make their repayments," he said.

"That is what we saw in the late 1980s going into the early recession of the 1990s."

See what else Steve and Shane had to say in the video above

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