Lazy tax: How big banks pocket $11k from loyal homeowners

RBA Governor Michele Bullock during a press conference after holding the cash rate target steady at 4.35 per cent. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short A stealthy price war has erupted across the country – with three major banks counting on you being too lazy to claim $11,000 in savings as 49 lenders drop below 6 per cent. Latest data shows 49 lenders, including regional banks and credit unions, have quietly cut variable interest rates into 5 per cent territory, but all but one of the Big Four banks has refused to follow suit. Scroll down for the full list of sub-6 per cent variable lenders Australia is in for a year’s worth of elevated interest rates before economists expect relief. Source: News24 Commonwealth Bank, NAB, and ANZ are so far refusing to touch the sub-6 per cent market, leaving Westpac as the only major bank in the sub-6 per cent club. In total, 60 per cent of all lenders on Canstar’s database now offer at least one variable rate starting with a “5”. According to Canstar, unnegotiated rates for existing borrowers are averaging 6.97 per cent – leaving hundreds of dollars in monthly savings on the table. “Competition in the home loan market is intensifying with lenders shar...