Ratehacker: The Lowest Rates For December 2019


As Christmas creeps closer, it’s time to prepare for the season of inevitable spending. In our monthly Ratehacker round-up, Rachel Wastell from comparison site Ratecity highlights the latest credit card deals, plus the best savings accounts and home loans.

Managing your finances is probably not at the top of your Christmas list, so if you’re keen to save a pretty penny and access the lowest rates on offer right now, the data experts at RateCity have done the work for you.

‘Tis the season to be financially savvy.

Get a low rate home loan under 3%

Looking for your dream home? Here are the four lowest owner occupier home loan rates on the market this month.

  • Goulburn Murray Credit Union has a two-year fixed rate home loan for owner occupiers with an interest rate of 2.5%, the lowest on the market.
  • Well Home Loans has the second lowest owner occupier fixed home loan this month, with a two-year fixed rate Well Balanced Home Loan for 2.68%
  • Reduce Home Loans has the lowest variable rate home loan on the market, offering a 2.68% interest rate on their Low Rider Home Loan
  • UBank rounds out the top four, with their three-year fixed rate UHomeLoan the third lowest fixed home loan on the market at 2.68%

Remember, with owner occupier loans you need to live in the home, so if you’re looking to rent it out, an investment loan is what you’re after.

Here are the three investment loans with the lowest interest rates right now.

  • UBank still leads the way with a 2.84% interest rate on their three-year fixed Investor UHomeLoan
  • Tic Toc is also offering a low rate on a three-year Fixed Investment Loan, at just 2.94% which places them in close second
  • Reduce Home Loans once again boasts the lowest variable rate home loan on the market, with a 2.99% interest rate on their Rate Slasher Variable Investment Loan

Before you apply for a home loan, it’s a good idea to check your credit score, and be sure to speak to a mortgage broker.

Christmas shopping with credit cards under 9%

Christmas has a tendency to burn a hole in your pocket, especially if you’re buying all your presents on a credit card with a purchase rate over 15%.

So, if you need to spend and don’t have the cash, you may want to check out these five credit cards with purchase rates under 9%.

  • G&C Mutual Bank’s Low Rate Visa Credit Card boasts a 7.49% rate on purchases and has an annual fee of $50, offering 50 days interest free
  • Auswide Bank’s Low Rate Visa Card also has an annual fee of $50, with a rate of 8.7% and 55 days interest free on purchases
  • Northern Inland CU’s Low Rate Visa Credit Card offers a 8.99% rate with a $0 annual fee, yet has no interest free days on offer
  • Community First Credit Union’s Low Rate Visa Card has an 8.99% purchase rate, with a low annual fee of only $40, with 55 interest free days
  • Easy Street Financial Services’s Low Rate Visa Credit Card matches Community First’s offering, with a low annual fee of $40, 8.99% purchase rate and 55 days interest free.

Get yourself out of debt

Is one of your New Year’s resolutions to get out of debt and stay there? You may want to check out these debt consolidation personal loans that have the lowest interest rates.

  • Symple’s Personal Loan offers interest rates from just 5.75% with an upfront fee of 1% of the loan amount, which if you only borrow $5,000 could be just $50
  • Police Bank has a low upfront fee of only $98 for loan amounts from $5,000, whilst also offering a very competitive rate of 5.79% on their Low Rate Personal Loan
  • RateSetter’s Unsecured Personal Loan, which requires you to have an excellent credit rating and is limited to a three-year term, has the third lowest rate of 6.89%. It offers loan amounts from $2,000 and has an upfront fee of $299

If your debt is scattered across multiple credit cards, you might want to consider getting a 0% balance transfer card instead. This is especially true if you want to continue using a credit card for your Christmas shopping.

If so, here are three 0% balance transfer cards with the lowest purchase rates on the market, all under 11%.

  • MOVE Bank’s low rate credit card has a 0% balance transfer for 6 months, and purchase rate of 8.99% after that. There’s no annual fee for the first year, and purchases are interest free for 45 days, but an annual fee of $59 applies when the year is up.
  • Bankwest’s Breeze Classic Mastercard has a 6 month 0% balance transfer period, and a purchase rate of 9.9%. It has a $0 annual fee for the first 12 months, which changes to $79 every year after that, but has 55 days interest free on all purchases.
  • Police Bank’s Visa Credit Card has a higher purchase rate of 10.76%, however it has the longest 0% balance transfer period of the three cards with the lowest rates. It also charges no annual fee for 12 months, instead of six. So, if you’re using this card purely to collate your debt, and not for purchases, this may be the better option for you.

Score over 100,000 Frequent Flyer points

Heading overseas this Christmas and flying with Qantas? These four credit cards are all offering over 100,000 bonus frequent flyer points when you meet certain conditions.

If you use your credit card for most expenses, and pay it off in full every month, these cards could get you the points you need to fly to your dream destination.

  • Qantas Money Qantas Premier Titanium credit card offers 150,000 bonus frequent flyer points when you spend $5000 within 90 days of approval
  • Qantas Money Qantas Premier Platinum will deliver 120,000 frequent flyer points for signing up, and 20,000 points every month for six months, when you spend $1,500 or more each month
  • NAB’s Qantas Rewards Signature Card could see you getting a massive 240,000 frequent flyer points. They’re offering 120,000 points for signing up, 90,000 points when you spend $3000 within 60 days, and 30,000 points if you keep your card for 12 months.

Get the highest savings rate

If you’re trying to be just a little well-behaved over the festive season and are saving instead of spending, don’t be fooled into a savings account with a rate as low as 0.05%.

Here are the savings accounts with the highest rates on the market this December.

  • 86 400’s Save Account has a 2.25% interest rate when you deposit $1000 each month. However, if you’re not digitally savvy, keep in mind this is a neobank, so everything is managed via the app or via phone support and you won’t have access to a branch
  • Up Bank’s Save account is another online only offering, with a savings rate of 2.25% on their savings account. There is no $1,000 restriction, but you do need to make 5 or more card purchases every month from your account, which could eat into your savings
  • Bank of Queensland’s Fast Track Savings Account boasts 2.15%, and has the benefit of offering physical branches for savers who like personal interaction. To get this rate you only need to deposit $20 per month, yet you do need to make 5 visa debit transactions

The best performing super funds

If you’re not keen on saving for right now, but want to focus on growing your nest egg for retirement, have you considered reviewing your super fund choice?

Here are the three balanced super funds that have had the best five-year returns as at 30 September 2019, according to Superratings.

  • Australian Super is Australia’s largest super fund and it’s Balanced Option is the highest performing in the market, when it comes to five-year annualised returns, at 9.55%
  • Hostplus is a fund for employees in hospitality, tourism, recreation and sport, and their Executive Balanced Option is second best performing when it comes to five-year annualised returns, at 9.50%
  • UniSuper, the super dedicated to people working in Australia’s higher education sector, has had an impressive performance on their UniSuper Accumulation Balanced fund with a 9.39% annualised five-year return

That’s it for 2019!

Make sure to keep an eye out for Ratehacker in 2020, so you can be sure you always get the lowest rates on the market.

** Data accurate as at Tuesday 2nd December 2019 according to RC database and Superratings. The lowest rates on the market do not always equate to the cheapest products as fees and charges may apply. Contact the lender directly to request a copy of the Product Disclosure Statement, before you complete any applications, as applying to multiple credit products can negatively impact your credit score. Personal loans often have establishment fees between $200-500, so make sure to check all fees with the lender before you apply.

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