Interest Rates for March: Our Top Picks for Home Loans, Savings and Credit Cards

As widely forecast, there was no change to the cash rate at this month’s meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) board. Several economists are forecasting that the RBA will stay on hold until the second half of the year at the earliest. Rather than waiting for a rate change or discount to land in your lap from the RBA or the banks, you may need to roll up your sleeves and go hunting for a better interest rate deal to help manage your personal finances.

To make this a little easier, here are some of the top home loans, savings accounts, and credit cards for March 2024 on the RateCity database:

(Rankings are correct at the time of publishing. Please note lenders may trade places on the list as interest rates and fees change and RateCity’s tracker reflects these movements.)

Home loan interest rates

The more money you can pay upfront as a deposit on a home loan, the lower the interest rates you may be offered. But by the time you’ve saved a 20% deposit on a property in one of Australia’s highly-valued capital cities, prices will have likely risen yet again, putting your home ownership ambitions further out of reach.

It’s still possible to get a home loan with a lower deposit of 10% or 5% of the property value. Of course, this also means having to budget for Lender’s Mortgage Insurance (LMI), get help from a guarantor, or apply for government support. However, borrowing more debt than you can manage does increase the risk that you could end up in “mortgage prison” or even negative equity if the value of your property was to plateau or go backwards.

Some of the top-rated (based on their Real Time Ratings™) small deposit home loans at the time of writing include:

• G&C Mutual Bank Momentum Home Loan Special (LVR > 80%): 6.10% p.a Variable (Comparison Rate* 6.13% p.a)
• Community First Bank Accelerator Package Home Loan (Principal and Interest) ($250k+): 6.04% p.a Variable (Comparison Rate* 6.42% p.a)
• Easy Street Financial Services Street Smart Variable Home Loan (Principal and Interest): 6.04% p.a Variable (Comparison Rate* 6.09% p.a)
• The Capricornian Country to Coast Home Loan (Principal and Interest) (LVR < 95%): 5.99% p.a Variable (Comparison Rate* 5.99% p.a)
• Regional Australia Bank Basic Home Loan Introductory Discount Offer (Principal and Interest): 5.74% p.a Variable (Comparison Rate* 6.23% p.a)

*This is the comparison rate published by the lender and is on a per annum basis. The comparison rate is calculated for a secured loan for an amount of $150,000 over a 25 year term. WARNING: This comparison rate is true only for the examples given and may not include all fees and charges. Different terms, fees or other loan amounts might result in a different comparison rate.

Savings accounts

What value does a savings account really offer? It all depends on your saving habits and goals. RateCity crunched the numbers to find that the difference between a high-rate and low-rate savings account could be the equivalent of over 300 coffees over a year, for example.

If you have a specific savings goal in mind, you can use a savings calculator to estimate how long it may take to reach your goal, and how much the interest you earn could help you reach that balance. Remember that some savings accounts have terms and conditions to secure the highest rate, so make sure you can comfortably fulfil these requirements before you start saving.

Some of the top-rated (based on their Real Time Ratings™) savings accounts for everyday savers at the time of writing include:

• ME Bank HomeME: Maximum Rate: Maximum Rate 5.55% p.a, Base Rate 0.55% p.a
• ING Savings Maximiser: Maximum Rate 5.50% p.a, Base Rate 0.55% p.a
• MOVE Bank Growth Saver Account: Maximum Rate 5.50% p.a, Base Rate 0.10% p.a
• AMP Bank AMP Saver Account: Maximum Rate 5.40% p.a, Base Rate 1.20% p.a
• Teachers Mutual Bank Target Saver: Maximum Rate 5.25% p.a, Base Rate 0.01% p.a

Credit card interest rates

Data from the RBA shows that Australia’s total credit card bill attracting interest charges crept up in the month of January, hitting a total of $17.58 billion, an increase of more than a quarter of a billion dollars. Additionally, some of the major banks such as ANZ, Commonwealth Bank and NAB have recently been hiking rates or annual fees on their credit cards.

If you’re sitting on top of a stubborn post-holiday credit card debt, it could be worth comparing options to transfer your balance to pay it off more easily. And if your credit card interest rate is higher than you’d like, you could consider switching to one of the many alternative credit card deals available.

Some of the credit cards with the lowest purchase rates on RateCity at the time of writing include:

• G&C Mutual Bank Low Rate Visa Credit Card: Purchase Rate 7.49% p.a Balance Transfer Rate Not Applicable
• Easy Street Financial Services Easy Low Rate Visa Credit Card: Purchase Rate 8.99% p.a, Balance Transfer Rate 0% p.a
• MOVE Bank Low Rate Credit Card: Purchase Rate 8.99% p.a, Balance Transfer Rate 0% p.a
• Community First Bank Low Rate Blue Visa Card: Purchase Rate 8.99% p.a, Balance Transfer Rate 0% p.a
• Defence Bank Foundation Visa Card: Purchase Rate 3.99% p.a for up to 6 months, then 8.99%, Balance Transfer Rate 3.99% p.a

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