Following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s recent decision to increase the official cash rate by 25 basis points, we advise members that our standard variable interest rate will increase by 35 basis points effective 15 December 2009.

Our interest rate has increased as a result of our average cost of funding continuing to rise, principally due to the intense competition for retail term deposits largely driven by the major banks.

We are committed to remaining competitive in the home loan market and will continue to return value to our members in the form of package benefits and no monthly fees. We offer additional benefits to members who take out a home loan of $200,000 or more such as no transaction fees, reduced interest rates on loans and no loan establishment fees and also reward members of 21 years or more with ‘life membership’ benefits.

We understand the difficulties that many households face and will continually seek opportunities to reduce the impact on family budgets by absorbing as much of the impact of the rising costs of funding as possible.

We also have a number of options available to help members manage their repayments including extending loan terms to maintain their existing repayment obligations, splitting loans between fixed and variable rates or switching to a fixed rate loan to provide greater certainty on future repayments.

We encourage members to discuss their loan with their local Personal Financial Centre Manager to ensure they have the right loan to suit their individual requirements, or call us on 13 25 85.