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This is a round-up of rates in December 2011 and some may have changed since the time of writing. To check today’s rates click on the highlighted product.

Home Loans:

The only lender that didn’t pass on the full 25 basis point RBA rate cut in December was RAMS which only passed on a 20 basis point reduction. RAMS has been busy repositioning itself as a full financial services provider with the launch of new deposit accounts late in 2011 (see the Savings Account section of this article for more).

UBank (the online subsidiary of NAB) currently offers the best variable home loan rate as its usual requirement of having the loan for 3 years to receive a loyalty discount of 0.20% continues to be waived. We’re not sure how long this will last, but applicants currently get the discount for the life of the loan with no waiting period meaning the variable rate is just 6.14%, compared with an average standard variable rate across the market of 6.94%. The offer is a little restricted though as their loans are only available to people refinancing and not new loans.

Fixed home loan rates stopped falling in December unlike previous months when we had seen quite large movements. The average 1 and 3 year fixed rate were down about 10 basis points, and there was virtually no movement in fixed rates from the major banks.

Personal Loans:

Despite the two rate cuts late last year there has been little benefit passed on to personal loan customers. The average secured variable rate loan has only moved down 11 basis points over the past year, and unsecured variable rates have actually gone up! The best rates are offered by credit unions, whether looking at secured or unsecured.

Credit Cards:

As for personal loans, credit card customers have every right to feel they are getting a raw deal. The average credit card rates barely moved in December and even over the longer term are fairly static. Last month this blog singled out QANTAS Staff Credit Union for an honourable mention, having passed on November’s rate cut to their credit card customers, and they’ve done it again in December. Its Lifestyle Rewarder is one of the cheapest credit cards with rewards on the market, now at 13.49%.

Savings Accounts:

The heat has certainly come out of the savings account market with the average rate down 39 basis points in December alone, although some of this decrease may have been due to delays in passing on the November rate cut.

The best introductory rate accounts are currently offered by RAMS (6.12% but only to RAMS home loan customers) and UBank (6.11%). Interestingly these are both owned by major banks – Westpac and NAB respectively – so it seems there is real competition between the majors, but through their alternate brands more than their own. ANZ is taking a different approach, offering the third best rate in the market of 6.00%, but through its own brand rather than its online Smartypig brand.

Term Deposits:

There are still some great term deposit rates to be found as they haven’t been falling as fast as either at-call deposits or home loans. If the RBA continues its downward movement of the cash rate over the next few months now might be a good time to pull some money out of at-call accounts and have some assurance of your interest rate.

The best 6 month rates at the time of writing were UBank’s 6.11% and ING Direct’s 6.00% while the best 1 year deposit rate is 5.50% offered by Police Credit Victoria and Credit UnionSA, and a range of others close behind. Check out our Term Deposit selector tool to find the best rates for the term that you’re interested in.

Although the RBA has a month off from meeting to review the cash rate in January the Mozo RateChasers will be keeping a keen watch to see if the banks are going to do the right thing and pass on the same reductions to credit card and personal loan customers as the have for those with home loans.

This Rate Chasers Roundup is a summary of rates movements in November 2011. To check today’s rates click on the highlighted product.

Home Loans:

Most lenders have now moved their variable rates following the Reserve Bank’s reduction in the cash rate early in the month. The only bank not to cut its variable rates by the full 25 basis points was NAB who, although still having the lowest standard variable rate of the big 4 banks (now 7.47%), only took 20 basis points off its rates. Perhaps to balance this NAB’s online subsidiary UBank has jumped in with one of the lowest variable rates around at 6.39% with its UHome Loan. Usually borrowers would have to pay 0.20% more than this for the first 3 years before qualifying for the ‘loyalty’ discount, but UBank is now offering this discounted rate to its first 1,000 successful applications.

Fixed rates continued to fall during the month with quite a few 1, 2 and 3 year options at around 6.0%. Better Option offered the best 1 year rate at 5.84% and the best 3 year rate at 5.89%, while Greater Building Society had the sharpest 2 year rate at 5.94%.

Personal Loans:

Unlike home loans, many personal loan rates have not yet benefitted from the Reserve Bank rate cut as evidenced by the average secured variable rate only coming down 8 basis points during November to 10.79%. The main area for competition in personal loans has been the fixed rates on secured loans where a number of lenders have passed on the full rate cut. Over the month we saw the average rate fall from 10.88% to 10.74%, with a range of offers coming in under 9%.

Credit Cards:

This is the product group that has benefited least from rate adjustments and during November the average rates barely moved. For credit cards with rewards the average rate went from 19.54% to 19.52%, and for cards without rewards the average rate went from 15.06% to 15.03%.

Qantas Staff Credit Union customers with its Lifestyle credit card have a reason to smile – its already low purchase rate of 13.99% was reduced to 13.74%, one of the few credit cards with a rewards program to feel the full effects of the lower cash rate.

Of the big banks, the only change we saw was ANZ cutting the rate on its Low Rate card by the full 25 basis points to 13.24%, although the rates on all of its other cards have not been adjusted.

Savings Accounts:

Unlike personal loans and credit cards, there’s been no hesitation in passing the rate cut on to savings account customers. During November the average rate fell by a neat 25 basis points, but this hasn’t been uniform across all products.

The market leaders for introductory rates for online savings accounts, UBank and Virgin Money cut their rates by 40 and 39 basis points respectively, leaving Virgin Saver on 6.12% and USaver on 6.11%. Both of these accounts are now beaten by HSBC’s Serious Saver on 6.20%, but as with all high introductory offers it pays to check what rates are paid beyond the introductory period.

Term Deposits:

As markets are anticipating more rate cuts and competition for deposits is easing, term deposit rates are continuing to move down.  Only small premiums are being paid for locking your money away for longer terms at the moment, making shorter terms seem the best value.

Over the last year the average rate for 6 month deposits has only fallen 9 basis points, however the average 1 year rate is down 71 basis points and the average 3 year rate has fallen 85 basis points.

For deposits of $10,000, the average 1 year rate is 5.22% but the best rate in November was QANTAS Staff Credit Union’s 5.70%.  For 3 year deposits the average rate is 5.34% and the best rate was 6.00% from Bank of Cyprus. Bank of Cyprus also payed 6.00% for 6 months.

The Mozo Rate Chasers will be keeping a close eye on whether the banks eventually pass the rate cut on to their credit card customers, and who benefits (and who misses out) if there’s another cut when the RBA meets on December 6. Whatever happens in the world of rates, we’ll have all the latest here.

Across the market rates are heading south as anticipation increases that the RBA will move to cut the official cash rate when it meets on the first Tuesday in November, exactly one year since it last felt the need to adjust rates. During September the Mozo rate chasing data team started seeing the first real indications of this change in mood.

In home loans, fixed rates led the way down. At the end of September, the average 1 year rate was 6.62%, 28 basis points below where it was in August, and the average 3 year fixed rate 43 basis points lower to 6.59% over the same period. All of the major banks reduced their fixed rates in September – the biggest 1 year fixed movement was Westpac slashing its rate by half a percent to 6.69%, and NAB cut its three year rate by 45 basis points to 6.64%.

The best 1 year fixed rate for home loans of $300,000 is Greater Building Society’s 5.89%, 40 basis points lower than a month ago (which was then the lowest 1 year fixed). loans.com.au took the title of cheapest variable rate loan in the market with its dream catcher home loan, dropping from 6.69% to 6.58%.

Term Deposit rates are also on their way down, with both the market average and the best 1 year rate down by about 15 basis points. At the end of September the average 1 year rate was 5.54% and the best in the market was Beirut Hellenic Bank at 6.10%. The major banks are pulling their rates back too.  ANZ had the biggest drop in any of the big four 1 year rates over the month, a 42 basis point reduction to 5.18% .

Competition in the online savings account area has been running hot for the last year, and over the 12 months to the end of September the average Savings Account rate increased by 35 basis points, 10 basis points more than last November’s RBA cash rate increase. Going against the trend, and perhaps a sign of things to come, Westpac cut the rate on its eSaver by 50 basis points to 4.80%.

The only positive online savings rate movement Mozo saw in September was RaboDirect increasing its bonus rate offer on its High Interest Savings Account by 0.01% so it could claim equal best rate in the market (with UBank and Virgin Money) at 6.51%.

But where should you stash your hard-earned cash in this tumultuous economic climate?

With stock markets around the globe in free-fall this week, we asked the Mozo community what advice they had to protect hard earned super and savings. Mozo Answers Guru Katie responded with a provoking question of her own. We thought it was worth sharing with our blog readers, and wondered what other Australians think…         

Is superannuation a con?

Many people are starting to wonder. Nothing can really protect people from the uncertainty of the stockmarket in relation to superannuation. Unfortunately, unless you are one of the really lucky few who are reaping the benefits in retirement from a (now unavailable) superannuation scheme that is indexed against the CPI on DEFINED BENEFITS, you will join the majority of us punters on the “Super Roller Coaster”!

The tax benefits, whilst substantial if you are prepared to stick it out for decades, may not offset the severe losses experienced by many in a undulating market which has set some people back to the same level they were on five years ago!

If you do the math and invested $200,000 in a term deposit five years ago at the, then, available 8% you would be $80,000 better off even when you deduct tax. Whilst the gains MAY be made over 30+ years, the share market (forming the base of superannuation investment) is a gamble. Of course, one must NEVER change their options or attempt to withdraw Super when it is at its lowest as it will compound your losses severely. However, I really do believe that Super is over-hyped and under-performing.

The REAL danger with Super is that it is also subject to ongoing political interference. Don’t be surprised if, in the near future, the federal government will prevent anyone from taking LUMP SUMS and change the laws so that everyone will need to eke out a pension. As huge numbers of Baby Boomers are retiring, the federal government will be prodding and poking away at the methods of superannuation payments to ensure they will not have the burden of paying out massive lump sums over time.

Personally, I believe that it is preferable to invest in an investment property over time which, at least, will provide you with a steady rental income. Alternatively, take the lump sum as soon as you hit 60 (or 65) and put it in a Term Deposit. The HIGHS may not be as good as the occasional uplift in Super, but you can sit on the money (without worry) and sleep at night knowing exactly how much you are going to get each month.

That means a lot when you’re retired – who needs the stress?

Welcome to week 2 of the ‘Mozo Answers Question of the Week’. Our Answers forum has been bombarded by questions about deposits this week, mainly centering on what the best rates are for both savings and term deposit accounts as well as the respective benefits of choosing a term deposit over a savings account and vice versa.

Lets start with savings accounts, where there are a couple of standouts well worth looking at. First off, BankWest’s “Regular Saver” has no monthly fee and a market leading rate of 7.0%. It’s an amazing rate, however you can’t make any withdrawals and you can only deposit up to $500 a month. If you can’t stick to those parameters, UBank’s USaver is a great option. It’s got a fantastic interest rate of 6.51% as long as you set up an automatic savings plan of at least $200 a month, 6.01% if you don’t. There’s no monthly fee, you can withdraw and deposit as much as you like and there are no balance conditions either.

Turning our focus towards term deposits, as a result of some pretty fierce competition there are a lot of attractive rates out there at the moment. To get the best out of a term deposit you’re better off giving it some time – for example, to get a rate of 6.0% or over you’ll have to invest your money for a minimum of 6 months. Take a look at the table below to see some of the best rates out there on various terms: