Right now, the home loan market is under pressure as borrowers react to multiple interest rate rises this year and look for better deals, pushing refinancing volumes higher than usual. ANZ, which has been trailing its major rivals in home lending growth, is feeling that pressure more acutely and is leaning on targeted incentives to stop customers walking away at the final step.
Mortgage brokers report that ANZ is stepping in after customers lodge discharge forms with offers of cash retention payments typically around $2000, along with fee waivers and interest rate discounts of roughly 0.15 to 0.20 % points below a competitor’s offer. The bank frames these as discretionary case-by-case decisions and points out that other big lenders appear to be running similar behind-the-scenes retention tactics as competition heats up.
All of this looks like part of a broader shift where banks compete harder for a shrinking pool of profitable home loans, which may benefit some borrowers in the short term but could also influence how lenders price risk, set future rates and decide which customers they really want to keep.
