Did You Know?

Did You Know?
Did You Know? I didn't know that... The “Did you know” (DYK) page, is dedicated to informing and educating you about the financial issues that matters to you and your family. Did you know: • That all Mortgage Brokers, including yours, can’t deal directly with a bank? • All Mortgage Brokers have to go through an intermediary group called Aggregators? • In 12 short months, 95% of Aggregators have been bought out by the banks? • Over 95% of Mortgage Brokers are now owned and dictated to by a bank, without their choice or control? • CBA requires Mortgage Brokers to write four loans through them in six months regardless of whether or not their loans are better? • CBA now owns Bank West and over one third of Aussie Home Loans? • It took Gail Kelly of Westpac only three months to takeover her old company St. George? • That 98% of all loans in Australia are now given to the major Banks? Click here to read more... • That it took the major banks just 12 short months to wipe out all competition that took over 15 years to build up? • In six months since GFC, the banks had made an extra $100 billion, that is 5 times the amount in the Governments Futures Fund? • The banks are gouging an extra $7 billion out of your pockets by not passing the full rate cuts, and increasing the rates beyond the RBA? • The big for banks are stripping $3000 a year from home owners and credit card users? • The total value of mortgages held by the Big4 is worth $661.4 billion? • In November 2007 the gap between RBA cash rate and the banks variable rate was 1.82% and now the gap is over 2.87%? • CBA and Westpac now owns over 50% of the Mortgage Market? Click here to read more... • Canadian banks that source their funds from the same international market as our Australian banks only work on a 2% margin as opposed to our banks 2.8%? Click here to read more... • The profit margin over and above the banks costs of funds was 1.67% in 2008, and has now risen to 1.88%? • It costs you over $6.1 billion a year to keep your loan with one of the big four banks? Click here to read more... • You could save up to $4300 a year, if you switched your loans from a bank to a cheaper lender? • Did you know it only took 18 months for Westpac to break their promise about keeping Bank of Melbourne? • The banks made a swift $17 million by passing on interest rate rises faster than they cut them? • The major banks made $22.6 billion last year in fees and commissions alone? • Westpac stands to make an extra $400 million by increasing their rates 0.20% higher than the RBA? Click here to read more... • One of the majors have multiple fax numbers and if you get the wrong one your requests gets ignored? • If you request a loan discharge it may take over two weeks before the banks get back to you with just a “convince you to stay” call?		• DYK: News and Blogs • Let's Do Lunch • The Burning Questions • Behind The Charm Offensive “At MST Active we are proudly independent. You can be safe in the knowledge that our Aggregation Model means that all Mortgage Brokers we recommend to you are not owned or dictated to by any banks. This means the advice they give to you is with your interest at heart.” By choosing an MST Active Mortgage Broker you can be sure that they are Independent and only offer advice that has your best interest in mind. At MST Active we understand that we will need to work with the banks, however we will NOT recommend their products unless it is the best value product for you, out in the market today. With over 40 lenders on our panel and over 5000 products on the market, you can be safe in the knowledge that we will find the right products that you want, when you want it. With many banking institutions, building societies and credit unions that offer fee free banking services, why pay for an account when you can have it for free? At MST Active, our Independent Financial Consultants have a range of products that you can choose from and tailor them to what you want, when you want it!