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ING Australia has announced that, effective from Thursday, 7 February, it will increase its variable mortgage rates for all home loan customers by up to 15 basis points.
The bank’s revised variable home loan rate now starts from 3.93 per cent.
ING’s latest rate rise follows a 10 basis point increase in July 2018, in line with rate moves from several other lenders in response to rising wholesale funding costs.
Reacting to the news, Sally Tindall, research director at RateCity.com.au, said: “Today’s announcement will come as a surprise to some ING customers who weren’t expecting a second out-of-cycle rate hike.
“The cost of funding pressures are real and here to stay, and we expect more lenders to follow in a second round of hikes.”
Since the turn of the year, several lenders have lifted rates out-of-cycle, including NAB and its subsidiary UBank, the Bank of Queensland (BOQ) and Virgin Money.
NAB announced increases of up to 16 basis points on its variable home loan offerings, with its subsidiary UBank also announcing increases earlier this year, lifting its fixed home loan rates by up to basis points.
The Bank of Queensland and Virgin Money have also repriced their mortgages, increasing rates earlier this month by 18 basis points and 20 basis points, respectively.
Throughout 2018, several lenders, including ANZ, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and Westpac, also increased rates out-of-cycle.
However, despite the second wave of out-of-cycle rate hikes, some lenders, including Heritage Bank, Adelaide Bank, and Teachers Mutual Bank, have reduced their home loan rates by as much as 32 basis points.
[Related: NAB succumbs to cost pressures and hikes rates]
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