The Reserve Bank (RBA) yesterday cut the cash rate by 15 basis points to a new record low of 0.10%, in effort to support the economic recovery from COVID-19.
RBA Governor Phillip Lowe said should lenders not pass on this cut, borrowers should look to a new one.
"The best outcome would be for standard variable rates to be lowered but if that doesn't occur I'm confident there will be pass-through occurring through people renegotiating and switching ... I encourage everybody to go to their bank and ask for a better deal," Dr Lowe said.
"If they don't give it to you, switch to a bank that will."
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At the time of writing, the only big four bank to announce cuts was Commonwealth Bank, who opted to only pass the cut onto fixed rates and not variable.
Non-bank Athena followed their tradition of immediately passing on the cut in full, and was joined by Freedom Lend, homeloans.com.au, Reduce Home Loans, and Homestar Finance.
See if your lender is passing on the cut here.
Dr Lowe said negative interests remained extraordinarily unlikely, and with inflation to not be in the desired 2-3% band and full employment to be reached for some time, the cash rate would be unmoved until at least 2023.
"For inflation to be sustainably within the target range, wage growth will have to be materially higher than it is currently," he said.
"This will require a lower rate of unemployment and a return to a tight labour market.
"On the current outlook, it will take some years to get there. Given this, the Board is not expecting to increase the cash rate for at least three years."
Treasurer expects lenders to pass on cut
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the RBA's cash rate cut complimented the government's economic support, and urged lenders to assist in the recovery.
"And today's announcement by the Reserve Bank will reduce the cost of borrowing and is good news for households, good news for small businesses and it will complement what the Morrison Government has already undertaken to support job creation across the economy," Mr Frydenberg said.
"It's my expectation that the banks will now look for ways to pass on those rate cuts.
"Pass it on to small businesses and pass it on to mortgage holders."
Today’s announcement by the RBA to cut the cash rate is good news for Australian households & small businesses.
— Josh Frydenberg (@JoshFrydenberg) November 3, 2020
The RBA made it very clear their move today complements the economic support the Morrison Govt has provided the Australian economy. pic.twitter.com/Z4zmVIl9ma
Mr Frydenberg said the numerous cash rate cuts this year had greatly assisted borrowers through a difficult period.
"Well, someone with a $400,000 mortgage, which is about the average mortgage across the country, the combination of what we’ve seen from early this year to today's announcement when it’s come from down from about 75 basis points to just ten basis points, that’s worth about $1,000 a year to somebody with a mortgage of that size," he said.
But Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the RBA's cut demonstrated the government had not done enough to tackle the jobs crisis and support the economy.
"These extraordinary steps are a vote of no confidence in the Government’s JobFaker budget, announced less than a month ago," Mr Chalmers said.
"The RBA has been forced to enact its most radical program on record in response to the Morrison Government’s premature cuts to vital economic supports like JobKeeper during the worst recession in almost 100 years."
Mr Chalmers said the government seemed content to let the RBA do all of the heavy lifting.
"The Prime Minister has been slow to act during this crisis, and his Government’s deliberate decisions to exclude Australians from support mean the only lasting legacies of this crisis could be higher unemployment for longer and a trillion dollars of debt."
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