New APRA Rules Won’t Affect Me, Right?

For most Australians the new rules imposed by APRA on banks regarding investment lending is really of no interest, and why should it be? If you don’t have an investment property then it won’t effect you, right? Well maybe not so fast.

It is worth checking how your loan has been set up in the first place, for example let’s say you owned a house, purchased a block of land, built a house and then moved into your newly built home only to sell the original house. Chances are the new home that you have built was set up as an investment loan and has never been changed over in the bank system to reflect the fact that it is no longer an investment.

This is where the problem lies, if that said loan is still on the bank system as an investment, you are about to receive a rude shock next time you check your interest rate as it has gone up recently in line with the new APRA regulations.

The moral of the story? Contact your bank or broker and get it checked and changed over to reflect the fact that you now live there, oh and keep an eye on what the bank is doing with your interest rate as often as possible, you never know when they are going to change it without your knowledge