Steve Mickenbecker

The Reserve Bank released its monthly payments data for June, revealing that credit card balances incurring interest were down $1.6 billion for June, following a $1.9 billion decline in May and a $1.1 billion drop in...

Our view has always been that you should not leave Australia without travel insurance. There are all sorts of costs if something goes wrong overseas – lost baggage and cash, forfeited pre-paid accommodation and flights, and...

This is the text of a graphic in this story: Does your travel insurance cover coronavirus?  Canstar has set out (below) various scenarios travellers may face when it comes to insurance and coronavirus. It's important to...

Canstar supports calls for tougher reforms to better protect consumers from exploitation, and we also take the view that broader measures are needed. To coincide with the call for reforms, the alliance released a new report...

Opinion: Steve Mickenbecker, Group Executive Financial Services, Canstar The history speaks for itself, but it seems that it has been forgotten. Deeming rates were introduced in 1991 for the purpose of assessing the income means test for...

Opinion: Canstar Group Executive of Financial Services, Steve Mickenbecker That’s the equivalent of 40% of the people with super holding two or more accounts. But there are also the repeat offenders - the 1% of Australians...

Opinion: Canstar Group Executive of Financial Services, Steve Mickenbecker The royal commission made crystal clear during the course of hearings that it considered the behaviours exposed to be reprehensible. Its moral outrage was there for all...

The commission's year-long investigation and seven public hearings sought to understand what systemic, structural and cultural features have contributed, and grilled bank chief executives to unearth these underlying currents. Naturally the report, due for public release...

Opinion According to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the number of margin lending accounts pre-GFC peaked at almost 250,000 with an average loan-to-value ratio (LVR) of around 50%. Fast forward almost a decade to the...

Opinion In a climate where warnings of heightened risk in the property market are becoming commonplace, the reported financial stress level amongst post GFC first home buyers was refreshingly low. The problem with the RBA data,...