Here's how Macquarie Bank has responded to the RBA's July cash rate hike

Source: Piotr Swat/Shutterstock.com.

Macquarie Bank has responded to this week’s Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cash rate hike by raising interest rates on its variable home loans, following on from CBA and ANZ, the first of the big four banks to do so. Here’s what it has announced, and what it could mean for home loan customers.

At its monthly meeting this week, the RBA raised the cash rate by 50 basis points to 1.35%. This was the third cash rate hike in as many months from Australia’s central bank. Last month, the RBA also raised the cash rate by 50 basis points, which at the time was the largest hike in 22 years.

Typically, when the RBA announces a rise in the cash rate, banks and other home loan lenders pass this on to customers in the form of interest rate rises. Macquarie is the first home loan lender outside of the big four banks to announce a rate hike after the RBA’s July cash rate call.

Readers, take note that home loan rate changes are often expressed in terms of ‘basis points’ – if you’d like to know more, you can read our explainer to find out about how basis points work.

Macquarie Bank home loan interest rate increase

In the wake of the RBA’s cash rate decision, Macquarie Bank has said that it will increase its variable home loan interest rates by 50 basis points with the change effective from 14 July 2022, so we crunched the numbers to find out how this could affect customers.

The table below shows Macquarie Bank’s current lowest variable home loan interest rate for a homeowner with a 20% deposit, along with the increase announced this week and when this increase will come into effect. It also shows what this rate change could mean for your monthly home loan repayments, and how much repayments have changed since the end of April, before the RBA’s initial cash rate hike last month.

Note that these calculations are based on a hypothetical owner-occupier home loan of $500,000 with an 80% loan-to-value ratio (LVR). Our calculations are based on the presumption of a 30-year home loan, with monthly principal and interest repayments, using the lowest variable rate on Canstar’s database from the lender in question.

	Lowest variable interest rate (5 July 2022)	Increase announced	Effective from	Increase to monthly repayments	Change to monthly repayments since 1 May 2022
Macquarie Bank	2.89%	50 basis points	14 July	$137	$294

Source: www.canstar.com.au, 6/7/2022. Current rates based on owner-occupier variable rates available for a loan amount of $500,000, 80% LVR and principal & interest repayments; including introductory rates but excluding first home buyer-only and green-only loans. Monthly repayment calculations based on a $500,000 loan repaid over a total of 30 years using principal & interest repayments. Lowest rates based on the lowest rate available from products that were also available before the May 2022 cash rate increase. Rates based on those available for new customers. Comparison rates calculated based on a loan amount of $150,000 and a loan term of 25 years. Read the Comparison Rate Warning.

Macquarie Bank savings and transaction account rate increases

In some good news for savers, Macquarie will increase the interest rates on its transaction accounts to match its ongoing savings account rates. Customers will be able to earn 1.75% on their transaction accounts on balances up to $250,000. Macquarie’s ongoing savings account interest rate will also increase to 1.75% p.a. on balances up to $250,000, with both new ongoing interest rates will be effective from 14 July 2022.

Macquarie has also announced that new customers will receive a welcome rate of 2.00% on their first savings account for the first four months on balances up to $250,000, effective 8 July 2022.

The bank has increased its six-month term deposit interest rate to 2.40% and one year term deposit interest rate to 3.25%, effective 6 July 2022, both for balances up to $1 million.

Cover image source: Piotr Swat/Shutterstock.com

This article was reviewed by our Sub Editor Tom Letts before it was updated, as part of our fact-checking process.

Alasdair Duncan

Content Editor

Alasdair Duncan is Canstar's Content Editor, specialising in home loans, property and lifestyle topics. He has written more than 500 articles for Canstar and his work is widely referenced by other publishers and media outlets, including Yahoo Finance, The New Daily, The Motley Fool and Sky News. He has featured as a guest author for property website homely.com.au.

In his more than 15 years working in the media, Alasdair has written for a broad range of publications. Before joining Canstar, he was a News Editor at Pedestrian.TV, part of Australia’s leading youth media group. His work has also appeared on ABC News, Junkee, Rolling Stone, Kotaku, the Sydney Star Observer and The Brag. He has a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Journalism from the University of Queensland.

When he is not writing about finance for Canstar, Alasdair can probably be found at the beach with his two dogs or listening to podcasts about pop music. You can follow Alasdair on LinkedIn.