Support for home loan customers

CBA will make payments to support customers who have been granted a six month deferral to offset interest on interest costs during the six month deferral period.

This follows the announcement on 20 March 2020, that CBA will make repayment deferrals available for all home loan customers that request support.

Group Executive Retail Banking Services, Angus Sullivan, said the Bank is committed to supporting Australian households that have been financially affected by the coronavirus.

“When a home loan repayment is deferred for six months, interest is calculated and added to the loan balance each month which can result in customers paying interest on interest each month.

“To support more Australians, we will make a one-time payment to all customers who are receiving a home loan deferral because of the coronavirus.

“This means for an average loan of $350,000, CBA will be refunding approximately $45 to offset the effect of interest on interest over the six month period. Customer payments will vary based on their loan amount and interest rate.”

Support for credit card customers

Due to the coronavirus, we also recognise that some of our credit card customers have been unable to make their minimum credit card repayment on time in March.

As a result, for any customer that missed their credit card minimum repayment in March, we will automatically be refunding their late fees and interest for the month of March.

“This support is focused on customers who are finding it difficult to meet their current commitments before further Government stimulus arrives in April and May,” said Mr Sullivan.

Retail customer support

Today’s announcement follows a range of measures announced by Commonwealth Bank to provide support to retail customers.

  • Offering existing and new home loan customers the ability to defer loan repayments for six months, providing up to $10 billion of support in total for customers with small business or home loans;
  • 70 bps interest rate reduction for home loans with one, two and three year fixed terms to 2.29% – our lowest ever – and available to both new and existing owner-occupiers on principal and interest repayments with a Wealth Package;
  • 60 bps interest rate increase on 12-month term deposits for personal customers to 1.70% p.a., which is 1.45% above the RBA’s official cash rate;
  • Changes to home loan repayments which will improve cash flows by approximately $300 million for Australian households each month.