Rate cuts and loan repayment pauses
The Reserve Bank of Australia dropped interest rates to further historic lows last week to help the Australian economy respond to COVID-19.
Banks responses have been mixed in terms of what they passed on to their customers.
The big four banks made cuts to their fixed home loan rates. ANZ also made a 15 basis point cut to its standard variable rate, reported Mozo.
Thank banks also announced support for home loan customers and business customers who had lost income as a result of economic impacts from the virus. These include options to pause home loan repayments for up to 6 months, as well as pauses for business borrowers too.
Help for renters
The government is also working on a relief package for Aussie renters who find themselves in financial difficulty.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison told a press conference in Canberra last Friday that help for tenants was coming but details were still being finalised, reported news.com.au.
“Further work will be done on identifying how relief can be provided for tenants in both commercial and residential tenancies to ensure that in hardship conditions, there will be relief available,” Mr Morrison said.
“That work will be done by states and territories… to bring back some model that can be applied in hardship cases.”
Boosts for local businesses and workers
If you’ve never been a big fan of Facebook now is bold time to jump into it. It is rife with COVID-19 misinformation and toilet paper memes. But amongst it all, you will find a treasure trove of local community groups that are doing their bit to support local businesses and workers survive and thrive.
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