All too soon, it’s almost that time of the month again: the monthly meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia where a bunch of people vote on whether or not to raise the official cash rate or not. They’ve done it often enough lately, with five rate rises in less than a year – admittedly from a point where rates where tantalisingly low, but still. Every rise means we have to dig a bit deeper in our pockets to make our monthly mortgage repayments and that still hurts. Continue Reading »

Rising interest rates don’t just mean that the people with the mortgages and home loans have to pay more. Sometimes I forget that an interest rate rise has a flow on effect; it’s likely to start leading to rises in rental costs as well. Continue Reading »

It’s happened again. This week when I logged on to my bank account – I spent last week in limbo from the daily newspapers, in hospital having a baby (a fact which explains why this blog was quiet!) – that all-too familiar message appeared. Yes, the interest rate on my mortgage account had been raised again, and I am going to have to pay more this month in my repayment. Continue Reading »