by Paul McBeth
Spring is still springing for the ANZ, which is launching a new home loan product to take advantage of this key real estate season.
The bank's Easy Start loan, available from this week, guarantees a lower floating rate for the first year than ANZ's regular floating rate product. However, borrowers must hold the loan for at least three years and they also need to appreciate that the rate can still change at any time in the first year (the deal is that it will be below the normal rate - not that it's fixed - for this initial period).
Easy Start's being launched with a rate of 7.7 per cent, compared with 8.5 per cent for the bank's regular floating rate loan.
The bank joins a bunch of its competitors in launching special deals in time for spring, traditionally the time when the housing market gets busy (see Westpac launches Redpac, and It's Spring!).
ANZ's also extending its QTAV promotion, which offered qualifying home loan customers 10,000 bonus Reward Points, until further notice. And it's got still more carrots in store, offering qualifying customers the chance to win one million bonus Reward Points - enough for a first class, round the world ticket. Loans have to be approved by December 8 and drawn down by the end of February 2001 (the competition will be drawn on June 30).