Banking products
Analysis
First-home buyers
Why first-time buyers are finding it harder to get a mortgage
More first home buyers are struggling to get their mortgage applications over the line with lenders.
- by John Collett
Latest
Graphic content
Domestic violence
Grieving mother vows to stop abusers profiting from victims’ deaths
Julie Adams says her beautiful, feisty daughter died after relentless and emotional, sexual, physical and financial abuse. She wants to stop it happening to others.
- by Claire Ottaviano
Australians have been short-changed billions. Now banks are being forced to change
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is unveiling changes to how banks inform their customers on everything from deposits to mortgage rates, so people can make better financial choices.
- by Shane Wright
‘Fatal consequences’: Social entrepreneur brings financial abuse battle to Perth
Catherine Fitzpatrick is taking on major institutions in a bid to eradicate the abuse she says lies at the root of a huge number of domestic violence situations.
- by Jesinta Burton
Should Australia have a new taxpayer-owned bank?
A Nationals-led Senate inquiry into bank branch closures has urged the government to investigate the establishment of a bank owned by taxpayers.
- by Clancy Yeates
Exclusive
Housing affordability
Banks open to overlooking student debt in home loans – but there’s a catch
The banks say it should be up to financial regulators to determine whether student debt gets special treatment in mortgage assessments.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos and Angus Thompson
BOQ profits stifled as inflation, higher funding costs shred margins
The bank unveiled a cash profit of $172 million in the six months to February 29, down 33 per cent compared to the first half of last year.
- by Sumeyya Ilanbey
Parliamentary inquiry to shine light on financial abuse
A parliamentary committee has launched an inquiry into the hidden problem of financial abuse in Australia, which has been described as a form of domestic violence that often goes undetected.
- by Colin Kruger
Analysis
Scams
$80 million in scams prevented as NAB rolls out new payment alerts
A new alert system from NAB has saved customers – including many desperate Swifties – a total of $80 million in potential scams.
- by John Collett
Bankwest to close all branches in digital-only move
Bankwest will disappear from WA streets by October as the Commonwealth Bank-owned brand closes 45 branches and switches to servicing its customers by digital means only.
- by Peter Milne
Opinion
Cash
How I found myself agreeing with cash king Bob Katter
Too many businesses are going cashless and it’s costing consumers. The banks and other payment providers, meanwhile, make a fortune from fees on card payments.
- by Caitlin Fitzsimmons