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Simplicity disrupts mortgage market with NZ's cheapest home loan rate of 2.95% for first time buyers

Published on 03/10/2019

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It's our 3rd birthday %) 

To celebrate, we're now offering first home loans charging just 2.95% interest.

How can we do it? It's simple. 

Currently, all our KiwiSaver and Investment funds have some investments in bank deposits.

The banks then lend those deposits as home loans, making huge profits.

By offering first home loans directly to our members, we're cutting out the middleman.

And because the interest paid to us by borrowers will be higher than bank deposit rates, returns to KiwiSaver and Investment funds should be higher.

And lending directly to our members will make their first homes easier to afford. 

For example, on a $600,000 mortgage, a first home borrower paying 1% lower interest saves $6,000 dollars in the first year, and could save almost $130,000 over the life of the mortgage.

This idea isn't new, it's been done this way for centuries by non-profit building and mutual societies. 

Simplicity Kiwisaver members who've been with us for a year, and qualify for a KiwiSaver First-Home withdrawal, can apply from November via a ballot. 

The features are:

  • Loans are for 30 years and have a floating interest rate. That means any or all of the principal can be paid off at any time, without penalties or break fees. 
  • We will lend up to 80% of the value of your first home, and loan repayments will need to be less than 30% of your combined after-tax take-home pay.

Check out our new home loan section here and our detailed FAQ section here.

We're NZ's fastest growing KiwiSaver plan, saving members almost $12 million a year in fees (an average of $384 per member) and giving over $40,000 a month to charity. 

And to celebrate our birthday we're also making our largest charitable donations ever, the details of which we'll share with you shortly.

Thanks for helping make our first three years a huge success %)  

Team Simplicity