News

Australian Military Bank Interest Rate Announcement

Following the announcement by the RBA to lift the cash rate on 2 August 2022, Australian Military Bank will be making changes to a number of loan and deposit products.

Variable home and investment loan interest rates (including DHOAS) will be increasing by 0.50% p.a. effective 17 August 2022. This will apply to all new and existing variable rate loans.  Members with a change to repayments will receive communication confirming their new repayments.

Effective today, 5 August, we have increased our term deposits and DIY Super Saver rates. This includes a 24 month term deposit offer of 3.40%. Our DIY Super Saver Account has increased by 0.50% to 1.65%. Additionally, a further increase was applied to Online Saver accounts on 1 August, where the bonus rate increased by 1.00% (0.50% higher than previously announced). This takes the maximum rate that can be earned on this account (including bonus) to 2.20%.  

These increases to deposit rates allow us to continue support our members who rely on interest income.

We understand that the number of consecutive interest rate increases has been challenging for borrowers. We encourage our members who may be experiencing difficulty in meeting their repayments to contact us on 1300 13 23 28 to discuss how we can assist.

Australian Military Bank Interest Rate Announcement

 

Following the announcement by the RBA to lift the cash rate on 5 July 2022, Australian Military Bank will be making changes to a number of loan and deposit products.

Variable home and investment loan rates (including DHOAS) will be increasing by 0.50% p.a. effective 27 July 2022. This will apply to all new and existing variable rate loans.

We are also announcing increases to our term deposits and DIY Super Saver to be effective from 13 July. This includes a 12 month term deposit offer of 2.60%. Our DIY Super Saver Account will increase by 0.50% to 1.15%.

Our Online Saver bonus rate will also increase by 0.50% on 1 August to allow for a maximum rate of 1.70% to be received by members on this account.

Chief Executive Officer, Darlene Mattiske-Wood, said “Whilst making a decision to increase interest rates for borrowers is never easy, as a member owned organisation we need to balance the needs of our members with both loans and deposits.”

“Our decision to increase interest rates on deposit accounts helps us support those members that rely on interest income. At the same time, we acknowledge that with three consecutive months of increases to official interest rates, many borrowers are seeing their mortgage costs materially increase. We assure our members that we are here to support you through these changes.”

We encourage our members who may be experiencing difficulty in meeting their repayments to contact us on 1300 13 23 28 to discuss how we can assist.

Australian Military Bank Interest Rate Announcement

Following the recent announcement by the RBA to lift the cash rate, Australian Military Bank will be making changes to a number of lending and deposit products. 

Variable home and investment loan rates (including DHOAS) will be increasing by 0.50% p.a. effective 23 June 2022. This will apply to all new and existing variable rate loans.

Chief Executive Officer, Darlene Mattiske-Wood, said “As a member-owned organisation, Australian Military Bank seeks to balance the needs of all members when making decisions on interest rates. These changes continue to see the Bank deliver value to both savers and borrowers within our membership base.” 

We are also announcing increases to our term deposits of up to 0.70% to be effective from 15 June 2022. Our maximum term deposit interest rate will now be 2.50% for terms greater than 19 months.

Our Online Saver bonus rate will also increase by 0.50% on 1 July 2022 to allow for a maximum rate of 1.20% to be received by members on this account.

“Our term deposit rates are now amongst the market leaders, providing savers who have had to battle in a low interest rate environment with some much-needed relief. At the same time, we acknowledge the increasing costs for borrowers, and assure our members that we are here to support you through these changes.” 

We encourage our members who may be experiencing difficulty in meeting their repayments to contact us on 1300 13 23 28 to discuss how we can assist.

Australian Military Bank Interest Rate Announcement

Following the recent announcement by the RBA to lift the cash rate, Australian Military Bank will be lifting variable home and investment loan rates by 0.25% p.a. effective 20 May 2022.

Chief Executive Officer, Darlene Mattiske-Wood said: “As a mutual bank owned entirely by its members, Australian Military Bank has worked hard to retain lending rates at the lower end of the market for as long as possible."

“This decision comes as the industry and Australian Military Bank experience significant increases to funding costs. This benefits many of our members who rely on the income from term deposits, such as veterans and RSL sub-branches, however does mean that some of our members, including our significant membership of first home buyers, will be experiencing their first increase to repayments since taking out their loan. Given the buffers that we place on affordability before providing loans, we are confident that our members will be able to meet these increased obligations.”

"This decision is not made lightly and in the current highly competitive environment, we must ensure sustainability for the entire membership so that we can continue to support all of our members and the wider Defence community.”

Australian Military Bank is here to support our members through this change. We encourage our members who are experiencing difficulty in meeting their repayments to contact us on 1300 13 23 28 to discuss how we can assist.

Scam warning for our members

Scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, potentially displaying different phone numbers or email addresses to those that they are actually contacting you from (called ‘spoofing’). This means that you may receive a call from a trusted phone number (such as a bank) which is actually someone entirely different.

These scams often follow a similar procedure by asking to confirm your details. The scammer may also ask you to input passwords/passcodes into the key pad directly.

How you can protect yourself

Beware of suspicious calls and never give out your personal details. If you are unsure hang up and call us on 1300 13 23 28 to confirm the call is legitimate.

Australian Military Bank will never:

• call you from an international number
• ask for your Internet Banking login details or card details via phone or email
• use email to send you a link to an Internet Banking login page
• ask you to communicate your passwords to us where we have initiated the contact.

Be aware of scams and keep updated with the latest information from Scamwatch or on our Security Hub.

If you believe you have been targeted by a scam please contact us immediately on 1300 13 23 28.

Australian Military Bank kicks off campaign to support veterans displaced by floods

Australian Military Bank has launched a campaign supporting veterans that have been displaced by the floods. AMB is kicking off the campaign with an initial $20,000 to ‘Wounded Heroes’, the valuable support program that provides accommodation and other assistance in instances where veterans and their families have been displaced. Further to this, AMB will match donations made by Bank staff to this cause over March and April.

Australian Military Bank CEO, Darlene Mattiske-Wood, said “We understand that many veterans were already doing it tough, so we knew it was vital to support those that have been displaced by the floods.”

“Over 5% of ex-service men and women are expected to experience homelessness1 - around five times the civilian average. Floods create an additional burden on those that may already be struggling.”

Wounded Heroes support Veterans and their families in need in a number of ways, including providing food and temporary housing. The current flood crisis is proving yet another challenge that requires critical support.

Wounded Heroes President, Martin Shaw, said “We have seen elevated requests for assistance because of the floods, we’ll be able to use these funds to house over 30 veterans currently without a place to stay.”

You can show your support via the link below.

https://www.woundedheroes.org.au/donations 

If you are currently serving, a veteran or family member and in need of emergency assistance, you can contact Wounded Heroes on their crisis line at 1300 532 112.

Any Australian Military Bank members that are impacted by the floods are encouraged to contact AMB to see how we may assist you on 1800 855 810. For more information, please see our post here.

¹Source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1753-6405.13175 

Assistance for those impacted by the recent floods in Queensland and New South Wales

 

Financial assistance for members impacted by floods

Our thoughts are with those members and their families currently affected by recent weather events across Australia.

The effects of these floods and associated damage is wide-ranging and with potential financial impacts. If you are in financial difficulty due to the impacts of this flood disaster we encourage you to contact us as soon as possible to discuss how the Bank can assist you through this period on 1800 855 810.

How we can help

If you need assistance, we encourage you to contact us so we can understand your individual circumstances and how we can best support you. We may be able to offer financial hardship assistance to you if you are finding it difficult to make repayments on your loan. We encourage you to make contact as soon as possible on 1800 855 810 or via the “Hardship” link available on Internet and Mobile banking.

We can also discuss other options like early access to Term Deposits and waived fees and charges.

What you'll need to make a home and contents claim

If you'd like to make a claim or for any insurance queries please contact CGU Claims 24/7 on 13 24 80. For more information, please visit cgu.com.au/claims/home-claims.

Contact us
We are here to help our members. For general enquiries you can contact us via one of the options outlined;

General Enquiries
1300 13 23 28
Monday - Friday: 8:00am – 6:00pm Saturday: 9.00am - 12.00pm (All times AEST)
From Overseas: +61 2 9240 4122

Email Us
service@australianmilitarybank.com.au

Mail Us
PO Box H151, Australia Square, NSW 1215

Lost or Stolen Cards
1300 13 23 28 or call the VISA International Hotline specific to the country you are in

Update on branch closures

Members, please see our current branch updates below:

1. Garden Island Branch (NSW) is closed until 24/02/2022

For the latest information on branch closures, please check our Facebook page.

If you have any enquiries, our Member Service Centre is available from 8am - 6pm (AEST) Monday - Friday and 9am - 12pm (AEST) Saturday on 1300 13 23 28. Alternatively, you can email us at service@australianmilitarybank.com.au.

Welcome To The January 2022 Issue Of Communiqué

 

The past year has been one that lots of us will look back on as being rather memorable due to the pandemic. Thank you for trusting us as your banking service provider in 2021, and as we move into 2022, I extend a warm Happy New Year to you, our members, and to your families.

Our 62nd Annual General Meeting was held virtually on 24 November 2021 and my thanks to our Board, Executive and most importantly our members who participated in the meeting. Important amendments to the Bank’s constitution were passed including simplifying the process around how we treat inactive or dormant membership accounts.

AGM voting saw the re-election of myself and two Directors, Michael Crane and Sean FitzGerald. I thank our members for their vote and I look forward to the year ahead with Australian Military Bank. I would also like to thank Jonathan Sadleir, who has retired from the Board, for his contribution to the Bank over the last 3.5 years.

If any members wish to review our performance for the 2020-2021 financial year you can find our Annual Report consisting of our Year in Review and Annual Financial Report on our website.

John Brooks

Chair

 

Read full edition here or read the individual stories below:

CEO Message - January 2022

Remembrance Day 2021

Say no to Domestic Violence - HMAS Penguin

Military Rewards Charity in Profile: Mates4Mates

Supporting the Defence Community