Three brands, three different rates: St George and Bank of Melbourne to cut by 20 basis points

Westpac-owned St George Bank and Bank of Melbourne will pass on 20 basis points to variable mortgage holders from December 17.

The rate cuts mean all three banks will continue to maintain different variable rate settings.

St George Bank it will reduce its standard variable home loan rate by 0.20% to 6.49% per annum while Bank of Melbourne will reduce its standard variable rate to 6.40% per annum.

Yesterday Westpac announced its standard variable rate would reduce to 6.51% on December 17.

In a further move to differentiate the brands in the minds of consumers, Bank of Melbourne is promising to beat any advertised equivalent home loan rate of the big four anks if they take out a new home loan by 21 December.

“On average, Bank of Melbourne has been 15 basis points better than the majors, based on a $300,000 loan over the last 12 months,” said chief executive, Scott Tanner.

This is based on a comparison of a $300,000 loan and average packaged loan rates of Westpac, ANZ, CBA and NAB.