NAB announces variable rate hike for all new customers

National Australia Bank, Australia's fourth largest bank, has announced it will be changing the special on its base variable rate from 3.69% to 3.87%.

Their shift to retain customers is a reaction to the tighter lending restrictions continuing to impact mortgage applications, which continue to slide.

NAB have shifted focus to maintaining their existing customers, which chief executive Andrew Thorburn said has put the bank in 'unchartered territory."

"The decision to stop chasing new business with aggressive discounts and to reward loyal customers has put the bank in uncharted territory after delivering a result that revealed further deterioration in its net interest margin," Thorburn said.

”The discount for the standard variable rate has continued to go up and up and up and up and so as the housing cycle has slowed that increases the pace and increases the intensity, it’s been a long-term trend and its got worse in the last two or three years."

From Friday 9 November, NAB’s Base Variable Rate Special Offer, which is available for new owner occupier principal and interest customers, will be 3.87%.

The change will only affect new customers taking out this product. This means existing customers will not experience a rate hike. 

From Friday, CBA will now have the lowest ongoing variable rate out of the big four banks.

RateCity.com.au research director Sally Tindall said over the last six months NAB has been "a champion of competitive pricing, forcing other lenders to put low rates on the table".

"It is rare to see a bank hike an interest rate but grant immunity to their existing customers. NAB is clearly focused on backing its own customers, over potential new ones," she said.

While NAB has stepped back from low rate loans, HSBC and CBA both cut their owner occupier principal and interest rates, with HSBC now offering 3.59%, and CBA now offering 3.79% for new customers with 70% equity in their home.