You may be wondering why you can only start enjoying a reduced home loan rate in March, while a new borrower gets the lowered rate immediately.
The BOE group, which includes NBS Bank, Boland Bank and BOE, kicked off the latest round of interest rate cuts late last week, with a one percentage point cut in home loan rates to 21 percent.
The other banks followed suit with an announcement this week, but if you already have a loan, you may have to wait until March 8, before you get to enjoy a lower monthly instalment, depending on which bank granted you a loan.
If you took out your loan at Investec, you have to wait until March 8 before the new rate applies to your loan.
Absa, Standard Bank and Nedcor, the BOE group banks and Saambou Bank clients will enjoy the reduced rate from March 1, while FNB customers rates open the next day on March 2.
Ahead of all these banks when it comes to introducing new rates for customers as soon as possible, is niche player Mercantile Lisbon, where borrowers will enjoy the lower rate from Monday.
Ian Jones of First National Bank says the reason for the delay in implementing the adjusted rate for existing borrowers is two fold.
Firstly the bank has to restructure the funding of the loans and secondly, the bank is legally obliged to inform borrowers of any changes to their monthly instalments and it takes time getting the notices out to customers.
New loans, although granted immediately take time to be registered. This gives the bank time to put the funding for these loans in place before actually paying out the money.
* SA Home Loans, the newest entrant in the home loan market, is offering borrowers an interest rate of 18,4 percent.
This rate is based on the Banker's Acceptance rate (the interest rate paid by banks and big corporations, which can fluctuate daily) plus a 2,6 percentage point margin.
SA Home Loans is able to offer this rate through a funding mechanism known as securitisation.
HOME LOAN RATES
BASE HOME LOAN RATEEXISTING LOANS EFFECTIVE FROM
Absa Bank21%March 1
First National21%March 2
Investec21%March 8
Mercantile21%February 15
NBS/Boland/BOE21%March 1
Nedcor (Perm, Nedbank and People's Bank)21%March 1
Saambou21%March 1
Standard Bank21%March 1
SA Home Loans18,4%Immediate