National
Watch your spending: Standard Bank─── 05:28 Thu, 30 Jan 2014
Johannesburg - Consumers should adjust their spending following the SA Reserve Bank's (SARB) decision to hike the repo rate to 5.5 percent, Standard Bank said on Wednesday.
"Consumers are urged to look at their income and debt portfolios and adjust their consumption patterns," Standard Bank's head of personal banking Sugendhree Reddy said in a statement.
"Consumers are urged to look at their income and debt portfolios and adjust their consumption patterns," Standard Bank's head of personal banking Sugendhree Reddy said in a statement.
People were advised to begin reducing short-term debt, add extra to their savings accounts and, if possible, add more to their home loan account.
"It is not all doom and gloom. Consumers can also take advantage of savings rates that are likely to increase as a consequence of the repo rate hike," Reddy said.
The bank would increase its lending rates by 0.5 percent for new and existing clients from January 30.
The repo rate is the rate at which the SARB lends money to commercial banks. The hike in the repo rate, and subsequent increase in bank lending rates to nine percent, would make a R300,000 home loan cost an extra R96 month.
A R500,000 home loan would cost an extra R160 a month, and a R750,000 loan would cost R240 a month more. A R1 million would cost an extra R319 a month, while a R2 million home loan would cost an extra R638 a month.
Sapa
