Did you know you may be eligible for a Repayment Holiday on your variable home loan?
A Repayment Holiday is when you’ve built up enough buffer with your funds (available redraw) from making extra repayments on your home loan. This buffer allows you to stop or reduce the amount of loan repayments as the available redraw can cover your scheduled home loan payments.
Our Repayment Holiday option enables you to take a break from your mortgage loan repayments for up to six months and gives you more flexibility to suit changes to your lifestyle, whether they're planned or unplanned. It allows you to free up funds to use as you wish - to take a holiday or purchase a large item.
By drawing down on the advanced status of your loan for the holiday period at its completion you will simply return to your scheduled repayments.
Case Study
Graham and Belinda took out a home loan three years ago to purchase their home. Over the last two years they have been paying more than their required repayment amount every fortnight. Consequently, the extra funds have built up over time and now they have a substantial amount of advanced funds (over repayments) sitting in their home loan.
Belinda is now pregnant and plans to take nine months maternity leave, however her job will only pay her for three months. Graham and Belinda want to maintain a similar level of income after Belinda has the baby, so they contact us and arrange to put their home loan repayments on hold for six months once the baby is born. During that time we'll use the extra amount in their advances to deduct the home loan repayments. So, after the six months, the total pool of available advances will be less.
It's important that during the six month Repayment Holiday period Graham and Belinda don't make any significant redraws. If they do it may mean that they'll need to increase their fortnightly repayments when the Repayment Holiday is over, in order to repay the loan within the agreed term.
View All Home Loans
Two Unity Bank employees, Erika and Issac, had the opportunity to attend and represent Unity Bank at the 2023 Trundle Bush Tucker Day on 2 September 2023. It is a beloved Australian festival for the whole family to enjoy.
Read about Erika’s experience:
“Issac Theobald, myself with my husband tagging along as a driver, went out to be a part of the Trundle Bush Tucker Day event. This was held at the Trundle Showground arena.
The weather put on a spectacular show, which encouraged good participation from many in the community.
They had live entertainment on the centre stage with various singers throughout the day, and vendor stalls were positioned to create an alleyway moving down towards the centre stage. The type of vendors participating in the festivities included local blacksmiths, metal garden art stalls, country clothing and bootwear, and a group of arts and craft stalls selling homemade food items and kitchen apparel.
Along the perimeter of the showground, large fire pits were being manned to provide stations for the bush ovens where various bush tucker recipes were being cooked, along with some smaller ground oven pits with large pots offering a variety of dishes.
They also had the Australian National Female whip cracking champion who had just returned from the World Championships where she was placed 3rd. She had whip-cracking displays throughout the day, entertaining the crowds. She was amazing and very skilled at her craft.
Adult ticket price was set at $50 a single ticket with $5 for children under 16yrs. All profit funds for the day were to be distributed back into the Trundle Community, supporting local groups such as Trundle Men’s Shed, Trundle Pony Club, and the Country Women’s Association groups in Trundle.
I had two local community members approach me to tell me how much they appreciated having Unity Bank in their community, noting the distances they would need to travel to do their banking if we were not in town.
Supporting events like the Trundle Bush Tucker Day gives weight to our commitment to smaller rural communities.”
If you would like to find out more about Trundle Bush Tucker Day, visit their Facebook page.
We are urging our Members to be cautious of investments promised via Facebook Marketplace.
Scammers via Facebook Marketplace use a variety of tactics to manipulate buyers and sellers of the platform, often disguising themselves as one or the other. These scammers often send emails or text messages that reflect an investment scheme asking you to click on a link to find out more.
Possible scenario
Fake emails are sent to Marketplace sellers that look like they’re from a payment service such as PayPal confirming a payment has been made for the product you are selling. However, no payment has been made, and the scammer has received the product for ‘free’.
How to protect yourself from this type of scam
Take time to read suspicious emails or text messages (scammers often use urgency as a tactic to trick you into giving money or personal information).
Check the email thoroughly (these emails often mention a problem that needs a solution quickly). Check the facts and details before taking action.
Do not send any personal data or information (often these scammers use profile pictures of employees in a familiar business to convince you of their legitimacy).
If you believe you have been scammed, call us immediately on 1300 36 2000.
Seniors are being targeted by scammers through a fake website requesting money and multiple forms of personal identification. In some instances, scammers are calling the elderly and offering the discount card and asking for personal information over the phone.
How this scam works
Fake websites/cold phone calls claiming to supply senior discount card membership for a fee.
Fraudulent websites are charging around $29 (application processing fee) for the discount card and allege to be “officially approved”.
Scammers steal personal information and use this on other platforms to commit identify fraud.
What to look out for
Seniors card membership is free of charge and so seniors should never be asked to pay a membership or application fee.
If you are being asked for bank, credit card, PayPal details (or any other personal information) in exchange for membership then this is a scam.
Top tips to avoid scams
STOP – take your time before providing any personal information.
THINK – ask yourself if the message could be fake?
PROTECT – act quickly if something feels wrong. If you have provided information, contact IDCARE (on 1800 595 160) and report scams to Scamwatch.
Alternatively, call us immediately on 1300 36 2000.
Winter sunshine flooded Longmuir Playing Fields on in July for the annual CFMEU Miner’s Cup rugby league shield primary school carnival, where close to 350 young players turned out for a day of fun competition. Unity Bank along with Westfund and Mine Super are supporters of the Gala Day and went along to show their support for the local communities with showbags for all the participants.
St Xavier’s School, Gunnedah, claimed the coveted shield, with a quinella in the open boys’ division won by the Dragons team, with the Eels runners-up.
The league tag championship went to Gunnedah South Public School, with a team from Walgett Community College Primary School the runners-up in their debut performance at the carnival. The Player of the Day Kerry Dennis played her heart out for Walgett, where the team left at 5am to make it in time for the carnival. Organiser Ross Whittaker was pleased with the number of players turning out for a day of league in perfect weather.
We had at least 100 more players than last year and apart from a break during COVID, the competition has been running for about 30 years,” he said.
The original concept was to give small schools especially the chance to enjoy a gala day with the opportunity to field a team by combining players from nearby small schools.
Special thanks must go to the Mining & Energy Union, Unity Bank, Westfund and Mine super plus all associated sponsors who make this day possible every year.”
Representatives from the Westpac Rescue Helicopter were on hand during the day, to remind spectators of its value in a crisis. “When there has been an accident there is no better sound than the sound of a chopper flying in to help,” Ross said. “The Mining and Energy Union members contribute more than a million dollars to the chopper each year through workplace contributions with a further million dollars donated by other means.” Players came from Werris Creek, Bingara, Barraba, St Michael’s Manilla, Narrabri, Gunnedah Public, Gunnedah South, St Xavier’s, Walgett, Boggabri and for the first time Carinya Gunnedah fielded a team. Every player received a Steedon football, courtesy of NSW Country League, with the winners awarded trophies and the runners-up a medallion.
A great day was had by all participants and everyone is looking forward to next year where they will strive to take out the CFMEU Miner’s Cup rugby league shield 2024.
Story provided by Marie Hobson – Gunnedah Times
Budgeting is something that many of us don't like to consider as we think it will tie us down. But if you really stop and think about it, budgeting is simply a means of looking at your income and expenditure and deciding on what is most important to you. Once you identify what you want to achieve, a budget is a tool to help you get there.
Tracking your spending
Where does all my money go? Very few people can answer this question accurately. Learning how and where you spend your money is the first step in managing your finances.
Keep a financial diary
Select a defined time period eg a month or 4 weeks;
Record all of your spending in a notebook, create as many categories as you need e.g. petrol, lunch, transport etc;
Ensure you include small items such as snacks, drinks, parking meters, tolls, donations etc;
At the end of the month, use the category totals as part of your annual budget;
You may choose to look for any spending that was spontaneous, wasteful or a luxury that you could do without in the future.
How to curb impulse buying
Next time you are tempted by an unplanned purchase, ask yourself:
Do I really need it?
Will I really use it?
Will I still like it next month/next year?
Is the price likely to be reduced at an end-of-season sale?
If I don't buy it now, do I want it so much that I will make a special trip later to come back and buy it?
Planning a budget
A budget can help you plan your expenses and save for things you want.
Managing credit or simply covering expenses is not always easy but following these steps will help you control your finances:
Add up your earnings each week (or fortnight or month)
Subtract regular payments or basic expenses;
Rent or mortgage repayments;
Food and household needs;
Utilities (phone/electricity/water);
Transport expenses (travel passes, petrol, car registration, maintenance);
Health needs;
Insurance (health, house, car, travel etc)
You should include yearly expenses such as car registration and insurance in your budget. You can divide these totals by 52 for the amount to budget for each week (or divide by 26 for the amount to budget each fortnight or by 12 if your budget is calculated on a monthly basis).
Subtract regular payments for lifestyle bills and expenses:
Entertainment;
Clothing;
Personal grooming;
Home appliances
If you are not sure as to how much you spend; either make an estimate and review it after 3 months; or consider tracking your spending for a month.
Allocate additional funds to cover
Loan repayments;
Additional superannuation contributions
The amount of money that is left can be used to buy things that you want or to save.
Online budget calculator
To help you plan your budget, you can utilise our budget calculator which takes into consideration all of your general expenses and gives you an idea as to how much you could save. Check our online calculators here.
Saving
Saving may appear to be difficult and disciplined, but think of the feeling of being able to afford to buy something you have wanted for a long time. Here are some tips to help you on your way.
Set yourself a savings target
Aim to save 10% of your gross annual income. This breaks down to 5% for short-term goals and 5% for long-term goals.
Tip - the 10% rule
If you've never been a successful saver before, start off slowly. Leave committing to medium or long-term goals for a while until you're confident a saving strategy is within your reach.
Set yourself one short-term goal - perhaps 3 months away - that requires only a small amount of cash;
Then set aside 10% of your income each week in a separate savings account;
At the end of 3 months, withdraw the cash to pay for your small goal - perhaps a weekend away or a new piece of clothing - and if there is any money left over make that the first instalment in your next savings goal.
Develop a safety buffer
The key to successful money management is to put funds aside during the good times and to minimise financial stress during bad times. Remember to allow for unexpected debts and emergencies e.g. illness in the family, loss or breakage of possessions, career interruptions etc.
Tip - how much is enough?
Singles and couples should consider developing an emergency fund equal to 2 months take-home pay in case of retrenchment or emergencies.
Those with young families should aim to build up an emergency fund equal to 3 months take-home pay.
Quick budget reminders
Don't make your budget so tight that it's impossible to keep;
A budget is not set in stone. It is there to help, not hinder you. A sign of a successful budget is one that is flexible during tough times and able to reward you when your prospects are brighter;
If you blow your budget one month, try to make up for lost finance in areas that are more flexible e.g entertainment or eating out;
Revisit your budget every 3 months to see if there are any areas you can tighten up to improve your financial flow.
Explore a Range of Savings Accounts for Your Financial Goals - Learn more.
