Wait, 300k Qantas points are worth how much?

"The mortgage wars are back — and banks are bribing you with everything from Qantas points to cash", read the front page of the newspaper this week.

Hmmm. Really?

Look, I've been doing this job for way too long, so let me give it to you straight:

With rates falling, and property prices heating up (thanks in part to Albo loading first home buyers into the 5% deposit mincer), the banks want to write more mortgages.

CBA hit the front page with an offer of 300,000 Qantas Frequent Flyer Points. Which sounds amazing ... until you realise that 300,000 points is worth, at best, $3,000 (or at worst, a TV on the Qantas rewards website).

Meanwhile, ANZ and others are just offering cold hard cash — $2,000 to $4,000 — to lure new customers away from brokers and through their own doors.

So what's really going on? Picture the big four banks as my older kids in a backyard wrestle, confident, established, used to winning. Then along comes Macquarie Bank, (played by my scrappy 4 year old son who doesn't play by the rules).

And right now? Macquarie is winning, signing up a staggering 4 in 10 new mortgages.

How?

Well, they've worked out that customers don't want complexity, they want simple applications, transparent pricing, and fast approvals. (They're doing the same with their banking and high-interest savings accounts, offering some of the sharpest deals around).

Yet here's the thing: Macquarie didn't get the nickname the "Millionaires Factory" by playing nice forever. Once they’ve got you pinned, they’ll go straight for your crown jewels — in this case, by jacking up the rates.

So what does that leave us Barefooters?

Well, according to ASIC's MoneySmart, right now the average home loan for owner-occupiers is 5.68%. If you're paying more than that (and you're in decent financial shape) you should be able to negotiate a better deal and save at least a few grand.

So the next time you find yourself on the throne, open your bank app and check your rate. If you're paying over the odds, find the negotiation script in my book (it's generally found in most Aussie bathrooms), or just get ChatGPT to write you one.

Now that's a royal flush.

Tread Your Own Path!