{"id":23222,"date":"2026-08-05T20:43:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mortgagecrushers.com.au\/?p=23222"},"modified":"2026-08-05T20:43:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:43:29","slug":"was-your-offset-account-flagged-in-the-asic-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mortgagecrushers.com.au\/?p=23222","title":{"rendered":"Was your offset account flagged in the ASIC investigation?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So it turns out some mortgage offset accounts haven\u2019t been working as intended, according to a recent investigation. Here\u2019s how to check if your home loan offset account has actually been helping you save.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Offset accounts are popular among Australian borrowers, with more than one-in-two (55%) home loans<\/a> now having an offset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If that sounds like you, chances are you may be concerned about a recent investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) that identified problems with some offset accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help relieve any worries you may have, we reveal the banks ASIC reviewed, the main problem areas, and what you can do to be sure your offset account is helping you save on loan interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How home loan offsets work<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

An offset account<\/a> is an everyday transaction account linked to your home loan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The offset account typically works like a normal account, letting you make deposits and withdrawals any time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But instead of earning interest on the offset account, the balance of the account is deducted from \u2013 or \u2018offset\u2019 against \u2013 your mortgage when loan interest is calculated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if you have $600,000 remaining on your mortgage, and $50,000 sitting in the offset account, loan interest charges will be calculated on $550,000 rather than $600,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As your loan repayments stay the same, more of each repayment goes towards paying down the loan, rather than paying interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this way, an offset account can help you clear the home loan slate sooner, and reduce the total interest you pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What ASIC found<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As a mark of how popular offset home loans are, homeowners currently have around $349.1 billion sitting in offset accounts<\/a> \u2013 a figure that\u2019s risen 28% in the past two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This growth prompted ASIC to look at how offset accounts are managed across eight lenders<\/a> \u2013 AMP Bank, ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, Macquarie Bank, ING Bank, HSBC and Credit Union Australia (now Great Southern Bank<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, these lenders make up about 70% of the mortgage market<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ASIC\u2019s review picked up several issues, but the majority (55%) of issues identified related to unlinked offset accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where an offset account was opened, but never linked<\/a> to the borrower\u2019s home loan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means affected borrowers paid more in loan interest than they should have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, a further 22% of issues identified related to offset accounts not being opened when they should have been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are banks doing to fix the problem?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Lenders have already paid over $55 million in customer compensation<\/a> for offset account failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ASIC expects more compensation to be paid following its review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, ASIC has put all lenders on notice to sharpen their systems, and has warned it will continue to monitor offset accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can you do?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The ASIC report didn\u2019t say exactly how many home loans were affected by offset account failures, nor did it say which of the eight lenders had the poorest track record.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the Australian Banking Association says problems were identified in \u201cjust hundreds\u201d of the loans<\/a> reviewed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, that may be cold comfort if you\u2019re affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that there are simple steps you can \u2013 and should \u2013 take to check if your offset account is working as it should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A quick check is especially important if your loan has recently changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ASIC found problems with offset accounts were most likely to occur when a homeowner refinanced their loan or came off a fixed rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point, the link to an offset account can be broken, and you may need to contact your bank to re-set the link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to check if your offset account is working<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To check if your offset account is linked to your loan<\/a>, login to your banking app or online banking portal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click on your home loan account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then look for a section named \u2018Manage\u2019, \u2018Offset Accounts\u2019, or \u2018Account Details\u2019. This should show the account number of your linked account\/s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, take a look at your latest home loan statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may display the account number of your linked offset account\/s alongside the loan details, or in the section showing how loan interest was calculated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are unsure, contact us and we\u2019ll help you confirm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re here to help<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

An offset account can help you save on interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it may not be right for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Call us to decide if an offset account could meet your needs, or if a standard loan may be a more suitable choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disclaimer:<\/strong> The content of this article is general in nature and is presented for informative purposes. It is not intended to constitute tax or financial advice, whether general or personal nor is it intended to imply any recommendation or opinion about a financial product. It does not take into consideration your personal situation and may not be relevant to your circumstances. Before taking any action, consider your own particular circumstances and seek professional advice. This content is protected by copyright laws and various other intellectual property laws. It is not to be modified, reproduced or republished without prior written consent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So it turns out some mortgage offset accounts haven\u2019t been working as intended, according to a recent investigation. Here\u2019s how to check if your home loan offset account has actually been helping you save.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mortgagecrushers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mortgagecrushers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mortgagecrushers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mortgagecrushers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mortgagecrushers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mortgagecrushers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23224,"href":"https:\/\/mortgagecrushers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23222\/revisions\/23224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mortgagecrushers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mortgagecrushers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mortgagecrushers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mortgagecrushers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}