Mortgage calculator use up +17%: ASIC

The extra 215,711 users helped contribute to overall usage of ASIC’s Moneysmart calculators and other resources — designed to “assist Australians with day‑to‑day money management” — which received 6.5 million visits, the financial services regulator confirmed.

Touted as “…a trusted source of information for consumers and investors” and a “…starting point for the many financial decisions people make every day”, in FY22 one in every two Australian adults visited the Moneysmart website and engaged with Moneysmart messages via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, according to ASIC.

This year, 2.8 million Australians visited Moneysmart when planning for their financial future, while content on investing and making an investment plan received 1,584,000 views.

The compound interest calculator was used 1,126,000 times and the budget planner was accessed no less than 660,000 times.

Notably, the retirement calculator was used 72,000 times and information on setting a savings goal was accessed by 198,000 people. 

A change of perspective over 12 months

For comparison, in the prior FY21, ASIC had highlighted that the Moneysmart COVID‑19 information hub continued to help Australians understand where to seek additional support when experiencing hardship and managing changes to their financial circumstances. As at 30 June 2021, the hub had received 532,635 page views.

The COVID‑19 pandemic “Accessing your super” web page had received 132,594 visits and 26 per cent of visitors to the page had used the super withdrawal estimator to assess the impact of early access on their retirement savings.

Views of content on “Urgent help with money” reached 240,510 page views, an increase of 145 per cent from the previous (FY20) year.

FY21’s usage of the Moneysmart mortgage calculator also saw an increase from the previous year by 29 per cent, reaching 1,212,289 users.

Visitation to information on loans and investing contributed to this increase, with page views on “No or low interest loans” up by 33 per cent to 89,713 views, and page views on “Payday loans” having increased by a sizeable 88 per cent to 99,357 views.

Page views on “Investing” content had increased also by 7 per cent to 2,536,831 views.

The start of 2022’s rising rate environment

The last two months of FY22 saw the first of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) current spate of cash-rate increases.

In May, the RBA board increased the cash rate target by 25 bps to 35 bps, and in June by 50 bps to 85 bps.

Such rising cash rates to combat inflation plus a strong property market at the time contributed to increased usage of ASIC’s mortgage calculator in FY22.

[Related: Borrowers reviewing mortgages in droves following rate hikes]