Competition is heating up in the mortgage market, with offers of holidays and free phones.
TSB is offering a deal involving a fixed rate of 4.49 percent for two years, with a 32GB Samsung Galaxy S6.
Kiwibank is offering a two-year fixed rate of 4.59 percent, with travel and accommodation for two to Rarotonga. But applicants need a minimum deposit of 20 percent. Their income must be paid i3nto Kiwibank. Welcome Home Loans with deposits of 10 percent are also eligible.
Mortgage adviser Bruce Patten says people should consider how the banks are funding these offers –in other words nothing is for free.
You might find you are funding the holiday or the phone through a higher interest rate.
Other banks I checked with said they would not be offering these sorts of promotions. But they all said they would be offering competitive interest rates.
The banks are coy about helping with break fees. But on a case-by-case basis they may help with break fees or make some sort of cash contribution.
Many of the offers in the market right now involve switching accounts to the new bank. In some cases the banks will waive fees for applicant's bank accounts and credit cards. Those waived fees can also make a difference.
Mr Patten says that despite all this Kiwibank's holiday offer is a very clever marketing ploy and nothing has really been done like this before that he can remember.
But he says cash is king and most people would opt for a better rate and cash rather than the holiday or phone.
The US and European markets were heavily sold off on Friday (Saturday morning New Zealand time), following the Federal Reserve's decision to hold US rates at near zero levels.
A rate hike was always going to be a 50-50 call. In fact, a majority of analysts were leaning toward the Fed keeping the Fed Fund rate between zero and 0.25 percent.
But the reality has unsettled the markets.
Fed chair Janet Yellen said the global economy, the strong US dollar and low inflation were all reasons for postponing what would have been the first US rate increase in nine years.
The Fed said that the US economy is improving. But inflation remains low.
Germany's DAX lost 3 percent, France's CAC 40 fell 2.56 percent and London's FTSE was down 1.34 percent.
On Wall Street the Dow Jones industrial average lost 1.74 percent, the broader S&P500 fell 1.62 percent and the tech heavy Nasdaq was down 1.36 percent.
The Fed believes the US economy will grow by 2,1 percent this year. It cut its forecast for next year to 2.3 percent( from 2.5 percent).
Thirteen Fed officials see a rate hike occurring later this year and three think it might not happen until next year. One thinks it will be 2017 before there is a hike.
A big reason for the low inflation rate is the weak oil price. Oil prices could fall even further when Iran resumes supplying the international market.
Weak wage growth is another factor that is keeping inflation at modest levels.
Firms are generally only increasing wages by the rate of inflation. So with only modest wage increases many people do not have a lot of spare cash. This means they are careful with their spending. That forces firms to be careful with price increases. With margins tight firms have to be careful about increasing their workers' pay. And so on and so on.
West Texas crude oil prices fell 4.7 percent on Friday to US$44.68.
Partly it was the uncertainty caused by the Fed. But it was also new data showing that drillers are putting plans for new rigs on hold.
European Brent oil was down 4 percent to US$47 barrel.
The New Zealand dollar is trading at around 64 US cents this morning, after rising 1.4 percent last week.
The Kiwi starts the week against the Australian currency largely unchanged from a week ago, at 88.96 cents.
It is trading at 41.20 Pence and 76.85 Yen.
The Kiwi performed well against the against the Euro, rising 1.7 percent for the week, to trade at 56.74 Euro cents this morning.
The ratings for this morning's All Blacks – Argentina match have not been release yet.
But the audiences will be strong if this morning's electricity use is anything to go by.
Auckland power company Vector says its control room saw "a noticeable rise in demand shortly after 3:45am".
It says Auckland's electricity consumption was up 16 megawatts from the same time last week.
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