As parents we all shed a tear and stress when our children leave home, but when two children decide to enter the real world at the same time it becomes manic.

Both my older children have taken up the Governments offer of the First Home Owners Grant. This is an amazing lift for any first home buyer- $24,000 if you build or buy a new home or $17,000 for an existing home. We never got this sort of opportunity.

Both of my children have taken the Companion Introductory Rate at 5.22%, which we found to one of the best in the market with no catches and made buying their first homes affordable. They have been able to insure their homes and have their life insurance taken care all by the one organisation. The process was all made so easy for them.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank Companion’s staff who has guided my children through this process with advice on loans, insurances and planning for their future. Thanks Companion you were listening to their needs,

A Grateful Mum

February 23rd, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

To determine if this is the case, you should decide what you need the loan product to do for you and also what fees are attached to the loan.

- Do you need to pay an annual fee to get the lower rate?
- Do you need to pay a monthly fee to get the lower rate?
- Is this a basic loan with “no frills” eg no redraw allowed, restricted on the amount that you can repay?
- Is this an introduction loan and if so, is it a fixed or a variable interest rate?
- What term is the introduction period?
- What interest rate or product will the loan revert to after the introduction period?
- What fees are payable up front?

These are just some of the questions you need to ask before determining the best loan for you and the result may well be that the loan with the lowest interest may not suit your needs.

Karen Cook
Branch Manager – Glendale

February 16th, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Companion recently advised our mortgage borrowers that the interest rate on their home loans was decreasing by half of one percentage point (or 50 basis points to use the financial jargon). This reduction was in response to the RBA’s easing in monetary policy last week by reducing the official “cash rate” by 100 basis points.

The reason we only reduced mortgage rates by 50 basis points is because that’s all we could afford!

Companion is basically in the business of financial intermediation – we attract deposits from members who wish to save or invest, in order to lend money to members that have a need to borrow. The difference between the interest we pay to our depositors and the interest we charge our borrowers is what we call our Interest Rate Margin or “Margin” for short.

And because of the current crisis affecting the global economy and the attempts by the RBA to reduce the impact on Australians of a world wide “recession”, our Margin at Companion has taken an absolute pounding over the past 4 to 5 months. This is primarily because a substantial part of our loan book is funded by Fixed Term Deposits, the majority of which will not reprice for 7 to 10 months from now. In other words, we are locked into paying some depositors an interest rate that was set last year, at a time when the RBA cash rate was 400 basis points higher than it is now. The speed with which the RBA has been cutting rates is unprecedented, reflecting the severity of this global economic meltdown, and compounding the affect on our Margin.

Companion is not alone in this Margin squeeze and in my view it is only a matter of time before other lenders like Companion have no option but to limit their rate decreases to something less than the RBA’s official cash rate movement, at least until margins return somewhere closer to normal.

Indeed in today’s Australian Financial Review, the Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Bank, Ralph Norris, has signalled that the CBA “is unlikely to pass on future interest rate cuts in full”. This announcement comes on the back of National Australia Bank’s CEO Cameron Clyde issuing the same warning in the press last week, saying that NAB would not be able to pass on future rate cuts in full because of the increase in the NAB’s cost of funds, which is squeezing their “margin”.

Unfortunately because of the size and impact of our margin squeeze, Companion has had to respond earlier than others, despite our absolute desire to do otherwise. Despite our action, in my view our mortgage products are still quite competitive relative to comparable products in the market.

Ray O’Brien
Chief Executive

February 12th, 2009 | 2 Comments »

‘FINANCIAL LITERACY’ – mention these two words to anyone that loves facts, figures, stats, graphs and maths and you will capture their attention but mention these two words to a

120 Year 9 High School Students placed in twelve groups of ten (& sometimes more) for a Careers Quest Day and just watch their eyes glaze over.

What’s Careers Quest and why would you talk to year 9 Students about Financial Literacy I hear you ask? Careers Quest is a programme run by Hunter Valley Youth Express where they invite Industry Representatives within the Local Community to come along to the High Schools and talk to the year 9 students about their chosen careers. Wish it had have been available when I went to High School but hey that was back in the Dark Ages!

Our spiel is aimed at the student’s level to gain their involvement, and we ask them questions as follows-

What is a TFN? How do you get one? Why do I have to give my TFN to my Employer? What is a BSB? Why is it important to know what it is? What would you think you would need a loan for? What happens if I loose my job and cannot pay my loan?

Our 15 minute blurb takes us down the road of CRAA or VEDA Check? What is it? What’s a Default? Why can’t I get a loan when I have a Default? And the one that gets the most response is “Do you know of someone with a really big mobile phone bill?” That’s enough to get anyone talking and they most certainly do know someone and usually proceed to tell the story. “Yeah I’ve got a friend who is in big trouble with his Mum & Dad!” Ah! So we have sparked some interest! Wow they have learnt something! How easy was that and they didn’t even realise they were being educated!

Maybe I’ve been to your school? Send me a blog if I have and let me know what you thought! Did you get the gist of it all OR do you still have a question? Is there something we can do to assist you at school level as a way of helping you in your chosen career? We are listening………………

Maree Henry

Branch Manager- Kurri Kurri

February 9th, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

This week I stumbled across an interesting article regarding Credit Union core values.

I found this article interesting in that the author has attempted to highlight the differentiators between Credit Unions and Banks through core values, a characteristic which has become an inherent part of the culture here at Companion Credit Union.

Companion Credit Union core values are:
- Integrity
- Exceptional Service
- Adaptability
- Passion
- Caring for People.

These core values were developed by our employees and influence all operational activities that underpin our core purpose – to act as ‘a financial Companion faithfully serving to advance member prosperity’. Each employee at Companion has a unique commitment to Companion’s purpose which is demonstrated through their dedication to exceptional customer service.

Denise Wymore (27 January 2009) replied to this article stating “I’ve always believed that corporations don’t have values, people do. I don’t care what they say – what they measure, manage and reward is what they truly value”

From a HR perspective, I think I can agree with Denise. At Companion, our values are not just a piece of paper or a poster on a wall! We reinforce and promote our core values by providing employees with the tools, resources and flexibility in employment they require to remain engaged and committed to exceptional member service. This not only demonstrates our commitment to our core values and members, but it demonstrates how much we value our employees!

How do you perceive organisational values? Do you think they are effective?

Angela Sparks
Human Resources

February 2nd, 2009 | 2 Comments »