Rachel Slade, who heads up NAB’s personal banking arm, said measures for credit cards and personal loans also showed continued resilience.

Loading

“Unsecured lending is often the spot where we’d see stress start to emerge early,” Slade said, noting that banks were less able to monitor the use of alternative financing including buy-now-pay-later which could show more pain.

Australia’s fourth-largest bank ANZ is also yet to see substantial stress among mortgage holders and credit card users, the bank’s chief executive Shayne Elliott said.

“Most Australians are significantly ahead of their home loan obligations,” Elliott said, adding that 70 per cent were ahead on repayments.

Elliott said most home buyers didn’t borrow to their maximum capacity, and that because of a stress test banks apply when assessing borrowers, mortgage holders, particularly those who were on fixed rates, were generally faring well.

Loading

“People who faced the mortgage cliff are actually less stressed than the average customer,” Elliott said. “It seems counterintuitive, but those customers expected it, prepared for it and have budgeted to continue to meet obligations.”

Customer fairness advisor Evelyn Halls said only six of every 1000 dollars in ANZ’s Australian home loans portfolio was overdue by more than 90 days.

Elliott said the delinquency rate for ANZ’s credit card users was lower than for mortgage delinquencies. “The good news is people aren’t dipping into their credit cards to survive,” he said. ANZ’s credit card debt has remained unchanged from 2002, according to Elliott, who said customers were using credit cards as a transaction tool rather than relying on them as a buffer.

While customers have cut down on spending, Elliott said savings remained robust. “Our retail deposit levels continue to rise, they’re saving at record levels,” he said. “But there’s more white-label brand buying, people are cutting back on discretionary items like health club subscriptions, and they’re making adjustments to cope.”

Elliott also acknowledged that the bank’s customers were not representative of the financial health of the country overall. “Our customer base does skew towards the better off, that’s just the way banks work,” he said.

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.