An offset account is available only with our Offset Home Loan product and is linked to your customer’s variable rate home loan account, with the following features and benefits:
The offset account offers the same flexibility as an everyday transaction account. The money in the offset account is offset daily against the balance of the variable rate home loan account, reducing the interest charged on the loan account. There are no minimum limits, so every dollar in the offset account will offset the balance of the home loan account it is linked to.
See Understanding home loan offset accounts in our Personal Help Centre for a visual representation on how offset accounts work.
If the offset account balance exceeds the home loan account limit it’s linked to, the excess offset account balance won’t offset debt in other home loan accounts.
Typically, we’ll inform your customer via a push notification on Macquarie Online Banking or the Macquarie Mobile Banking app. Your customer can also view their account structure in Macquarie Online Banking or the Macquarie Mobile Banking app to check the balances of the offset account and home loans.
There are limitations on the number of offset accounts a customer can have, depending on when they’re requested and the type of borrower. Generally, they can be opened:
When submitting an application, up to 4 offset accounts per home loan account (or split) can be requested, for all borrower types.
For company and trust borrowers, offset accounts can only be opened at settlement, so it’s critical to include these in the home loan application in ApplyOnline. If a transaction account is opened at settlement, it can later be converted to an offset account. This is only possible if the transaction account has the same ownership structure as the home loan account.
Offset accounts requested during the application phase are opened once the home loan documents have been signed and returned. Typically, this will occur prior to settlement.
For a guide on how to request offset accounts in the application view Selecting products and features in ApplyOnline.
Single and joint individual borrowers can open up to 10 offset accounts per home loan account. This can be completed through their Macquarie Online Banking and the Macquarie Mobile Banking app.
For company and trust borrowers, offset accounts can’t be opened after the home loan has settled. If the company or trust borrower already opened a transaction account during the application phase, this may be converted into an offset account if the accounts are in the same names.
Your customer can request a debit card as part of the home loan application or when opening additional offset accounts after they've settled in their Macquarie Online Banking or the Macquarie Mobile Banking app.
Our Personal Help Centre has more information on how your customer can manage their debit card, including activating a new card, setting up the card in their digital wallet or buying an eGift card on Macquarie Marketplace.
For each offset account linked to a home loan account, each offset account holder must also be an account owner on the home loan account. Below are some examples of acceptable structures based on the owner of the home loan account. Any example or variation not listed is unacceptable.
The view and transact access for the offset account will depend on the owner of the offset account, not the offset home loan account. Only the owner(s) of the offset account can view transactions and transact on the offset account.
Please note, all borrowers of the offset home loan account will be able to view the balances of any linked offset account, even if they aren’t the account holder of an offset account. This can be viewed via the account breakdown feature in Macquarie Online Banking and the Macquarie Mobile Banking app.
Where the Offset Home Loan Facility is held in the name of a company or a trust, the Director will receive view and transact access to that home loan account. For any linked offset accounts also in the name of the company or trust, the Director can view and transact on that account. Also:
An offset account can only be linked to a variable rate home loan account within an Offset Home Loan Facility. It can’t be linked to a fixed rate home loan account.
Illustrated example of how multiple offset accounts can be linked to one home loan account.
Your customer will need to contact us via live chat on Macquarie Online Banking or the Macquarie Mobile Banking app to change the variable rate home loan account an offset account is linked to. They’ll only be able to link it to another variable rate home loan account.
Also, where your customer has more than one Offset Home Loan Facility, they can link an offset account to any variable rate home loan account as long as the account holders of the offset account are associated to the home loan account holders.
Interest isn’t earned on the balance of an offset account. To earn interest, your customer would need to move the funds to either a transaction or savings account. Transaction and savings accounts can’t be linked to an Offset Home Loan account and won’t offset the interest charged on your home loan account.
The day after the home loan account settles, you can view the home loan account structure in Broker Portal, including any linked offset accounts (not including balances).
It’s important to check that the offset accounts are linked to the correct home loan account. You should also remind your customer to check their account breakdown in Macquarie Online Banking or the Macquarie Mobile Banking app to ensure they have offset accounts on the correct home loan accounts and are depositing excess funds into the correct offset account.
If your customer requests a full discharge, offset benefits will generally cease up to four business days prior to the discharge date when the account is converted to a transaction account. For trust and company borrowers, the transaction account will be closed once the home loan is discharged.
If your customer requests a partial discharge, offset benefits may cease up to four days prior to the discharge date. This will depend on whether a home loan account within the facility is closed at settlement of the partial discharge.
Your customer’s home loan facility will discharge, therefore any offsets will be de-linked prior to settlement and converted to a transaction account. Once the new home loan facility settles, your customer will need to re-link their offset accounts (currently transaction accounts) to the new home loan accounts. They’ll need to use live chat on Macquarie Online Banking or the Macquarie Mobile Banking app to complete this request.
Please note, for trust and company borrowers, the transaction account will be closed once the home loan is discharged. As part of the new application, you’ll need to request new offset or transaction accounts.
Share our Personal Help Centre article with your customer, which will help them find out more about how offset accounts work, including:
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