News & Analysis

Independent finance reporting, named.

What moved this week, what it means for borrowers, and the trade-offs the headlines miss. Plain English. Named bylines. Dated sources. No paid placements.

Vehicle finance · Lead story

Car loan rates after the May hike: what borrowers are paying in mid-2026

Secured car loans pass through cash-rate moves faster than mortgages. After the May hike, the gap between the cheapest broker-sourced rate and the average dealer-finance rate is wider than it has been all year. Here is the maths, and where the green-loan discounts still hold.

Daniel Wong6 May 20266 min read

Latest coverage

Independent reporting on what borrowers actually need.

Filter by section, or browse all. The same named-and-dated discipline on every article.

A small business operator reviewing equipment quotes and tax paperwork at a workbench.

Equipment finance

Equipment finance and EOFY 2026: making the instant asset write-off work without breaking cash flow

The $20,000 instant asset write-off applies for assets first used or installed by 30 June 2026. With rates higher than they were a year ago, the cash-flow trade-off between buying outright, financing through chattel mortgage, or leasing has narrowed. Here is the framework, and where the lender choice actually matters.

James · 6 May 2026 · 7 min readRead

Sydney terrace houses on a tree-lined street.

Property investing

Property investors at 4.35%: how the May hike rewires negative gearing

Higher interest deductions are not the same as better after-tax returns. With rents flat and the cash rate at 4.35 per cent, the maths for the typical Australian investor has tightened materially. A worked example.

James · 6 May 2026 · 8 min readRead

A person in conversation, with bills laid out.

Mortgage hardship

Mortgage hardship in 2026: what to do before you miss a payment

Australian lenders are required to consider hardship requests under ASIC RG 165. Most borrowers wait until they are already behind. The earlier you ask, the more options you keep.

Lisa · 6 May 2026 · 9 min readRead

First home buyer

First-home buyers and the May rate hike: a stress-test, by state

A 5 per cent deposit FHB in Sydney now faces the highest mortgage stress reading in two decades, with the added risk of falling into negative equity. Here is the stress-test maths, by state, and when waiting six months is the right call.

Sarah · 6 May 2026 · 8 min readRead

A laptop showing home loan rate comparisons.

Refinancing

Refinance break-even maths at a 4.35% cash rate

The break-even calculation that gave a "no" at 3.85% often gives a "yes" at 4.35%. Lenders are competing for low-LVR refinancers with cashbacks, and the gap between the cheapest and the average has widened. Here is the formula and the threshold.

Sarah · 6 May 2026 · 7 min readRead

A small business owner reviewing financials at a kitchen table.

SME credit

Business loans at 4.35%: where SME credit is tightening, and what to ask your lender

The cash-rate move is not the only story. Behind the headline rate, lender risk appetite for unsecured SME lending narrowed through Q1, while asset-backed and invoice finance held up. The result is a wider spread, by product, than at any point since 2023.

James · 6 May 2026 · 7 min readRead

A keychain holding a house key on a wooden workspace.

Fixed vs variable

Should you fix your home loan now, with rates still rising?

Most pundits say wait and see. The break-even maths, when you actually run it, points the other way for a meaningful slice of borrowers. Three scenarios that decide it.

Sarah · 6 May 2026 · 7 min readRead

An employee comparing novated lease and car loan paperwork at a desk.

Salary packaging

Novated leasing in 2026: where the EV FBT exemption stands now, and what it means for your packaged car

The battery-electric exemption survives. The plug-in hybrid window closed in April 2025. The luxury-car-tax fuel-efficient threshold moved again in February. The result is a narrower set of vehicles where novated leasing genuinely beats a straight car loan, and a small set where it dominates.

Lisa · 6 May 2026 · 7 min readRead

A household reviewing bills at a kitchen table.

Repayment maths

How much will the May rate hike actually cost your mortgage?

The headline number is 25 basis points. The dollar number depends on your loan size and how much of the year's previous hikes you have already absorbed. Worked out, by loan size, with a state-by-state median-income lens.

Sarah · 5 May 2026 · 8 min readRead

Australian household reviewing mortgage at home.

Rates analysis

RBA hikes to 4.35%: what the May decision means for your mortgage

The board lifted the cash rate by 25 basis points, the third hike this year, citing imported inflation from Middle East fuel prices. Markets are now pricing 4.75% by year-end. Here is what changes for borrowers, in plain English.

Sarah · 5 May 2026 · 7 min readRead

Best of: Variable rate home loans

Five home loans that beat the big four this week

A non-bank, two customer-owned banks, and a digital lender are pricing variable rates between 0.40 and 0.65 per cent below the big-four average. The catch in each one, named.

Sarah · 3 May 2026 · 8 min readRead

A young couple reviewing a contract at a kitchen table.

First home buyer guide

What every first-home buyer should ask before signing

Eleven questions to put to your broker, your conveyancer, and your lender before the contract goes binding. None of them are obvious. Most save thousands.

Lisa · 1 May 2026 · 9 min readRead

Reserve Bank of Australia, Martin Place, Sydney.

Rates archive

RBA February 2026: cash rate raised to 3.85%

The board lifted the cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.85 per cent on 3 February 2026, the first hike since November 2023. From the May 2026 vantage point, this was the start of the cycle that has since taken rates to 4.35 per cent.

James · 2 Feb 2026 · 6 min readRead

The editorial team

Every byline is a named editor.

Meet the team

James Mitchell

Editor-in-Chief

James leads the editorial direction of Your Finance Guide. 15+ years across major banks, fintechs, and consumer-finance journalism.

Sarah Chen

Senior Editor, Lending & Compliance

Sarah commissions and reviews home loan, refinancing, and lending-policy guides. Former credit adviser with a banking-law background.

Daniel Wong

Senior Writer, Vehicle & Equipment Finance

Daniel covers vehicle and equipment finance, chattel mortgage, novated lease, asset structures, and instant asset write-off.

Lisa Nguyen

Writer, Personal Finance & Borrower Education

Lisa covers personal loans, debt consolidation, and household budgeting strategy. Background in financial counselling and consumer journalism.

The Weekly Brief

Five things that changed in finance, every Friday.

One email a week. Free, plain-English, no upsells. Rates, banking, property, markets, super and policy, with what to do about each.