Talk:Flexible mortgage

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Origin of Offset mortgage in Australia.

At the end of 1988 I approached the headquarters of several banks in Sydney with a proposition. I requested a mortgage against a rural property and offered to secure it against an deposit account in their bank which would contain an amount much greater than the mortgage amount. The interest from the deposit account would be used to repay the mortgage.

Several bank staff suggested I was attempting to evade tax but the State Bank of New South Wales was interested. They contacted the Federal Government. A week later Prime Minister Keating announced that there were no taxation implications because the transaction was merely within the banks' internal system. A few weeks later, St George Bank announced its new 'Magic' scheme (offset mortgages). These are now common. I am surprised to discover offset Accounts originated in Australia.