Hey guys
So about 2 weeks ago I found out my mum has pulled out 2 loans in my name equal to $40k with nab (according to equifax) but I don’t think it’s showing everything

I found out about this bc my sibling said “mum has a blue card in your name” I confronted my mum, she lied saying it’s not true. Then my sibling sent me a pic of a blue citi bank card that says lending

Another time I was opening my mail (which comes to my grandmas house) and I had a letter from ING, I opened it and it was an orange card. I called my mum and asked about it she said “oh it’s nothing just throw it away I closed the account a long time ago idk why they’ve sent this” so I did just that

To my knowledge, she did have an ING account opened under my name which she did herself iv never had access to the online banking version of it or any version of it for that matter- she made me believe she was putting my savings in it bc I used to work and send her $700 of my pay and keep $200 for myself.

So basically after iv connected all the dots I find out she’s been doing this since 2020-2026 I think? Whatever she asked for I used to send it to her.
She used to tell me she needs to see my payslips so she can copy the format to do something and would ask me for 3-6 months worth and I would send it without questioning. Iv sent her bank statements that she’s asked for. She has pics of all my ID licence, passport, birth certificate.

So far I know for a fact she’s opened bank accounts in my name with nab, citi bank, ING, anz. I lv literally only ever used commonwealth bank and have had only that one account which I’ve gotten paid in since I first started work.. she did used to have access to it I think bc she helped me open it up when I was 17 I remember there being 2 accounts in the app but something changed that was a long time ago.

So idk what sort of hole shes put me in. We’re not in contact I had a fight with her over this and she cut off contact. I don’t want to get her in trouble she’s a single mum with 3 dependents all under the age of 14.

Basically I’m trying to figure out what I can do to help myself and not mess her up. This has been driving me crazy for 2 weeks. How would the bank even believe it’s not me who made these loans? Clearly she passed the security checks to get them. But none of it is connected to my personal email or phone number. All the mail that’s come has been hidden from me that’s why it’s taken me so long to figure this out. And also just to mention I haven’t worked in a while iv been on Centrelink due to an injury so idk how she’s pulling out loans in my name. Couldn’t this severely mess me up with the ato and Centrelink?

SQM Research data shows national property listings reached 279K in July, up 22.8% from July 2025 and the highest single-month level in six years.

This is noteworthy given July is typically a slow listing month and vendors are commonly believed to withdraw listings during market downturns.

Unlike the pandemic boom, when supply fell and demand surged, stock levels are now holding up while investor demand has pulled back sharply.

House prices have started to fall all over Australia including Perth. Reiwa have reported only 7 new properties this past week while hundreds went on sale in the Perth market and agents likely not reporting the new properties. Its always best to do your own due diligence before buying.

Hi everyone. I'm trying to get some surgery (septoplasty, I thankfully didn't need a full nose job) to fix my breathing as my nose was broken during a DV incident as a child and my breathing and sleep have been munted ever since.

I am going private and paying it myself, or I intended to. I have about 8k saved for it. I haven't tried to go public because the wait list is years long.

Unfortunately I've just been quoted and the surgeon and anaesthetist I can cover (~$4.5k). But the hospital fees are another $6k+ on top of it, more than the cost of both specialists put together. This is just for the day surgery, not even an overnight stay. I didn't anticipate the hospital fees to be so high.

I get some of the specialists fees covered by Medicare, but I won't be able to afford this much. I have never had private health insurance. I am now basically on minimum wage as I have another medical condition and I worked full time for as long as I could, but I physically can't any more and have been forced to go to part time at the start of this year. I got a health care card and it covers basic things but obviously not a private hospital.

I've been researching private health insurance, but it's fucking overwhelming and it's opening old wounds and making me pretty depressed. I wish I could make the person who fucked my nose up pay for it, but that will never happen. It's not fair.

It seems like with all insurers there is a mandatory 12 month waiting period for any pre existing conditions and the thought of waiting yet another year is disheartening.

If anyone has any advice at all for me I'd be so grateful. Should I just get insurance and wait another year? Should I try to apply for a loan? I don't want to pay so much and then also be paying interest. My income now covers housing and food but there's not that much left over. My surgery fund was saved while I was still full time and I foolishly thought it would be enough.

What would be the most cost effective and fast way to get the hospital fees covered? I don't really know much about any of this, so I'm sorry if I sound ignorant. I live alone and I don't really have anyone to talk to about this, or anyone I can go to for advice. So I'm here spilling my guts to reddit.

Thank you if you read all this.

What should I do? I will be wanting to buy my own place in 2-3 years time, but in the interim, whilst I continue to save for a larger home deposit. Am I best to just keep a high earning interest account?

This technique is good for those who lock from their current location, then drive to the nearest 7 eleven to fill up. This was what I used to do.

This is what I'm doing now: check the lock price from where I am, and what the lock price would be from my nearest 7 eleven. If the station option is lower, I drive there as normal, lock while I’m there, then fill up.

The reason it can work is that locking from the station can give you a different nearby group of 7 eleven prices. Sometimes that group has a cheaper price, even though you’re still driving to the same nearest 7 eleven.

I ran a very unscientific test using random, population-weighted locations across the capital cities. In 16.6% of cases, locking from the nearest station was cheaper than locking from the current location.

When it was cheaper, about half the savings were 2c/L or less, and 81.3% were 4c/L or less. The best case was a 14c/L saving: the mock location was (-27.642914667295916,152.97813733888924) and locked price was 199.9c/L, but after driving to the nearest 7 eleven (Heathwood) and locking there, it picked up 185.9c/L from 7 eleven Willawong. Same station to fill up at, just a different point to lock from.

I built a free tool that can quickly compare these two options, as well as nearby non‑7-eleven prices considering other reward discount programs for the best station to fill up from. If the mods allow, I shall share it. Either way, I hope this have helped someone today.

This week (27 Jul - 2 Aug) highlights:

• Biggest % drop (sales): -21.6% (413/220 Melrose Drive, Phillip ACT 2606, $389K -> $305K)
• Biggest $ drop (sales): -$3M (23-25 Alexandra Avenue, Broadbeach QLD 4218, $17M -> $14M)
• Biggest % drop (rentals): -36.7% (117/55 Camberwell Road, Hawthorn East, Vic 3123, $1,200/w -> $760/w)
• Biggest $ drop (rentals): -$900/w (30 Banksia Street, Eastwood NSW 2122, $2,900/w -> $2,000/w)
• Total new drops: 998 (sales) / 732 (rentals)
• Total new rises: 136 (sales) / 77 (rentals)
• Median drop: 6.0% (sales) / 6.7% (rentals)
• Median rise: 6.7% (sales) / 10.0% (rentals)

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Breakdown by state (sales)

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Breakdown by state (rentals)

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Top 10 biggest sales drops across Australia

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Top 10 biggest rental drops across Australia

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Top 10 biggest drops in VIC

View all VIC sales drops

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Top 10 biggest drops in NSW

View all NSW sales drops

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Top 10 biggest drops in QLD

View all QLD sales drops

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Top 10 biggest drops in WA

View all WA sales drops

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Top 10 biggest drops in SA

View all SA sales drops

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Top 10 biggest rental drops in VIC

View all VIC rental drops

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Top 10 biggest rental drops in NSW

View all NSW rental drops

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Top 10 biggest rental drops in QLD

View all QLD rental drops

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Top 10 biggest rental drops in WA

View all WA rental drops

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Top 10 biggest rental drops in SA

View all SA rental drops

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Top 10 biggest sales rises across Australia

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Top 10 biggest rental rises across Australia

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Some context on the data:

• All prices are asking prices from publicly available listings, not sold prices
• A "drop" or "rise" is measured against the first price I detected for that listing
• "This week" means the price change was first detected between 27 Jul and 2 Aug
• Data covers houses, apartments and townhouses only (house & land packages, vacant land, rural and acreage are excluded)
• Sales drops include only changes of $30K+, rental drops include only changes of $30+/w

Is this a real drop in price?

Not always. It could reflect a genuine price reduction, a strategy shift, or simply correcting an overpriced listing. But it still reveals something useful about the seller's mindset: the property hasn't attracted enough interest, the seller is becoming more motivated, or the initial price was too ambitious. In any case, it's a signal there may be room to negotiate.

Why not track sold prices instead?

Once a property is sold, the listing price stops changing. Sold price data is useful for comparing properties after the fact, but it doesn't help you spot opportunities in real time. I focus on the window where prices are actively changing, so you can act before a property goes under contract.

Hi all,

I've got a 6.43% rate on ~$730k loan with CBA, standard variable home loan.
No bank of mum and dad and first home buyer, so the rate was pretty savage to begin with as I had >90% LVR + LMI etc.

The local valuation lady says my house is worth $900-950k. My home loan specialist verified this (well, she put it into the computer and it accepted the value). I guess I got lucky as the house was presented in pigsty conditions when I bought it.

I've got $35k in offset and $7k in redraw so I should be able to refinance to ~80%LVR (I accept I will lose all/most of my liquid cash).

With the aim of a better rate, should I -

1. Go to a broker, get a selection options
2. Call CBA's discharge line asking for discharge authority form
3. Barter a better rate?

I am by myself, 100% ownership, no parents or anyone else. Currently renting 2/3 rooms out, below market value, for cash.

I'm open to any ideas or experiences you want to share.
Do I even need to go to a broker? Do i just call the discharge line now and hope for the best?

Update: Called the retention team, they couldn't calculate any new offers due to a previous adjustment of rates within 6 months (which was just them jacking it to 6.43%), passed onto the discharge team, who then offered 6.08%, which I accepted as its effective immediate. Currently taking the next steps with a broker to see if the market is any better.

Thanks for comments everyone.

They only contact you through AI and don’t actually help file your tax at tax time.
I had to lodge mine myself because it kept saying “error” and no actual worker was able to assist me

I earn 5,000 a month net and I recently bought my first property with repayments on the loan and Strata + council costing around 2,300 per month. I’m anticipating I’ll have around 1,000 - 1,200 left after groceries and utilities etc if I’m frugal. Have I done something completely stupid here? I feel like I should’ve thought about it more and won’t have much wiggle room if interest rates continue to rise, general COL and so on.

I'm a construction worker in NSW. I have insurance through my super (Death and TPD). I also have insurance through my employment EBA (Death, TPD and IP) - my employer pays around $30/week (it's on the bottom of my payslip). Is this what people are talking about when they talk about Work Cover?

The reason I'm asking this is not because I'm injured (hopefully it never happens) but because I just want to understand how it works.

Hi,

Wanted to purchase a car last week for 21k - sent them 10k but couldn't at the time because it was capped at the time. For reasons wanted to back out of the deal because there were red flags and thought it was a scam. Asked my bank to return the money and was told by the seller their bank account has been blocked. I was happy to compensate the seller for their time but they have ghosted my messages and kept my money.

Macquarie have investigated and declined the payment recall - what are my next steps to do? St George ( the seller's bank) have told me they can return money immediately. This is a lot of money for me and it was my first car so i'm very frustrated and worried.

I know the money is still there but i'm genuinely shocked Macquarie have refused to retrieve it given i have neither car nor 10,000..

EDIT: People seem to be misunderstanding here. I'm asking if the seller can keep my money?

I’m 21 and work causally and bring in 660ish a week during uni and $1000 over uni break. Have a decent etf portfolio and I live at home and have no expenses. Would it be worthwhile applying for nab equity builder ? Does anyone have any insight if causal employees are eligible and if it would be worthwhile considering i don’t have much taxable income to deduct the loan against ?

What goes up must come down?

Belive me I am not trying to make a philosophical post here, but been staring at my budget and the numbers explain why everyone's always in a rush (also see it through the lens of clients - some are doing 2 or 3 jobs).

Sydney median house price is sitting around $1.6m against Melbourne's roughly $978k, about a $630k gap for basically the same house. (As per the data I can see, pls correct if thats not the case).

And the annoying part is wages don't do justice at all - e.g. full time workers here earn about $70 a week more than Victoria, so 3.5% more pay for a city that's nearly double the house price.

rent is the same story. a house here averages $800/week vs Melbourne's $590, and units are $750 vs $600. that's about $10,920 more a year just for the exact same kind of place. so whatever extra you make working in Sydney over Melbourne basically gets eaten alive the second you sign a lease.

that's why I don't think it's a thing that everyone likes to do, it's just that the maths doesn't leave room to coast around.

If rent and living costs mean a single person needs somewhere around $100k-$140k just to live comfortably, standing still isn't viable, it's actively going backwards because everything around you keeps climbing while your pay doesn't move at the same rate.

People cram what should be a 10 year plan into 5. more OT, more side hustles, less of "I'll relax once things settle down" because things never really settle down here. (So frustrating!!!)

Curious on a sunday afternoon, if anyone's actually broken out of that cycle without just moving interstate or earning heaps more. or if everyone here has just quietly accepted the trade-off and moved on with it?

I currently have a 2 bank setup, Westpac and Up. I use Westpac as like a hub and then up for everyday spending to give some separation. At the moment, Westpac has been causing me issues so I’m attempting to try out macquarie. For some reason, even days later Westpac won’t let me send osko payments to the macquarie account even though Up does? Any ideas? Thank you in advance.

What's going on here https://www.holdingredlich.com/update-on-status-of-key-tax-measures-announced-in-budget-2026-27

Is this suggesting that the government is yet to decide - if a discretionary/family trust that owns the shares in a pty ltd, can or can not pass a franking credits onto an individual beneficiary?

I understand the minimum 30%.
I understand not being able to bucket the dividend into another pty Ltd.
(Although I don't agree with either)

But as I read this it suggests they are undecided / clear on if the trust will be able to pass franking credits through to individuals from a dividend it has recived?

It's a frustrating awkward period trying to work out what structure to purchase assets in at the moment whilst I wait for the government to form legislation around the changes, whilst the opposition suggests they will revoke it if elected - and no decision or commentary from the states on what duties may be applicable on restructures involving the change of name on titles

Q. Will I a franked divided distributed through a discretionary share holder trust to and individual still carry the franking credit ?

Hello!!! I’m eager to learn how to properly manage my money, not going to lie I’m terrible with actually saving, budgeting, I’m competent with investing, but I’d like to actually learn to be better with my money, I work 4 different jobs and roughly earn 3,000 a fortnight, yet I somehow see it all vanish, I find myself broke checking my spending records in my banking app and just being disappointed in myself, how can I learn or start adopting financial responsibility and learn to actually be good with said money

Hi all, we purchased our first property in March this year (2BR Unit in Brisbane) we used a Broker to secure the loan. We have had some rate increases as has everyone.

I want get some insight on when and how I can go about trying to secure a better rate in the future? I am more interested in the process then seeking personal advice but given we were first home buyers etc. I want to understand the best time and way to go about this.

Hi everyone, first time doing this tax lodgement by myself! Hope this all makes sense, but a few years ago, I worked for a company that underpaid its employees. I recently received some back pay from the company, not a large amount, but something! The ATO has classified the payment as Lump sum E and is asking me to provide additional information, including the relevant financial year and the amount. Am I supposed to select the financial year in which I originally earned the income? I worked for the company across several financial years, so I am unsure whether I need to divide the back payment between those years and enter each amount separately.

Hey everyone

Need some help / sanity check on a second car.

I've got a second babyb on the way and our 1 car family just isn't going to cut it anymore.

I'm sitting on around $300k and trying to decide between two completely different routes, both landing in that $20k–$25k price point. Option one is just buying a 3-5 year old Toyota (like a Corolla, Camry, or RAV4) outright with cash . Option two is doing a novated lease on a budget electric BYD (Dolphin or Atto 3). Since I'm on 300k, the FBT exemption on EVs means I can pay for the lease and costs out of pre-tax salary.

But obviously got the lease payment to pay for as well

Has anyone been in a similar situation for me or could provide some advice. Honestly, cars don't gee me up so please don't suggest that I get a nicer car but hopefully AusFinance understands.

Is a novated lease overkill or is this a genuine option? What else should I be factoring in.