This week the Riksbank raised the key interest rate to 2 percent. It directly affects the variable mortgage interest - which most Swedes with mortgages have. Handelsbanken and Swedbank have also raised their variable mortgage interest by 0.25 percentage points. There are many indications that more actors will follow suit.
Higher interest rates usually mean that banks' profits increase.
- That's how it has been historically. Then it is a good opportunity as a customer to review your mortgage interest and savings interest, notes Moa Langemark, consumer protection economist at the Financial Supervisory Authority.
- We do this most simply by being active and questioning the prices and offers that the banks give and looking at other players to get the best price, she continues.
The authority presented its bank barometer this week. There you can see that the banks' net interest income - what they earn from the difference between lending and what they give to bank customers in loan interest - increases when interest rates are high.
In July this year, the banks' net interest income was SEK 56 billion. Five years ago, when interest rates were significantly lower, it was SEK 34 billion.
Seven banks account for more than 80 percent of lending to the public, according to the report. The big banks also slightly increased their market shares in the first half of this year compared to the last half of last year.
The report shows that the banks' profitability has been at relatively similar levels in recent years. Compared to European banks, however, the profitability of the Swedish players is higher.
Moa Langemark believes that this shows that there is an opportunity for customers to acquire better conditions. She points to three areas where you can act: the interest on the mortgage, on the savings account and fund fees.
- It is natural to start by looking at whether you have a mortgage. Sit down sometime a year and look at your mortgage interest rate and compare it to other banks' average interest rates, she says.
The next step may be to contact your bank for a reasoning about why you are being offered the interest rate you have and the possibility of reducing it.
- If you feel that it is not enough, then you can contact other banks to hear what offers they have, says Moa Langemark.
A similar strategy applies to interest on savings accounts. This is about finding better alternatives.
- Swedish households have large assets with banks without or with non-existent interest. Here there are many alternatives with other banks with significantly higher interest rates and a government deposit guarantee, notes Moa Langemark.
At Konsumenternas bank and finansbyrå you can see interest rates from different actors.
The third leg where the banks can be challenged is the fund fees. This is what you pay for the bank to handle the management of the funds. The fee is deducted directly from the fund, so you do not immediately see what you are paying.
- Here we have seen that many savers have their funds with the big banks and then end up in their actively managed funds, which have proven to be more expensive than other alternatives, says Moa Langemark.
A fund with a higher fee must perform better to compensate for the higher price.
- The problem is that many funds find it difficult to do so. So make sure you don't pay too much for funds that don't deliver what they say they do, advises Moa Langemark.
