The Curve founder Victoria Harris reveals she pays $60,000 in mortgage repayments after rate doubled

A homeowner has revealed that she pays $60,000 a year in mortgage payments after her interest rate doubles.

Victoria Harris, a financial expert and founder of The Curve – an educational platform that provides investment and financial content for women – made the shocking admission on Saturday.

In a video shared on TikTok, Ms. Harris explained to her co-host Sophie Hallwright that she initially paid $27,000 for her property.

“So I paid $27,000 six years ago at a 3 percent mortgage,” said Ms. Harris.

‘Now I pay six and a half percent. I now pay about $60,000 a year. I now pay more than double what I paid.’

Ms. Hallwright appeared stunned and stared at her co-host with a gaping mouth after revealing the total amount of her mortgage payments.

The New Zealand-based duo received more than 350 responses, including many criticizing Ms. Harris.

Social media users claimed that Ms. Harris bought her property at a time of record low interest rates and should have expected her repayments to increase when the banks changed their rate.

“I don’t get it – people get loans expecting to pay forever the lowest interest rates the world has seen in the last 20 years,” one person commented.

‘Yes. That’s what can happen with interest rates. They can vary enormously due to the economy. Why is she surprised?,” another person wrote.

“People have to be very careful when they initially take out the loan to see what the repayment would be at x% to decide if that would be ok,” a third added.

Ms Harris replied, claiming that she is ‘not complaining’ but ‘informing’ followers of The Curve about the impact of rising interest rates.

‘I’m single and have saved my entire investment and paid my mortgage myself. Not overly verbose, just stating facts,” Ms Harris wrote.

The video comes after New Zealand’s economy entered recession after two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

The economy contracted by 0.1 percent in the three months to March, following a contraction of 0.7 percent in the previous quarter, Stats NZ announced on June 15.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand led the world in raising interest rates to combat post-pandemic inflation, raising cash rates 12 times since October 2021.

The RBNZ raised the spot rate from 0.25 percent to 5.5 percent and indicated last year that a recession would help bring inflation back within its target of 1 to 3 percent.

By comparison, the Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates on June 6 to an 11-year high of 4.1 percent.

It is the 12th rate hike since May 2022 and the fastest consecutive hike since 1989, with loan repayments rising 62 percent in just 13 months.

Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe said the increases must continue because inflation is still too high.

“Inflation in Australia is past its peak, but at 7% it is still too high and will take some time to get back into target range,” Lowe said in a statement.

The latest 0.25 percentage point increase means that a borrower with an average mortgage of $600,000 will pay an additional $97 each month.

Monthly repayments will rise to $3,730, up from $3,633, as a Commonwealth Bank variable rate for a borrower with a 20 percent down payment rose to 6.34 percent, up from 6.09 percent.

The average borrower now pays $17,088 more per year than 13 months ago.

Dr. Lowe said this would be far from the last rate hike, even though annual inflation had eased to 7 percent in the March quarter, down from a 32-year high of 7.8 percent in the December quarter .

But it is still well above the Reserve Bank of Australia’s target of two to three per cent, with Dr Lowe expecting the consumer price index to remain high for another two years.

“Some further monetary policy tightening may be needed to ensure that inflation returns to target within a reasonable timeframe, but that will depend on how the economy and inflation evolve,” said Dr Lowe.