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The National Australia Bank has today announced highly competitive underwriting fees for its popular National Wheat Advance product.
Agribusiness General Manager Mike Carroll said that the reduced fees announced today and other enhancements made to the National Wheat Advance product this season reflect the National's commitment to assisting farmers through the drought.
"Many crops have failed and yields are down across the country, so growers need our competitive rates and flexibility to minimise the cost of harvest advances and underwriting their returns," Mr Carroll said.
"The National Wheat Advance offers growers the flexibility of selecting a percentage of the estimated pool return to determine the line of credit. The current percentages that can be selected are 80%, 70%, 60% and 50%, as was the case last season. This directly links the cost of underwriting to the grower's nominated borrowing limit.
"The 70% tier is a particularly competitive option for farmers who don't need to borrow quite as much as the full 80% of the estimated of the pool price."
The underwriting prices announced today, compared with previous prices are:
Underwriting Fees *
| Nominated % of Estimated Pool Return |
Underwriting Fees per tonne effective 11 September '02 |
Underwriting Fees per tonne for previous year |
| 80% |
$1.50 |
$1.60 |
| 70% |
$1.10 |
$1.30 |
| 60% |
$0.80 |
$1.00 |
| 50% |
$0.50 |
$0.75 |
There is no change to the interest rates that applied last year:
Interest Rates*
Total Amount
Drawndown |
% pa |
| $1 - $99,999 |
7.20% pa |
| $100,000 - $199,999 |
6.90% pa |
| $200,000 - $399,999 |
6.60% pa |
| $400,000 and over |
6.35% pa |
* Underwriting Fees and interest rates are current at 18 November 2002 and are subject to change.
In enhancements to the National Wheat Advance announced on Monday 11 November, the product now incorporates Feed Wheat and has been made available to sharefarmers for the first time. Funds can also be accessed via telephone and internet banking, giving customers the ability to make drawdowns 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
"The National has a history of driving industry competitiveness in the wheat advance and other products," Mr Carroll said.
"We have 530 agribusiness specialists at the National and our bankers work one-on-one with clients. This gives us a valuable understanding of what farmers need. We will constantly strive to assist farmers with innovative products and services based on what will make a difference to their businesses. This is more important than ever during this difficult time in agriculture."
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