[ARCHIVE] Difference between BankingAccountDetail and BankingProductLendingRate / BankingProductDepositRate interest rate

Archived 2024-09-26. See:

• Guidance on the BankingAccountDetail schema, Applicable rates
• Guidance on the BankingAccountDetail schema, Clarification on rate fields

Question

Seeking clarification on the difference between the interest rate returned in BankingAccountDetail and BankingProductLendingRate / BankingProductDepositRate.

There are three possible scenarios that could be interpreted from it, see below:

1. depositRate / lendingRate means the interest rate that was originally applied to the loan even if that rate is different today
2. depositRate / lendingRate means the interest rate is the rate publicly advertised but may not be what the consumer is actually receiving (as they may have a negotiated rate)
3. depositRate / lendingRate means the interest rate that the consumer is actually receiving at the current time the CDR data is requested, so this would include if it was a negotiated rate - the rate that is used to calculate interest due

Similarly, the above examples could also be interpreted for the rate in BankingProductLendingRate / BankingProductDepositRate. A fourth and fifth option could also be interpreted for this API too, see below:

4. BankingProductLendingRate / BankingProductDepositRate rate means to provide all of interest rate tiers applicable to this product, but not the tiers applicable to the account if the rate has been negotiated, just the publicly advertised rate tiers
5. BankingProductLendingRate / BankingProductDepositRate rate means to provide all of interest rate tiers applicable to this account, and if the rate has been negotiated, this will be reflected in what we return - so the actual rate tiers applicable to this account - the rate tiers that interest would be used to calculate interest due.

Could you please advise which scenarios above are correct for both the BankingAcountDetail depositRate / lendingRate and the BankingProductLendingRate / BankingProductDepositRate rate?

Answer

For rates being returned by the Account Details end point (ie. data for a specific account in an authenticated context), the structures should be interpreted as follows:

• The rates should represent the current rates/fees/features applicable to the specific account at the time of the API call.  It should not be interpreted as representing a generic on market product
• The rates should only contain the applicable rates.  Tiered rates that are applicable in the generic sense should not be included unless they are specifically applicable to this specific account requested.  For instance, a specific Term Deposit account should only include the rates for the duration and amount specific to the originated account and should not include all of the other variants available for a new Term Deposit account

I would interpret this as most closely resembling the options 3 and 5 that you articulated.

It is also worth noting that the standards make no provision for linking specific accounts, in the authenticated account APIs, to on market products in the PRD APIs.  This is deliberate and recognises the fact that accounts can be negotiated and may also exist for a long time so the on market offer through which it was originated may no longer be the same or may have been deprecated.