TOP TIPS TO PAY OFF YOUR HOME LOAN FASTER
Have you taken advantage of the current low interest rates and cash back offers?
Are you aware you can save thousands by refinancing to a lower home loan rate?
If your objective is to pay off your home loan as quickly as possible…
Use the services of a qualified mortgage broker who will act in your best interest, not necessarily the bank’s.
Make your payments weekly or fortnightly instead of monthly.
Utilise an Offset Account attached to a variable rate loan that will allow you to make extra repayments without penalty.
Make extra repayments.
Implement a household budget to reduce unnecessary spending.
When fixed rates are lower than variable rates, split your loan some fixed and some variable.
Thinking about reviewing your loan?
If your objective is to protect yourself from interest rate rises, a fixed rate loan may be your best option.
Most fixed rate loans will only allow you to make monthly repayments and will penalise you heavily if you repay more than $10,000 pa in extra repayments.
If your objective is to pay off your home loan quicker, a low variable rate will work best for you.
Fixed-rate loans with cashback offers are popular right now, but have you ever wondered if these inflexible products are in the customer's best interest?
Here are our top 3 reasons why a flexible variable rate product with a competitive rate, is often better than a fixed rate product.
Many borrowers who plan to take advantage of the low-fixed rate and then refinance to another low rate will instead be caught in a web of cross-sold products like credit cards and savings accounts and will end up stuck on a high variable rate.
Borrowers who do successfully refinance after their 2-5 year fixed rate expires, will generally start another 30-year loan term. This will keep them in debt for longer, paying more interest in total!
Most fixed-rate products are inflexible. They do not offer offset facilities or redraw and only allow minimal additional repayments on an annual basis. This prevents the borrower from using their extra cash to reduce interest repayments and pay off their loan early.
With flexible and competitive variable rate products, the interest saved and reduced loan term (by utilising a redraw or offset) will far outweigh the cashback incentives offered with inflexible fixed-rate products.
We would suggest reviewing your loans every 2 to 3 years. It could save you thousands!
Thinking of reviewing your loan?