Best Home Loan Tips to Slash Thousands Off Your Home Loan

1. What rate are you paying?

If you’re paying the standard variable rate, you shouldn’t be. There are better deals around. Anyone still paying standard rates for their variable loan should look at other alternatives as you more than likely will save thousands by simply switching to a lower rate loan such as Basic or Discount variable loans. Consider our Advantage Rate Loan.

Most believe that Basic or Discount variable loans have generally less features than a Standard variable loan. Watch out for basic variable loans that don’t offer flexible features. They offer cheap rates, however you can’t save because they simply won’t let you since some don’t even allow for additional repayments.

This is not the case with our fully featured Advantage Rate Loan. With unlimited redraw, salary crediting, unlimited additional repayments and one of the most competitive rates around you can easily save thousands.

2. Pay more often and a little more

Dividing your minimum monthly repayment into two fortnightly payments can reduce the term of your loan because there are more than two fortnights in every month. Dividing your original monthly repayment into two means you actually pay more over the course of a calendar month. Also, when interest is calculated daily, the more frequent your repayments results in less interest being charged to your loan over the course of a month.

Add to this a small amount every fortnightly you can comfortably afford over the minimum required repayment and you will slash years of the term of your loan.

3. Make your surplus cash work harder for you

Use cash savings to help pay off your loan quicker. If you have a home loan rate at say 7 per cent, every extra dollar you pay off the principal is another dollar you are not paying 7 per cent on each year. If you instead put that extra dollar into a savings account you are only going to earn 2 or 3, perhaps 5 per cent at the most and you’ll pay tax on these earnings. Therefore putting savings into your loan earns you twice as much as a savings account and you keep the tax man from your surplus cash.

These days, redraw facilities available on most variable loans allow you to take back those extra payments if needed anyway.

4. Consolidate any other loans

Always consolidate any high rate unsecured loans such as personal loans, car loans, store and credit cards with your home loan if you have equity in your home.

Some people will advise you against consolidation because the loan terms for unsecured loans are generally less than mortgages. You are still better off consolidating if you can with a low mortgage rate, while still maintaining the repayments you had with your unsecured loans. By doing this you will payoff your total debts faster with a much lower rate of interest and save thousands.

5. Watch out for the lure of a honeymoon

Often introductory or honeymoon rates are a con, enticing you with a low rate in the first 6 to 12 months and then, after the honeymoon, mugging you with a high standard variable rate.

Look for a fully featured basic variable rate such as our Advantage Rate Loan that offers a competitive rate for the life of your loan rather than just a honeymoon period.

6. Quit that smoking habit

If you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, it is costing you more than $3,000 a year. Quit, and put the daily saving of $10 or so aside and pay an extra $300 each month off your mortgage. You may look for other costly habits that you can quit and apply these savings to your home loan.

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