How to save money on your home loan
For most households, your mortgage repayments will be your biggest expense. It’s important to regularly review your home loan and find ways to help save money on the repayments.
Fortunately, there are number of things you can do:
Find a lower interest rate
The amount of interest you pay is based on your interest rate. The quickest way to save money on interest is to refinance your loan and get a lower rate.
You should be regularly reviewing your home loan products to ensure you’re getting the very best product for your needs. However, if you want to continue to save money, it’s worth taking any money you might save and putting it back into your home loan.
Use an offset account
An offset account is a great way to reduce your interest payments. An offset account functions like a transaction account, however, it effectively reduces your interest payments.
By simply parking any spare funds you have in your offset account you can reduce the overall mortgage balance you’re paying interest on. All the while you will still have access to those funds when you need them.
Most lenders don’t offer offset accounts on fixed-rate loan products.
Increase payment frequency
If your loan allows for flexible repayments, it might be worth increasing the frequency of your repayments.
Changing from monthly to fortnightly (or even weekly) means you’re paying down more money faster and reducing the amount of interest you have to pay.
Lump sum payments
If possible, it’s always a good idea to put any spare money towards your mortgage. That might be something like a bonus, a gift or an inheritance.
By reducing the overall mortgage you’ll be paying less interest in the long run.
Consolidate other debts
If you’ve got other debts such as car loans, credit cards or personal loans, it might be possible to roll those loans over into your mortgage.
That means you’ll be paying less each month on interest and you can then any money saved back towards your home loan.