There’s nothing quite like the feeling of owning your home outright. No more loan repayments, no more worries about where interest rates are heading…just you and your home with plenty of extra cash left in the kitty each month. It’s not a pipe-dream. Follow our five tips to pay off your home loan sooner:
1. Check you’ve got the right loan for your needs: The cheapest interest rate loan isn’t necessarily the best loan for you. The ideal loan has the right blend of a competitive rate plus features you will actually use to make your loan easier to live with.
2. Look for hidden charges: Paying monthly or annual account keeping fees on your home loan is like paying a higher interest rate. Plenty of banks have scrapped monthly account keeping fees so if your lender is still putting a hand out for them it could be time to move on.
3. Make regular extra repayments: Paying just a single extra dollar each week into your home loan will see the loan paid off sooner. That’s because additional repayments come straight off the loan balance. That way, next month’s interest charge is lower, so more of your regular repayment goes towards the loan balance. It’s a great way to streak ahead with your home loan.
4. Add a lump sum payment: There are times throughout the year when a cash windfall comes our way – a tax refund, an end of year work bonus, or some unexpected overtime earnings. Add or all part of these windfalls as a lump sum repayment to your loan and watch the balance melt away.
5. Use your home loan as a savings account: Try this simple strategy. Deposit spare cash into your home loan instead of a separate savings account. You’ll save more in interest on the loan than you’ll earn with a separate savings account, and it’s a sure-fire to pay off the loan sooner. If your home loan offers redraw (as most do), you’ll be able to access the cash in an emergency. Or, if you’d rather keep your savings separate, consider an offset account. Contact us for expertise advice for all your credit needs by calling 1300 861 143.
Your Choice Mortgage Brokers Pty Ltd ATF Halo Innovation Trust trading as Heart Mortgage Services - Australian Credit Licence 38643.
The information contained herein is of a general nature only and does not constitute advice. You should not act on any information without considering your personal needs, circumstances and objectives. We recommend you obtain professional financial advice specific to your circumstances. The views expressed here are not ours. While the information contained in this article may contain or be based on information obtained from sources believed to be reliable, it may not have been independently verified. Where information contained in this publication contains material provided directly by third parties it is given in good faith and has been derived from sources believed to be accurate at its issue date. To the maximum extent permitted by law: no guarantee, representation or warranty is given that any information or advice in this publication is complete, accurate, up to date or fit for any purpose; and no party or associated entities as mentioned is in any way liable to you (including for negligence) in respect of any reliance upon such information. This article may also contain links to websites operated by third parties who are not related to us. These links are provided for convenience only and do not represent any endorsement or approval by us.
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