- Introductory Rate? Skip it
Introductory rates have long been an important marketing tool for lenders. You are initially offered a cheap rate on your loan to get you in the door but once the honeymoon period is over, the lender will switch you to a higher variable rate of interest. An example of this is an ARM.
There are two problems with this scenario:
1. The variable rate is often higher than some of the lower basic loans available so you could end up paying more.
2. You need to clearly understand that a introductory rate applies only for the first year or two of the loan and is a minor consideration compared to the actual variable rate that will determine your repayments over the next 20.
You may also be hit with fairly steep exit penalties if you want to refinance in the first two or three years to a cheaper loan. So make sure you fully understand what you are letting yourself in before setting off on Introductory rate with your lender.
- Pay it off Quickly
There are all sorts of strategies for paying less interest on your loan, but most of them boil down to one thing: Pay your loan off as fast as you can. For example, if take out a loan of $300,000 at 6.5 per cent for 30 years, your repayment will be about be about $1,896. This equates to a total repayment of $682,632 over the term of your loan.
- Get a Package
Speak to your lender about the financial packages they have on offer. Common inclusions are discounted home insurance, fee-free credit cards, a free consultation with a financial adviser or even a fee-free transaction account. While these things may seem small beer compared to what you are paying on your home loan, every little bit counts and so you can use the little savings on other financial services to turn them into big savings on your home loan.
There are also "professional" packages on offer for amounts over a certain limit, which can be as little as $150,000. Some lenders offer discounts to specific professional groups or members of professional organizations. Ask your lender if your occupation qualifies you for any discount. You might be pleasantly surprised. There are all sorts of discounts and reductions attached to these packages so make sure you ask your lender about them.
- Consolidate your Debts
One of the best ways of ensuring you continue to pay off your loan quickly is to protect yourself against interest rate rises. If your home loan rate starts to rise, you can be absolutely positive about one thing - your personal loan rate will rise and so will your credit card rate and any hire purchase rate you may happen to have.
This is not a good thing as the interest rates on your credit cards and personal loans are much higher than the interest rate on your home loan. Many lenders will allow you to consolidate - re-finance - all of your debt under the umbrella of your home loan. This means that instead of paying 15 to 20 per cent on your credit card or personal loan, you can transfer these debts to your home loan and pay it off at 7.32 per cent.
- Split your Loan
Many borrowers worry about interest rates and whether they will go up but don't want to be tied down by a fixed loan. A good compromise is a split loan, or combination loan as they are often known, which allows you to take part of your loan as fixed and part as variable. Essentially this allows you to hedge your bets as to whether interest rates are going to rise and by how much.
If interest rates rise you will have the security of knowing part of your loan is safely fixed and won't move. However, if interest rates don't go up or if they rise only slightly or slowly then you can use the flexibility of the variable portion of your loan and pay that part off more quickly.
- Your mortgage is your key financial product
Mortgage products known as all-in-one loans, revolving line-of-credit or 100 percent offset loans allow you to use your mortgage as your key financial product. This means you have one account into which you can pay all of your income and draw from for your living expenses by using a credit card, EFTPOS or a checkbook, as well as making your mortgage repayments. These loans work well when you are able to make additional payments towards the loan. If you are only able to make the equivalent of the minimum repayment on your loan, you may be better off with a cheaper standard variable or basic variable loan. However, it's not unusual for dedicated borrowers using these types of loans to cut the term of a 30 year-old loan to less than ten.
- Use your equity
Many lenders will allow you to borrow using your equity as collateral. Most lenders will allow you to borrow up to about 80 per cent of the loan-to-value ratio (LVR) of your available equity. If you are careful, you can use this equity to your advantage and help to pay off your home loan sooner.
Using an equity loan to improve your property could be a good way to ensure that your home increases in value over time. But larger expenses such as cars and holidays that would have been paid by credit card are more affordable on the lower rate of your home loan.
- Switch to a lender with a lower rate
It may sound like a simple idea but switching out of your current loan and taking out a loan at a lower rate can mean the difference of years and thousands of dollars. If you have a loan that is tricked up with all the features, or even if you have a standard variable loan, you might find that you could get a no frills rate that is as much as a percentage point cheaper than your current loan. However, before you jump the gun, check out what it will cost you to switch loans. For example, there may be exit fees payable on your old loan and establishment fees and stamp duty on your new loan.
- Get a cheap rate and invest the difference
When interest rates are low, like now, it is usually safe to say that inflation is also low. Thus, bricks and mortar may not be the best place to invest. Try getting the cheapest home loan you can find and make the minimum repayment. This allows you to use the extra cash to invest in other, more profitable areas.
You may find that the return you get on shares or some other type of investment means that you have created a nice little nest egg which you can use to pay off a bigger chunk of your home loan than you might otherwise have been able to do. But beware - high returns often mean high risks. Before undertaking any investment, invest in a consultation with a qualified financial adviser.
- Run an offset account
Instead of earning interest, any money you have in your offset account works to offset the interest you are paying on your home loan. For example you may have a mortgage of $300,000 at 6.5 percent and an offset account with $50,000 in it earning 3 percent. This means that $250,000 of your loan is accruing interest at 6.5 percent but the rest is accruing interest at just over 3.5 percent (6.5 percent on your loan less the 3 percent the $50,000 in your offset account is earning). Imagine how much you can save.
- Pay your first installment before it's due
With most new loans, the first instalment may not become due for a month after settlement. If you can manage it and your lender will let you, pay the first instalment on the settlement date. If you do this, you will be one step ahead of the lender for the term of your loan. Every little bit counts.
- Make sure your loan is portable
If there is any chance that you will move house during the course of your loan (and let's face it, there is a strong chance), make sure that your lender will allow you to transfer your loan to a new property and that it won't charge you the earth for the privilege. Be careful. If you sell up and buy a new house, you could find yourself down thousands in discharge costs on your old loan and establishment fees on your new one.
- Avoid bridging finance
Someone once said bridging finance is so called because it allows you to "pylon" the debt. The joke's appalling, but so is bridging finance. Unless you get your timing right you could find yourself with two home loans at the same time with the bridging finance element costing you an extra couple of percent premium on the standard variable rate. Consider using a deposit bond or selling before you buy, as it will be much more cost effective for you than another loan.
- Choose the loan that suits your needs
Choosing a loan is about knowing what you want. Draw up a table of potential home loans and rank them. Make a list of all the features that are important to you and rank them according to importance. Give each feature a score out of 5 - one for unimportant right through to 5 for indispensable.
Use this technique for ranking the loans on offer and pretty soon you'll see the one that's right for you. Remember, different loans have different purposes so you need to match a loan to your need. Taking out an interest only loan suitable for investors if you are planning to live in the house is just foolish. Ditching the features you don't need can save you up to 1 per cent on the interest rate of your loan. Over 30 years that's a whole lot of money you've just saved yourself.
