As interest rates continue to climb, the pressure on homeowners is growing. Our home loan specialists offer their top tips to help you better manage your mortgage in a time of rate uncertainty.

Make more regular repayments

Typically, homeowners make monthly repayments on their loan, but changing your repayment schedule to fortnightly can save you money and help you pay your loan off faster.

Since there are only 12 months in a year, but 26 fortnights, you'll end up making an extra month's worth of repayments per year, often without noticing a significant difference.

For example, let’s say you have a $400,000 loan at an interest rate of 2.74% . If you switch to fortnightly repayments, you’ll be repaying an extra $1,631.00 per year. This will cut your loan period by 3 years 4 months, and you’ll save a huge $23,400 on interest / fees. **

Use an offset account

An offset account is an everyday bank account that is linked to your home loan. You can deposit any extra savings into that account, which then offsets the amount you owe on your home loan and decreases the amount of interest you pay.

For example, say you have a home loan of $600,000. You have $30,000 in your offset account, so now you will only be charged interest on a loan balance of $570,000.

The great thing about offset accounts is that you can still use it as a regular transaction account. You can access that money whenever you need, so your money isn't locked in.

If you have a Basic Variable Rate Home Loan and don’t have access to a separate offset account, not to worry - you can achieve the same benefits by paying your savings into your home loan it will offset against your loan balance the same way, and you still have access via redraw. Check your home loan set up with your Easy Loans broker to find out more.

Pay principal and interest rates

If possible, try to ensure you are making principal and interest repayments, rather than interest-only.

If you only pay off the interest on your loan, the actual loan amount will stay the same. Principal and interest rates are generally also lower than interest-only, and give you the opportunity to build equity faster.

Consider refinancing

Depending on your situation, now might be a time to consider refinancing. Locking in a fixed interest rate can give homeowners peace of mind in a time of interest rate uncertainty. Talk to a broker about eligibility and options.

What next? 

Talk to a mortgage broker for advice about your current home loan. Our brokers can review your current home loan structure and advise you on the best options to suit you and your personal circumstanc.es

• Call us on 08 8981 2345
• Complete our online contact form

*This information is subject to change.

**Repayments are based on a WBC Flexi First Option Variable rate of 2.74% p.a. over 30 years. Rates were correct at the time of printing and are applicable from 4 July 2022. Fees, charges and lending criteria apply.