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Category : Interest Rates

When Was Your Last Home Loan Health Check?

Circumstances can change, leaving your home loan less suitable than it was originally. A home loan health check can reveal if you’re paying too much.

What’s involved?

We can do a full home loan health check for you either in person or over the phone. We will check if your loan is still competitive and still suited to your individual needs.

Having an expert do this for you can also take the stress out of the process for you. It is advisable to get this check done at least once a year, or if your circumstances change.

Questions to ask

Be aware of what you want checked. Think about the following when you speak to your adviser:

  • Am I paying an unreasonably high interest rate?
  • Am I paying high fees?
  • Am I happy with the service I receive?
  • Does my loan give me the features I need?
  • Am I paying for features I don’t use?
  • Have my financial circumstances changed

Benefits

A home-loan health check will generally cost you nothing and could save you thousands. Your home loan features could be improved or you could find yourself with a lower interest rate. A better payment structure could also be introduced, making your repayments more manageable.

Checking the state of your current loan could uncover the possibility of taking out additional finance, which can consolidate any other debt you may have or help you purchase an investment property

 

We give all our clients an Annual Mortgage Health Check to ensure they are still getting the best deal suited to them. If you would like a Mortgage Health Check done now, contact us today!

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Explainer: How RBA Rate Changes Affect Your Interest Rate

With the RBA setting the official cash rate at all-time lows, it’s a good time to work out how this impacts the interest rate on your home loan and whether you are getting a good deal or not.

When the interest rate on your home loan fluctuates, it can feel as though you don’t have control of your debt. Despite being frustrating, interest rate changes are a part of every loan’s lifespan and warrant your consideration.

The interest rates that banks charge on their home loans are influenced by the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) cash rate.

The cash rate is reviewed by the RBA on a monthly basis in order to safeguard Australia’s economic stability. The cash rate is the rate charged on loans made between the RBA and your lender. This, in turn, has a very strong impact on the interest rates your lender charges you.

“The RBA supports the banks with liquidity facility,” explains Advantedge General Manager Brett Halliwell. “The RBA is a bank to the banks. The cash rate is effectively the rate at which the RBA will lend to the banks, and what the banks effectively use as a reference rate for other things.”

When the cash rate is changed by the RBA, lenders decide whether or not to mirror the new rate in the interest they charge their mortgagees.

This is entirely up to the lender in question and depends on the market and how the lender is performing at the time of the cash rate change.

“If you look at the mortgage market, specifically by itself, it is very competitive,” Halliwell says. “It is about the lender trying to get the right outcome on the deposit side of the balance sheet within the context of a very, very competitive marketplace, but recognising that a reference rate has changed and, therefore, looking at where they stand.”

Some lenders choose to shift their interest rate changes higher than the RBA’s cash rate change and, in these instances, other lenders may be offering lower interest rates than the one you currently have.

Keeping track of how your lender manages cash rate changes and where that leaves you as the person paying the interest can be time consuming, and is made more difficult by fees, charges and the flexibility offered by different loan products, which all need to be weighed alongside the interest rate.

A simple way to regain control of your interest rate is to lock it in for a period, if you believe rates are not likely to fall further. Fixed rates offer less flexibility, but more certainty.

We are familiar with the different lenders and their responses to cash rate changes, and can track interest rate fluctuations across a panel of lenders to ensure you’re getting a great deal.

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Should I Have Fixed Rate, Variable Rate Or Split Rate?

That depends on who ‘you’ are.

When you take out a mortgage or home loan, you can choose to have an interest rate this is fixed, variable, or split (a combination of the two). There is no right or wrong option – it all depends on your circumstances.

Fixed rate home loans

With the fixed rate home loan, the interest rate on your mortgage doesn’t change for an agreed period (usually 1-5 years) – no matter what happens to official interest rates.

Variable rate home loans

With the variable rate home loan, the interest rate on your mortgage can change. If official interest rates go down, your interest rates go down too. However, if the Reserve Bank increases interest rates, your home loan rate will probably rise too.

Split rate home loans

A split rate mortgage combines elements of the fixed rate and variable rate options. e.g. You can have 80% of your home loan at a fixed rate , while the remaining 20% is at an interest rate that varies with the market.

Which home loan interest rate option is best?

Because it is absolutely predictable, the fixed rate home loan can give you greater confidence that you can meet your mortgage repayments regardless of changing economic conditions. The disadvantage is that it generally lacks flexibility.

If official interest rates fall, the variable rate home loan can save you money, but you need to consider the risk that your mortgage payments could rise in the future. If you are contemplating a low introductory or honeymoon rate for an initial period you will save initially, but you must find out what the rate will be when the ‘honeymoon’ is over. The lowest initial interest rate doesn’t always mean the better deal.

The split rate home loan gives you some of the benefits of both fixed rate and variable rate loans. You won’t save as much as a full variable rate loan if interest rates fall, but neither will you be as exposed if interest rates rise.

Home loan interest rates: you need to know more

To understand more about which home loan interest rate option is appropriate for you, talk to us today!

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RBA LEAVES RATE ON HOLD AGAIN

July 2015 

At its meeting today, the Board decided to 

LEAVE THE cash RATE ON HOLD AT 2.0%

The Governor of the RBA, Glenn Steven’s statement is available in full CLICK HERE

 

With the end of another financial year, comes tax time…so this is when we round up all our income and expenses, and visit our Accountants.

What a great time to review your financial health and create financial stability by creating a budget.

Building a budget is the act of combining your income and expenses so that you can decide how much money you are going to spend on one item, how much on another, and so on – before you spend the money. It won’t be too difficult to create a budget, but it will be very difficult to stick with one. Just remember, you can do it!

Quite simply, a budget is a realistic financial plan, which you put together based on your income, expenses, and goals. Be realistic. It won’t take long to figure out that if you budget $100 per month for food, but actually spend $350 a month on a regular basis, your budget won’t work for very long.

Living with a budget isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but it can be a great alternative to worrying about how you are going to pay for your expenses and the feeling of guilt that goes along with spending money you don’t have when you pull out your credit card. Build a budget and take back your financial freedom!

If you would like our Budget planner, send us an email and we will be happy to forward it to you!

 

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How To Pay Off Your Mortgage Faster

When was the last time you looked closely at your loan, the progress you are making on paying it off and how it compares to others in the market? Analysing your mortgage could mean savings for you, as well as the opportunity to pay it off more quickly, invest in other assets or reach financial freedom sooner.

Make smaller payments, more often

To cut the size of your payments, make more of them. This could even see you pay off your loan faster, and therefore pay less interest overall.

If you pay your mortgage monthly, consider changing to fortnightly repayments. For example, if your mortgage equates to $2400 a month, cut this in half and pay $1200 each fortnight. As well as having more manageable payments to make, by the end of the year you will have paid off $31,200 rather than $28,800.

Pay just a little bit extra

A minimum repayment is just that – for most loans there is no reason you can’t pay more, whether here and there or regularly.

By rounding up to a full number or contributing an extra $100 or even $10, you’ll significantly reduce your mortgage. It may also be worth considering putting all bonuses, tax returns and gifts into your mortgage.

Don’t decrease repayments when interest rates fall

Even if your repayments are lowered when fees and interest rates decrease, it doesn’t mean that’s all you have to pay and, by keeping your repayments at the same level when interest rates are lower, you will pay down more of the principle with each payment and make speedy progress on your loan.

Offset it

If you can, use an offset account. A mortgage offset account is linked to your loan and the interest payable on the loan from month to month is calculated by deducting what is in your offset account from your current loan. For example, if your mortgage is $500,000 and your offset account has $10,000 in it, you will only pay interest on the remaining $490,000.

An offset account will save interest while still giving you access to your savings. It also means investors can preserve the tax deductibility of the mortgage.

Find a better deal

Ultimately, your mortgage needs to suit you and your circumstances, or you will wind up paying too much. If you think your current loan no longer matches your situation, speak to us. We will be able to find the right product for you, as well as negotiating appropriate rates on it.

Of course, it is important to make sure that your lender doesn’t charge fees for extra repayments, refinancing, or any other steps you take in an attempt to save on your loan. We will be able to provide details and make sure you have a loan that lets you pay down your balance sooner.

If you want to pay off your mortgage faster, have a chat with us now, we have the expertise to make sure you aren’t paying too much and are in a loan that suits you.

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RBA RATE ANNOUNCEMENT

June 2015 

At its meeting today, the Board decided to 

LEAVE THE cash RATE ON HOLD AT 2.00%

 The Governor of the RBA, Glenn Steven’s statement is available in full CLICK HERE

With a crazy market and two rate cuts already this year, the cash rate has been left on hold for this month… Let’s see what happens throughout the rest of the year!

Whilst we have had rate cuts this year and your home loan repayments have decreased, a suggestion would be to start preparing for a rainy day, getting your finances in order building on a financial buffer!

My suggestion is always to look at bad debt, ie. Credit cards and personal loans, and to eliminate them quickly.  Once they are gone, an opportunity to increase your loan repayments, to have redraw or dump the extra cash in an offset account, which will bring your interest costs down.

If you haven’t reviewed your home loan in a while, you will be amazed at how things can change over time so it’s important to reflect on how your property has grown in value. With the ever increasing value of property as well as continuous changes in interest rates, it is very likely there is a better rate available than what you are currently receiving. So why not have a chat with us about planning for your financial future and consider some of the options available to make the most of you current situation and you too could be putting extra money into your home loan while you can!

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