How to pay off your home loan faster

WeMoney

If you want to pay your mortgage faster, you’re not alone. Tens of thousands of Australians are struggling with rising variable interest rates pushing their monthly payments up to unmanageable levels.

If you’re interested in paying down your home loan, look no further. In this article, we’ll cover the following steps to help you pay off your home loan faster: 

  • Evaluate your current situation
  • Create a budget
  • Choose a repayment strategy
  • Refinance your home loan
  • Consider an offset account
  • Utilise extra income
  • Seek professional advice

Q1. Evaluate your current situation

Paying off your mortgage can feel unmanageable, but this is often untrue. Start evaluating your current financial situation by analysing your monthly ingoings and outgoings and savings account. This allows you to see how much disposable income you’re left with every month and whether you’re able to start reducing your loan with lump sum payments.

If your disposable income is minimal, it might be time to identify areas where you can reduce your spending and debts, whether from a credit card or personal loan. To pay off your home loan quicker, you’ll likely need to make spending sacrifices in the short term. 

Important: If you’re unsure how to reduce your spending, seek financial advice. 

Q2. Create a budget

Once you’ve analysed your bank account balance and better understand your disposable income, it’s time to create a budget for paying off your loan sooner. Allocate a realistic amount of your disposable income towards your home loan repayment. Whether you can put thousands of dollars or a couple hundred towards paying off your home loan faster, every little bit counts. 

Note: To better manage your lump sum repayments, create a separate budget where you can track and allocate any extra home loan funds. This will help you see how much you can afford from month to month.

Q3. Choose a repayment strategy

Once you’ve established your budget, it’s time to choose a repayment strategy to pay off your home loan sooner. 

  • Extra repayments: Making extra repayments weekly or fortnightly, or paying more every month, reduces the amount you’ll pay in the long term by cutting the life of the loan.
  • Switch to fortnightly payments: Rather than making a month’s repayment, consider dividing it into a bi-weekly or fortnightly payment. This will allow you to make an extra month’s repayment each year, reducing the loan balance quicker. 
  • Redraw facility: Some loans allow you to redraw or offset your additional repayments, which you can use to access funds in an emergency. 
  • Debt consolidation: If you’re plagued with high-interest debts, consolidating them into your home loan will allow you to access a lower interest rate and simplify your repayments, freeing up more disposable income. Of course, this could increase your repayment amount, so consult with mortgage brokers before using debt consolidation. 

Q4. Refinance your home loan

If you’re stuck with a variable-rate mortgage combined with rising interest rates, or you’re on a fixed-rate home loan that’s about to end, you might want to consider refinancing. 

Refinancing high-interest-rate home loans is a common strategy for paying off a mortgage faster as you switch to a lower interest rate. With a lower interest rate, more of your monthly payments can go towards reducing your home loan principal balance, enabling you to pay off the loan faster.

Q5. Consider an offset account

A mortgage offset account is a type of savings account that’s linked to your home loan. In other words, the balance of your offset account is offset against your outstanding home loan, which reduces your interest. For instance, if you have an outstanding loan of $300,000, and your offset account has a balance of $50,000, you’ll only be charged interest on $250,0000 of your loan. 

Note: Offset accounts can help you pay off your loan faster since you’re paying less overall interest on your home loan. If you have significant savings, an offset account is a fantastic option. 

Q6. Utilise extra income

Rather than putting your extra income into a savings account, use it to make extra payments towards your home loan. This can be done by direct debit at the start of the month, so you don’t spend your extra income before you’ve made an additional repayment. 

Q7. Seek professional advice

Consult with a mortgage broker or financial advisor to evaluate your options and determine the best approach for utilising your extra income to pay off your home loan faster. They can provide personalised guidance based on your financial situation and goals and will likely recommend the following options: 

  • Extra repayments 
  • Offset accounts 
  • Refinancing
  • Fortnightly or bi-weekly payments
  • Debt consolidation

You can apply online for a meeting with a financial planner. Ensure you check their reviews and recommendations before moving forward with a financial professional. 

Summing up

In this article, we’ve covered all the ways in which home buyers can pay off their loans faster and avoid mortgage interest rate rises. Your monthly home loan repayment shouldn’t leave you in crippling debt - if you’re struggling with mortgage stress, consult with a mortgage broker or financial advisor. 

If you liked this article, why not stay updated with the WeMoney blog? We publish regular financial advice for our readers. If you liked this article, read our other blog post, ‘How to set up a personal finance plan.’

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Disclaimer: The author is not a financial advisor and the information provided is general in nature and was prepared for information purposes only. This article should not be considered to constitute financial advice. Accordingly, reliance should not be placed on this article as the basis for making an investment, financial or other decision. This information does not take into account your investment objectives, particular needs or financial situation.

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