The majority of Australians will happily drive out of their way to save few measly cents on their petrol but when it comes to refinancing their home loans, people are reluctant to spend a meagre 20 minutes on an annual home loan check which could save them thousands.
For many Australians the idea of saving money on petrol is an easy equation as it is laid out in front of you in black and white whereas the perception of refinancing your home loan in order to get a better deal seems far too daunting.
An Artog survey found an overwhelming majority of Australians are not happy with their home loan and admit to feeling miserable, confused and down trodden as a result. While it was surprising to find many Australians would not devote a small amount of energy that could save them thousands, more than half surveyed said they would commit at least one hour and a couple of calls to the process of investigating refinancing options if they were guaranteed a saving of $50,000 over the life of their loan.
A home loan can be the biggest financial investment many people will make in their life time, so it’s important they check their home loan on an annual basis to ensure they’re getting the best deal. Refinancing is a big scary word so we prefer to use the analogy of giving your home loan a service to ensure it continues to run in tip top shape. All it takes is 20 minutes on which could save you a lot of money - money that’s better off in your pocket!
A home loan should be managed on an ongoing basis, not left in the drawer for 25 years until it’s paid off. It needs to adapt and evolve and you need to think about its future.
When reviewing a homeloan, check to see :
- If there are lower interest rates elsewhere
- If the home loan is flexible allowing unlimited additional repayments and redraws with no fees
- If the home loan is laden with fees
- If you can manage the loan online or by phone
- If you can BPay from the account and direct debit/salary credit to make repayments
- If you can split the loan to utilise different products
- If you can move houses and keep the same home loan
To make life easier for those wishing check their home loan, check out the refinance centre of our related company MyRate. This website shows how much money you could potentially save if you refinanced your loan to MyRate. Or if you wish to keep making the same monthly repayments, it will show how much sooner you could pay off your home loan by reducing the interest rate of your home loan. Refinancing is easy and the thousands of dollars of potential savings are well worth the effort.