Once you have purchased your property, proper tracking and management of your home loan can save you a lot of money.

Putting a little extra away

Putting a little extra onto the repayments referred to as a “lump sum” can be very beneficial. You can significantly reduce the term of the loan and the amount of interest you pay back, by making additional payments on the loan as often as possible.

Tips for owning your home faster

Pay as much as you can afford above your home loan repayment. Whether this is done once a year or every month, it will cut down how much you actually owe and how much interest you will pay over the whole length of the loan.

Furthermore:

If you have an equity or line of credit home loan, be careful about the amount of equity you still have in your home and how you spend the available credit.

If you can’t meet your repayments, you must talk to your lender about what you can both do. Don’t wait until it’s too late and you’re falling behind. The day you realise you are struggling to meet that repayment, call your lender.

Make your repayments in advance if you can because most home loans charge interest in arrears, by paying before the interest is due will cut into the principal amount and reduce the interest for each month.

If you can afford to, have the lender automatically increase your repayments each year. If your repayments increase each year, even by a small amount, it will reduce the term of your loan enormously.