Many people do not have a complete understanding of how different features work that are in place to help them pay off their home loans quicker than the standard 30 year term. Learn what you can do to help you manage your mortgage with some handy home loan features you may not be aware of.
Thankfully, most mortgages for home owners today have quite a few features for the loan that are made to help them pay it all off and manage the home loan successfully and positively. Unfortunately, too many homeowners have little to no knowledge of these features, or the ones they might benefit quite a bit from and which ones to choose.
Discovering Mortgage Features for You
Many people find that the best way to find out how you can benefit from home loan features is to talk with your mortgage broker. These professionals are going to be able to help you sort through all of your available options, features and loan products as part of their professional assessment service to you. Any excellent mortgage broker should be able to help you understand at least the most popular features, a few of which are explained below:
Valuable Mortgage Features
Extra Repayments
Having the option to make extra repayments on your home loan in addition to the minimum loan repayment amount. Paying amounts that are beyond the minimum of what you are required to pay to keep your loan status in good standing is what qualifies as extra payments. You can make extra repayments regularly by changing the amount that the bank withdraws from your account, or you can make them intermittently whenever you have money available to do so.
Redraw
One of the nicest benefits about this feature is that you are able to access these additional payments when you need them. Many people find security in making extra repayments because they have funds on standby available to save for any reason that may arise in the future. You might be charged for that withdraw, so be sure that you are aware of all of the terms and conditions that apply to your home loan.
Professional Package Discounts
A professional discount package is when a home owner receives discounts on a variety of products and services from the home loan lender by paying a single annual fee. These might include things like waived valuation fees, interest rate discounts, discounted insurance products, waived monthly and application fees and many others as well.
Interest Only Periods
With interest only periods, homeowners just pay the interest on the home loan that is due each month and not the principal itself. The benefit is that repayments are kept to an absolute minimum, but there is no possible way to pay off the loan unless extra payments are made. These interest only periods may be 5 years, 10 years or even 15.
Loan Portability
This mortgage feature will allow you to move your home loan onto another property. Normally this is given to people when they sell their home and buy a new one. Usually, in most cases for this home loan feature to be executable, the settlements have to happen within the same day, which would all let home owners avoid having to re-apply for a new home loan when they move to a different house!
Repayment Holiday
This is a valuable feature that can be used when a home owner’s financial circumstances change. Normally this would be due to the arrival of a new baby, a lay-off from a job or any other circumstance that results in a decrease in income for the family. Usually this home loan feature will let home owners reduce or eliminate the amount of payments that are made for up to six months, which does add interest to the loan.
This article was written by William from homeloanfinder.com.au. Visit the HomeLoanFinder website to compare variable home loans and home loan interest rates today.