How Can You Be Creative When It Comes to Your Home Loan Obligations?
Do you sometimes feel as if you have a stone around your neck when considering your home mortgage? Sometimes the very thought of those monthly repayments going on into perpetuity can be difficult to digest, but it shouldn't seem as if it's an insurmountable problem. There are ways that you can handle your mortgage payments and outstanding debt that could make you feel happy with yourself and less stressed. What should you be considering?
Pay More or More Often
When you bought your home you understood that you would have to pay quite a considerable amount of interest as part of the overall loan and that this would take many years to pay off. A lot of people simply accept this, make sure that they have the necessary funds for each monthly payment and leave it like that. However, the more payments that you make, or the more frequent these repayments are, the more quickly you're going to take care of that debt.
Some people decide that they will take any tax repayment they receive when they lodge their annual return and put that straight into their home loan. Other people use a clever technique of dividing the monthly repayment in half and paying it each fortnight instead. You might think that this achieves the same thing, but remember that there are effectively 13 months in the year if you divide it into fortnight segments. So, you will have repaid an extra month each year with this technique.
Start New Habits
Also, think about cutting down on some of those daily habits like a trip to the coffee shop each morning and carry along your own brew with you instead. When all is said and done, you probably won't notice the difference, but direct that money into your home loan and you will in time.
Rethink Your Loan
How long ago did you sign your existing home loan? You need to be able to take advantage of a monetary product that suits you and can be changed if necessary. It may be possible for you to restructure it and get rid of some potential penalties. You may be able to consolidate it with another loan, reducing the overall interest rates or getting rid of some of the fees.
Think of some of the ways that you can be creative when applying cash towards your mortgage. Have a word with an accountant as well to see what they suggest in your particular case.
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