However, it is important to spring clean your home loan every few years!
We usually give our home a good spring clean once a year, purge old clothes, redecorate the house when you feel the need for change. But looking beyond the furniture and all the other pretties in your home, do you regularly review your home loan? Circumstances change over time, the loan that suited you when you first purchased your home may not be the best fit for you a couple of years down the track as banking products and packages evolve over time. It’s one of those things that is set up in the beginning then left and not thought about again.
When we purchased our current house 12 years ago, our circumstances were vastly different to today. We were on one income, had two 18 month olds with another one on the way, ooh I remember those days, so very long ago. While the loan suited our requirements at the time a lot has changed in those 12 years. We are now back to two incomes, the kids have grown up and now seem to cost a small fortune. The one thing that has not changed much in this time is our home loan, we reviewed it 8 years ago and made a small change, but have not reviewed it since until just recently. 8 years is far too long between reviews, perhaps we were too busy to think about it, or we’ve just been comfortable with what it was, but it should have been a priority, spring cleaning your home loan can:
- save you money, with interest and charges
- reduce your repayments
- consolidate your debt
- provide flexibility for the future
Continue to read further for my tips on reviewing your home loan, and things to think about. (more…)