The Good Mortgage Guide
Welcome to Good Mortgage Guide! We cut through the noise to bring you the stats, strategies and rate secrets that actually move the needle. You’ll uncover the quirkiest fee traps, game-changing repayment hacks and live market shifts - all in bite-sized insights that boost your mortgage IQ. Scroll down and get ready to learn something new.
Bank vs Non-Bank: Where to Find Better Deals?
You might assume the big four always lead the pack, but challenger banks like Athena and UBank regularly undercut the majors by 0.20% – 0.40% on comparable home-loan products. That gap might sound small, but on a $500,000 loan it can translate to thousands of dollars in interest savings each year. By broadening your search to include non-bank lenders via a comprehensive comparison site, you’ll uncover those wholesale-style rates that others miss and potentially shave years off your loan term without lifting more than a finger.
The Power of Splitting Your Loan
Rather than committing entirely to a fixed or variable rate, splitting your home loan 50/50 can unlock the best of both worlds - and up to $6,000 in savings over five years. You lock in the certainty of a fixed rate on half of your balance, protecting yourself from sudden jumps, while the variable half sits in your offset account, trimming interest daily. This dual-track approach gives you stability where you need it and savings where it counts.
Offset Accounts: Aussie Borrowers’ Favourite Hack
Offset accounts are the quiet heroes of home-loan repayment—over 65% of borrowers with offsets save more than $15,000 in interest over just five years by simply parking their surplus cash. Every dollar in offset reduces your interest-calculating balance, so funneling bonuses, tax refunds or even your everyday round-ups into this account supercharges your savings without extra repayments. It’s like getting a guaranteed return on your money, every single day.
Debt Recycling: Make Your Mortgage Work Harder
Debt recycling lets you tap your home equity to invest - turning non-deductible home-loan debt into tax-deductible investment debt. By redrawing or refinancing a portion of your loan to buy income-producing assets (like shares or an investment property), you keep your living-home debt separate from investment debt, unlocking potential tax deductions on the interest. Over time, this can accelerate your wealth building while steadily paying down your principal.
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Interest-Only vs Principal & Interest
Cutting your monthly repayments by up to 30% with an interest-only loan sounds tempting, but remember you’re not chipping away at your principal—this is purely a cash-flow play. Investors swear by IO for maximising rental yield, yet owner-occupiers often regret delaying equity accumulation when interest rates rise. Choosing a short IO term before switching to principal & interest strikes the balance between budget flexibility now and real ownership gains later.
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