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Home Loans Articles
Learn more about how to manage your personal finances with RateCity's home loan articles, including how-to-guides on comparing home loan interest rates, fees, features and other benefits.
Mark Bristow
Personal Finance Editor
How can I pay my loan off faster?
Whether you have a home loan, a personal loan or a car loan, it’s likely that you’d prefer your debt to be paid off as soon as possible. The longer you owe money to a bank or lender, the more interest you’ll be charged, until the total cost eventually exceeds any benefits offered by the loan.
Home Loans
05 Sep, 2017
5 min read
Nick Bendel
Property & Personal Finance Writer
What is APRA?
APRA, or the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority as it is officially known, is the prudential regulator of Australia’s financial services industry.
Home Loans
24 Aug, 2017
1 min read
Alex Ritchie
Personal Finance Editor
What is a principal and interest home loan?
Home loan repayments are either made on a ‘principal and interest’ basis or they are paid by ‘interest-only’ instalments.
Home Loans
11 Aug, 2017
4 min read
Mark Bristow
Personal Finance Editor
Is it safe to get a home loan with a small lender?
While there are certainly benefits to getting your mortgage from a major bank like Australia’s Big Four, it’s the smaller lenders that tend to offer the more competitive interest rates, fees and charges that give the big banks a run for their money.
Home Loans
09 Aug, 2017
3 min read
Nick Bendel
Property & Personal Finance Writer
Why smaller mortgage lenders often come out on top
Borrowers are doing themselves a disservice if they refuse to at least consider taking out a mortgage with a lender outside the big four banks.
Home Loans
08 Aug, 2017
3 min read
Alex Ritchie
Personal Finance Editor
The 5 mistakes people make with home loans
A home loan is arguably the most expensive purchase you will make, so you can’t afford to make mistakes. RateCity has compiled a list of the most common miscalculations you can make when choosing a home loan.
Home Loans
22 Jun, 2017
2 min read
Nick Bendel
Property & Personal Finance Writer
Is the cheapest home loan always the best?
We all want to pay as little for our mortgage as possible, but it would be wrong to assume that lower-rate products are automatically better.
Home Loans
22 May, 2017
3 min read
Mark Bristow
Personal Finance Editor
What the new bank levy could cost you
One surprise to come out of Australia’s 2017 Federal Budget was the introduction of a new 'budget repair' levy on Australia’s big banks.
Home Loans
15 May, 2017
5 min read
Mark Bristow
Personal Finance Editor
Good debt and bad debt, how to consolidate and save
Even if you didn’t pay much attention to the 2017 federal budget, you may remember how it was presented a little differently. Rather than focusing solely on surpluses versus deficits, the federal government sorted its borrowing into "good debt" and "bad debt".
Home Loans
11 May, 2017
7 min read
Nick Bendel
Property & Personal Finance Writer
Don't make this big refinancing mistake!
The main reason people refinance their home loan is to save money. But sometimes people make a crucial mistake and actually lose money.
Home Loans
08 May, 2017
2 min read
Jodie Humphries
Personal Finance Editor
How offset accounts can strip years off your home loan
Unless you have a bachelor degree in finance, really smart friends or a great financial advisor, you may never learn all the tricks of the trade. For instance, did you know that offset accounts reward the conscious saver by saving you thousands in interest charges and shaving years of your loan term?
Home Loans
08 May, 2017
8 min read
Alex Ritchie
Personal Finance Editor
How will the big four's interest rate increases affect you?
Yet another of the big four banks has increased home loan rates, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) raising borrowing costs for owner-occupiers and property investors.
Home Loans
28 Mar, 2017
2 min read
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Mark Bristow
Personal Finance Editor
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Mark Bristow
Personal Finance Editor
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Mark Bristow
Personal Finance Editor
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