 Check your home loan
With pending interest rate rises homeowners are being advised to check their mortgage carefully to ensure they have the best deal.
Independent mortgage brokers recommend taking a mortgage "health check" and look for ways to better manage the mortgage debt.
Rates are expected to rise by the end of the year and banks may well raise interest rates before the Reserve Bank changes the official cash rate.
Loan Market Group executive director John Kolenda says consumers should be aware that they have the ability to be in control of their mortgages by looking for lower rates now on their existing home loans.
"Most mortgage holders are on standard variable home loans with the major banks and more than 50 per cent of those consumers are paying an unnecessarily higher interest rate," he said.
"You still can negotiate a mortgage rate that is anything from 0.70 per cent lower or more for large size loans."
Home loan borrowers are advised to compare home loans, seek a lower rate and start budgeting for when rates do rise. The general feeling amongst economists and financial industry insiders is that official rates will rise by around 2 per cent by mid to late 2010, bringing the cash rate up from it's current 3 per cent to around 5 per cent.
Increases of 2 per cent on a $340,000 mortgage add $450 per month to repayments and more than $5,000 per year.
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