There are lots of different features and benefits to consider when you’re choosing a suitable home loan for you. Do you want to be able to reduce your loan interest? Have the convenience of combining all your accounts into one and get a discount on your interest rate? Or make additional repayments to pay your home loan off more quickly?
Your local Finance Today Adviser will be able to help you decide what’s most important for you.
The questions below will help you decide the features you need, which should in turn guide you to the home loan that suits your needs. When answering the questions, think ahead, not just until next year but also to 5 or even 10 years down the track. It's important to be realistic in your answers. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Do I want to pay the loan off as quickly as possible or am I happy to see out the term of the loan?
- Am I good at sticking to a budget or am I a spendthrift?
- Do I require certainty in the amount of my loan repayments or am I happy for them to fluctuate with official interest rate movements?
- Am I likely to want to draw back some of my repayments in the future for spending on holidays, cars, furniture, etc?
- If I am planning on having children, how will this affect mine or my partner's work situation?
- For existing children, have I adequately budgeted for school fees and other expenses that are likely to come up in the future?
- Am I likely to receive some form of cash windfall or bonus at any stage?
- How secure is my employment or work situation?
These answers will assist you in clarifying your goals, which will in turn help us work through the different loan options and arrive at the one that suits you.
Depending upon your answers to the above questions, you will need to seek a number of loan features that are specific to your situation. Some of the more common loan features available are outlined below.
