Budget Your Own Finances

All major personal finance decisions start with you! Unless you have prepared a budget, know what you can afford, know what your credit rating is, know how much you will likely be able to borrow and then start searching accordingly, you are missing a vital step.

Many Australians settle for a rough idea of what they think the bank will lend them based upon friends or family’s experiences, and are then disappointed when they don’t get it.

Once you have prepared a budget, checked your credit rating and worked out what deposit you can put down, use a maximum borrowing capacity calculator to get a clearer indication of how much you can borrow.

One temptation is to aim too high from the start, believing we should aim for the best and that our personal finances will only improve over time; this can be dangerous and has got many Australians into sticky debt situations over the past few years.

That’s why it’s so important to be realistic about your budgets and build some flexibility into your approach.

Research and Comparison

With so many online Australian personal finance sites you can do a lot of the “homework” from the comfort of your own living room.

Compare home loan rates and terms, fees and charges, fixed and variable rate loans and start making a short-list. Remember that low rates are great but only if the rest of the loan matches up to what you need; if many fees and charges are built in the cost can rise rapidly.

You can check the home loan comparison calculator to compare how two different loans match up.

At LowerBills you have all the deals laid out to find the cheapest home loan; then you can make an enquiry and be hooked up with a mobile lender within 24 hours to discuss your in-depth requirements.

Pinpoint Requirements With The Lender and Negotiate

With home loans being an involved process, it’s best once you have done all your research to talk through your exact requirements with a lender.

Sit down and discuss what you need and be prepared to negotiate. The home loan market is competitive so if you are not getting the cheapest home loan possible, push for it. If you have a good credit rating, many banks will want your business, so you are in a good position to shave a few basis points off the rate – and that can save you a LOT of money in the long run.

Remember with the types of figures we are talking about for home loans EVERY basis point off you home loan helps with lower repayments.

Start With Lower Bills

LowerBills will walk you through the whole process of finding the cheapest home loan, in easy-to-understand terms. There is no mumbo-jumbo.

Check out our home loan guide for tips on what you need to consider; then, once you have compared loan rates and other features you will be put in touch with a lender to discuss your in-depth loan requirements.