Get mortgage free faster

With the same repayments, the slice of interest you pay will be smaller, and the percentage of your payment going towards the principal will be larger.

You won’t feel it in your pocket because you’re not handing over any extra money, but you'll be better off in the long-run.

• On variable loans, we keep your repayments the same, instead of automatically lowering them when interest rates drop.
• On fixed loans, if you're re-fixing at a lower rate, you can request to keep your repayments the same to help you get ahead.

It's often easier to find money you already have than find new money.

Have a look at your budget and see if you could redistribute any current low-value spending to pay down your mortgage.

For example, you might find you're paying for subscriptions you don't use. This is a quick win to cancel these and bump up your repayments by the same amount.

Calculate what a small change in your repayments can look like in the long-run — you might be surprised. Even $20 a fortnight can help you pay your mortgage off faster and pay less interest overall.

On fixed rate home loans, you can set your repayments to be higher than the minimum repayment amount. These extra repayment amounts will count towards your annual 5% early repayment limit. See some early repayment scenarios for guidance.

If you’ve built up some savings or come into some extra money, you could make a lump sum payment to help pay off your mortgage faster.

• On a variable home loan, you can do this anytime — see our step-by-step guide.
• On a fixed rate home loan, you can make lump sum payments of at least $1,000, up to 5% of the loan balance in a year (note that any amount you're regularly paying over the minimum repayment amount makes up the 5% too).
• You can also request to make a lump sum payment when you're re-fixing.

If you've split your home loan into more than one fixed term loan, the early repayment limit applies separately to each fixed loan.

If you'd rather hold onto your savings instead of making an extra lump sum payment, you could use it to offset some of the interest on your home loan.

For example, if you have $50,000 of your home loan on an offset loan, and a total of $30,000 in linked Kiwibank accounts, you'd only pay interest on the difference of $20,000 on this loan. The more you have in your linked accounts, the more you'll offset your interest. Read more about offset home loans.

If you have your whole home loan locked into a fixed rate, consider mixing things up when the fixed term comes to an end. This is a good time to do it and avoid fees.

You can split your home loan into multiple loans to make the most of the different loan types and terms, even if some have a higher interest rate.

Having multiple fixed terms for different lengths, and keeping some of your home loan on a variable rate could give you more flexibility to make lump sum payments or increase your regular repayments if your circumstances change or interest rates change.