5 ways to get the most from your AMP home loan

There are many ways AMP Bank can help you get the most from your home loan – from reducing the overall interest you pay to consolidating your debt. No matter what package you have, you can make your home loan work harder, take control of your repayments and build your financial resilience.

1. Tailor your home loan to suit you

The way you structure your home loan could help you pay less interest in the long run and take years off your mortgage. As rates increase, it’s a good idea to think carefully about what type of loan best suits your needs – fixed, variable, or split. It could have a significant impact on your future repayments and household budgeting as rates rise – and potentially start to fall at some point in the future.

Fixed rate loans

A fixed rate loan has a set rate even if interest rates rise.

• You can lock in your interest rate for a period of time– depending on factors such as the total amount borrowed and the overall loan term.
• You can choose to fix your rate again at the end of the fixed-rate term, or let it roll over to a variable rate.

A fixed rate home loan notonly gives you certainty in your repayments, but it could also help you manage your household budget more easily. You can make extra repayments for up to $10K per annum against any fixed term loan and can have multiple fixed loan splits with your home loan. But you usually don’t get the flexibility to make extra repayments above $10k per loan. This means you can’t pay off your loan faster if you wanted to add excess funds. And you might also be up for break costs if you want to exit your loan before it ends.

If you’re rolling off a fixed rate or looking for a better deal on your existing loan you can contact one of our Home Loan Specialists on 13 30 30.

Variable rate loans

The interest rate you pay over the life of your loan can change as banks vary their lending rate in response to changes in the official cash rate. So, if rates rise, so will your repayments.

 A variable home loan can be more difficult to budget for, but tends to be more flexible so you may be able to:

• make extra repayments to pay your home loan off faster
• access these extra repayments via a redraw facility
• open an offset account, which you can link to your home loan to reduce your interest.

Split loans

A split loan can help to manage the risk of higher repayments by letting you fix some of the loan and leave the rest variable. This could give you the best of both worlds, as a split-rate loan allows you to have rate and repayment certainty on the fixed-rate loan, while taking advantage of the flexibility on the variable-rate loan.

2. Create an offset account

If you haven’t already, check if you can link an offset deposit account to your home loan. An offset account operates like a transaction account, but it reduces the interest you pay as interest is only charged on the mortgage balance less the offset account balance. 

With your AMP home loan, you have the option to open and link up to 10 offset deposit accounts to each variable loan. You can set up multiple offset accounts for holidays, a car purchase or renovations and put away some money each month. Even categorising your offset accounts for your everyday necessities like shopping, bills etc. The combined balances of all your offset deposit accounts will then be used to reduce the interest payable on your loan. It means that 100% of your offset accounts are  working for you to save interest You can also elect to have a visa debit card connected to your offset account that operates like an everyday account. So, withdrawing your funds available is simple and easy.

 Applying online is easy and should only take you around five minutes, apply for one or more offset accounts by completing this form.

3.  Take advantage of your redraw facility

Your AMP variable home loan also offers a redraw facility, which allows you to request to access extra repayments you might have made, on top of your minimum repayments, when you need it. So, if you have unexpected expenses or other things you need money for, it’s worth checking if you have available funds on your home loan that you could redraw. But bear in mind this could extend the life of your loan and mean you end up paying more interest in the long run.

You can request to access any redraw available on your home loan via the My AMP mobile app or My AMP online banking from your desktop.

4. Consolidate other debt into your home loan

You’ll generally find the interest rate on your home loan is lower than the interest on your credit cards or personal loans. So, if you have any debt, you could transfer this over to your home loan so that you don’t pay as much overall interest.

5. Increase your repayments and pay your home loan off sooner (if you can)

Creating a budget could help you get across how much income you’ve got coming in, how much you need for the essentials and where the rest of your money might be going. This will help you identify if there’s any room for movement and if you could potentially add a little bit extra to your repayments. AMP’s Budget planner calculator could help you crunch the numbers.

We're here to help

If you're worried about your home loan repayments increasing or experiencing financial stress, please let us know. The best thing you can do is to reach out early, as soon as you're able. We'll listen, take the time to understand your situation, and support you to sort through the challenges.

There are many ways we may be able to assist, and we're here to talk through the options with you. You can call us on 13 30 30 any time from Monday to Friday (8am to 8pm), or Saturday and Sunday (9am to 5pm), Sydney time or email us at info@ampbanking.com.au.