Checking the health of your home loan

You're used to taking your car to the mechanic for a service, visiting your doctor for the annual check up or visiting your dentist to make sure your teeth are in good order. The same principle applies with your your home loan.

Your personal circumstances change over time so it's important to make sure your home loan meets your needs and evolves with your lifestyle. To do this you should conduct a regular home loan health check to make sure you're getting the most out of your biggest financial commitment.

With a home loan health check you'll be able to do things like:

• compare your current home loan to other loans to see if you can get better terms
• work out whether you can save money by getting a better rate
• make sure your current home loan meets your current needs and if it doesn't, change to one that does
• take advantage of product innovations that may not have been available when you first took out your loan
• unlock equity in your home that can be used for other purposes - like investing
• protect your self against adverse interest rate movements
• save money by consolidating other debt into your home loan
• move your business away if you're not happy with your current lender
• help negotiate better terms with your current lender

Its a good idea to do a health check at least every couple of years and towards the end of any fixed rate or special rate deal. But always remember to check the terms of your existing home loan and weigh up any fees and other costs associated with switching your loan, with the expected savings and benefits of the the new loan product.

Home health checks are free and these can be done either directly with your lender, another lender or with an independent home loan specialist like a mortgage broker. You can also do your own health check by comparing home loan products and using various mortgage calculators and other tools to do your analysis.

To arrange for your free home loan health check simply contact any of Top Choice Home Loans's preferred banking partners or our preferred mortgage broker partner.