Fixed Rate Home Loans
Fixed Rate Home Loans are designed to protect you from the possibility of rising interest rates in the future, over a set term. Fixed Rate Home Loans can allow you to better manage your cash flow, as you will enjoy certainty with your mortgage repayments during the fixed term. By way of comparison with variable rate home loans, the monthly repayments may increase or decrease depending on the prevailing cash rate.
Most banks and lenders are offering fixed rate home loans, and some lenders also offer Fixed Rate Investment Loans if you are purchasing or refinancing debt associated with properties for investment.
Advantages of Fixed rate Home Loans
- Avoid future interest rate rises
- Maintain stability in your monthly home loan repayments
- Available as a ‘split loan’ in combination with a variable loan account
Disadvantages of Fixed rate Home Loans
- Lenders may not allow (or they may restrict) additional repayments
- No ‘redraw’ for any additional funds you have paid into the loan
- Early repayment may incur ‘prepayment cost’ (depending on interest rate movements subsequent to your original loan settlement a pay out of your fixed rate home loan before the end of the fixed term early may cause financial loss for your lender, which they pass on to you, the borrower).
Fixed Rate Home Loan Tips:
- When applying for a home loan, consider a ‘rate lock’ option – where you ‘lock in’ the prevailing fixed rate during the application process you are protected from this changing in the period between loan approval and settlement.