"I would like to sincerely thank Home Money Manager for the home loan checker product. My family and I have been budgeting hard to try to stay ahead of our mortgage repayments for some time now. You can imagine our surprise when your software pointed out we were being overcharged interest every month, as the bank had accidentally set up the wrong rate for our loan!" Richard I, USA
Lender Mistakes Could Be Costing You Thousands
Few of us are mortgage experts, so we have to rely on our lenders to show us how to manage and repay our debt.
But what if they get it wrong?
We let them calculate our repayment schedules and tell us how much to repay, how often, and for how long.
We let their staff track and manage our repayments, and their computer systems calculate how much interest and fees we should pay.
With so much at stake, have you ever stopped to check that what the lender is doing is correct?
Leading publications around the world, including
Money Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Sydney Morning Herald, Forbes, Newsweek, The Australian Financial Review, CNN, Kiplinger's, have featured articles warning consumers of miscalculations in their mortgages and loans.
As a quick example, all it takes is the simple mix up with interest rates where you are charged 7.69% instead of 6.79%, and on a $200,000 mortgage you would incur an additional $43,927 in interest charges.
That's $43,927 of your money that will go to your lender over a 30-year period, or put another way, that's $43,927 that you could have invested or used in much better ways.
Hopefully you would notice $43,927 in extra charges!
Unfortunately most homeowners don't. The problem is that the difference between the wrong monthly repayment amount (of 1424.54) and the right repayment (of 1302.53) is fairly small (only 122.02 a month).
And I don't know about you, but off the top of my head I wouldn't know if my repayments should be 1000, 1500 or 2000 a month, so 1424.54 doesn't set off any alarm bells.
Therefore, most borrowers just keep paying what their lenders tell them to, without even knowing they are being overcharged.
And the worrying thing about this? It could be happening to you right now.
Home Loan Interest Manager Pro will check your statements at the click of a button. You can check interest calculations, transaction to balance totals, view your daily interest charges and much more.
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Make Extra Repayments or You Will Repay 2 to 3 Times What You Borrowed
Did you know if you follow your lender's repayment schedule you will repay between 2 to 3 times what you originally borrowed before paying off your loan
(based on a 7.5% 30-year loan)?.
On a 99,000 loan you will repay approx 249,000
On a 299,000 loan you will repay approx 752,000
On a 499,000 loan you will repay approx 1,256,000
It will also take you approximately 22 years to pay off the first HALF of an average 30-year mortgage.
However, if you were to increase the repayments on a 200,000 mortgage by as little as $45 a month, you could cut over $37,000 of interest payments and cut over 3 years off the loan.
Just $10 extra a week, could save you over $37,000 in interest charges.
And you will be mortgage free 3 years earlier, so that's 36 monthly repayments you won't have to pay to your lender and you could invest or spend how you want.
Load your statements into Home Loan Interest Manager Pro and you will be able to see how much you can save.
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Have All the Facts so You Can Make Informed Decisions
As your circumstances change, making
informed decisions is the key to staying in control of your mortgage and loans.
Often referred to 'what-if' type analysis, it is important to know "what" impact you will have on your mortgage and loans "if" something changes.
For example:
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If interest rates go up by 1.00%, what will happen to your repayments?
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If you withdraw 5,000 for a holiday, what will it cost you over the life of your loan?
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If you deposit a lump sum, or use an offset account what will you save?
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What would it take if you want to cut 5 years of your mortgage?
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With Home Loan Interest Manager Pro you will be able to accurately calculate the effect each of these "what-if" scenarios, and the effect they will have on the term of your mortgage and loans.
Every time you want to save or spend money, you will be able to make informed decisions based on facts. Then you can decide what is the best outcome for you.
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Know What Your Loans Are Costing You
Your statements contain a wealth of information about your mortgage and loans.
Unfortunately most of us just have a quick look at the outstanding balance, see that we still owe a small fortune, and file them away.
But by grouping and categorizing the transactions on your statements, you can get a very accurate picture of what your loans are costing you.
You can
instantly see the total interest you are paying, total fees, additional repayments you have made, and so on.
Knowing the cost of your loans is also the first step to cutting years off your loans. Until you can see what you are currently paying you won't be able to decide how much extra you can comfortably afford to repay.
And once you start making additional repayments, comparing summaries from statement to statement, and from year to year is a great way to track your progress and see the impact you are having.
When you load your transaction into Home Loan Interest Manager Pro you can assign categories to them (from our default list, or set up your own).
The summary reports will instantly let you see the true cost of your mortgage and loans, and help you track your repayment progress.
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Accurately Track Your Loans
For most of us our mortgage is the single biggest financial decision we will ever make.
Therefore
it is vital that you maintain accurate records, and track all changes including deposits, interest repayments, fees charged, and so on.
The more information you can tack about your mortgage and loans, the more information you will have at your disposal, and the more accurately you can make decisions.
Home Loan Interest Manager Pro lets you track all the information for each loan, including statements, transactions, balances and interest rate changes.
Stored in one convenient location, you have instant access to all your loan details at the click of a button.
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