Comparing Mortgage Interest Rates from Home
In Australia, it’s safe to assume that there are 4 big banks. These lenders are responsible for offering their mortgage services to thousands of first-time buyers each year – but what might come as a surprise is that of these thousands, only a small percentage will attempt to compare the rates proposed by varying banks.
Comparing mortgage interest rates might seem like a daunting task, what with their potential to fluctuate from time to time and so many to evaluate – but doing so could save you thousands in the grand scheme of things. If you haven’t already been in touch with a local Melbourne mortgage broker, then now might be the time to do so.
These financial specialists can help to compare interest rates in a matter of days or less. But if you are still keen to take care of the comparison yourself, then read on.
Comparing rates from home
In order to get started with your comparison task, the first thing that you’ll need to do is go online and search for the banks that may be of interest. All of them are governed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Australia – and it’s this organization that’s responsible for defining the rough guidelines relating to the percentage of rates of interest-based on the economy and other factors.
Although individual banks might opt to vary their rates slightly, the reality is that most will attempt to keep their percentages as competitive as possible; or else all of their potential customers would end up going to the other banks that they are competing with. As a result, a quick search on the home loan category of a bank’s website should typically reveal their current rates of interest.
But things can further complicate at this point, because these may not be the only rates that they are proposing. Some might extend specific packages to their mortgage customers, with fixed-rate percentages as well as variable alternatives. Others might define their percentages differ depending on the type of loan being applied for and as you might imagine, this can only act to further complicate your decision.
This is actually one of the reasons why plenty of first time home buyers decide to hire a mortgage broker for help with comparing these types of rates. By doing so, the broker can take care of the comparison in a much more efficient manner – mainly due to the fact that they often have access to databases of the most up to date information provided by banks on their rates.