Monday 7 July 2008

The Mortgage Calculator in Australia - Part 1


Many easy to use mortgage calculators in Australia are available online today and these will answer many of your mortgage related questions, be it how much you can borrow, how much your repayments will be and the effect of additional repayments.
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In Australia a mortgage calculator may even compare different home loan options available for you.

When using a mortgage calculator to ascertain how much you can borrow it should be used as a guide only. The result will give you a general idea of your borrowing potential and therefore what sort of property you can start hunting for!
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In conjunction with this you may also wish to use another loan calculator which can work out your approximate monthly repayments due. The calculated results can assist with your personal budgeting and help you decide how much you believe you can afford to borrow given your personal circumstances.

The repayment loan calculator can also help you compare different scenarios such as possible rate increases, the difference between paying weekly, fortnightly or monthly instalments or the effect on repayments given different loan terms.
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Though the standard loan term in Australia is 25 - 30 years a shorter term can be taken - the mortgage calculator lets you know how much your monthly repayments will increase if you choose to take a shorter loan term.

Another useful tool is the 'Extra Repayments' calculator. This will show the effect of additional repayments being made over the term of the loan. The mortgage calculator will show you that if you make additional or extra repayments you will can substantially lower the interest paid over the life of the loan and also have your home loan paid off a lot quicker.

Given there are so many loan products available, if you are looking for finance in Australia today, a mortgage calculator can be a very effective tool when weighing up your financial/budgeting options.

Vicky Edema has been the Managing Director of Austral Mortgage Corporation since 1992, the company provides an easy to use mortgage calculator and offers competitive mortgage rates. Visit Austral Mortgage at http://www.australmortgage.com.au