There is no doubt about it, we are living through record low interest rates here in Australia.

And while low interest rates aren’t great for savings, they are great for anyone with a mortgage.

If you have a home loan, one thing you should be doing is taking advantage of these low interest rates while they are here, because, as with everything, they won’t be around forever.

So, what can you do to take advantage of these rates?

There are two main things you can do right now:

1. Look around for a better interest rate

Along with the official rate, financial institutions have also been dropping their rates and creating new, more competitive, home loan packages. If you haven’t looked at what’s out there in the market in the last 3 months, it might be worth taking a look.

2. Pay down your current mortgage(s)

Another way you can take advantage of these low rates is to pay off more of your mortgage debt now.

This will have the effect of lowering the principle so when the interest rates start picking up again you have less to pay – saving you money over the life of the loan.

If you can’t afford to increase your repayments, make sure you at least keep up the same repayment amount. Don’t fall into the trap of reducing your payments to the minimum due.

By at least keeping the payments at the same level, you will be paying off more of the principle and will save money over the life of the loan.

Are you paying off more than the minimum? Have you shopped around lately? Let us know in the comments below.