Ask one of your girlfriends if that know what their paying on their home loan, and don’t be surprise if they can’t exactly, entirely, altogether recall the interest rate.
According to a UBank survey, men are more likely than women to know their current mortgage rate. But even then only 28 per cent said they did this by rounding it up to the whole percentage.
Whereas about 20 per cent of women in a group of 1021 people surveyed said they knew where to find the figure if they need it, compared to just 14 per cent of men.
This shouldn’t be all that surprising when there’s so much else going on in life but what’s odd is that we seem to be getting even more forgetful despite rates at all time lows. Which means money is cheap.
The average home loan rate is about 4.7 per cent according to comparison website finder.com.au. It’s a lot more than the official cash rate which was left at 1.5 per cent yesterday following a meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia board.
New research from UBank has revealed 85 per cent of Australians actually don’t know their home loan rate, compared to 84 per cent last year.
In the 2017 UBank Know Your Numbers Index, which aims to understand how Aussies are tracking with their financial management, 44 per cent of people surveyed said they could only recall an approximate figure for their home loan rate while the remainder (41%) simply didn’t know their rate at all.
Lee Hatton, chief executive of UBank says, “actively monitoring and seeking the best rate should be a priority for home owners as there are some great benefits on offer. We are seeing some of the lowest home loan rates on record, so now is the perfect time to know your numbers, and consider refinancing.”
“Buying a home is one of the biggest investments of your life, so it’s really important that you find the right loan that suits your individual needs. Simply knowing your exact home loan rate and managing it closely could save you thousands of dollars a year.”
The research also revealed Aussie’s are feeling financially strained, with 54 per cent admitting that their financial situation is causing worry and stress.
While a further 33 per cent of Australians constantly worry about their future.
“Unfortunately, more and more Australians are making significant sacrifices due to being financially overstretched.
“The better acquainted you are with your numbers, the less stress and more money you’ll have in your back pocket. It’s important Australians borrow less and live more,” says Ms Hatton.
Among the other research findings, over a third of Australians acknowledge they ‘have a lot of debt’, but they also admit to knowing that refinancing can help their financial situation.
The UBank Know Your Numbers Index also discovered that nearly one in four think that refinancing a mortgage to save money is a good idea but are yet to find the right competitive rate.
