1. Drop your own rate
You are now in control of your rate. It’s totally up to you how quickly you pay down your loan.
Why should you wait for your lender to drop your rate when you can do this yourself?
Athena AcceleRATES are based on LVR (loan-to-value ratio) tiers where we lower your variable rate based on how much principal you’ve paid down on your Straight Up or Power Up home loan† !
An Aussie first home loan feature that no other lenders have. Check out more Athena AcceleRATES based off LVR (loan-to-value ratio) tiers.
What should you do?
Switch to Athena so that you are in control of your rate.
2. A great rate that stays great
Honeymoon offers are just that. They never last. And once you’re hitched to a lender, you’re often blind to what’s going on behind your back - they could be cheating on you with rate creep and fees.
This can cost tens of thousands of dollars over the life of your loan.
We want our relationship to be great while it lasts. We give every eligible customer a great rate from Day One until Day None. And if ever we flirt with sexy new variable offers for new customers, we promise to pass the same rate onto you for a variable Athena like-for-like loan¹. It's an Aussie first!
What should you do?
Ditch your current lender and enjoy the long honeymoon with Athena.
3. Time is money
The shorter the loan, the less interest you’ll pay. It’s that simple. Guess why the banks want to lock you into a 30 year loan? Then tempt you to refinance every 5 years? Because just when you’ve been starting to climb that ladder, you slide down that snake and have to start back all over again.
So whenever you refinance, try not to default to a restart. Make sure you refinance with the number of years you have left. Or less!
Athena doesn’t dictate terms, we let you choose the loan term you want. The shorter the better. You should note though, that the shorter the loan term, the higher the periodic loan repayments will be, which is why you pay your loan quicker with less interest.
Arrange a chat with our local Aussie loan experts to find out about flexible repayments when you refinance with Athena.
What should you do?
If you’re refinancing, don’t restart, reduce.
Athena gives you the flexibility to choose your loan term from 10-30 years, depending on your borrowing power.
4. Fast-track your savings
You could score a lower rate by moving to Athena. But why not keep making the same repayments as you were paying with your current lender? You’re already used to paying that amount onto your loan, and if you keep it up on our lower rate, you’ll turbo-charge your savings and nail your loan in no time.
Let’s break it down. If you moved from 6.43% (around the market average) for an owner occupier principal & interest loan of $400k to Athena’s lowest variable rate of the same loan amount and remaining loan term, you could save $17k in interest.
By deploying those savings back into principal repayments on your loan, you could cut about 1 year and 5 months off your loan and could end up saving as much as a whopping $49k off your loan!
What should you do?
If you’re refinancing, keep your current repayment amount and use those savings to fast-track to the finish line.
5. Put more in your redraw or offset
Athena’s Redraw or Offset are a great way to cut years off your loan without locking away your savings. Each deposit immediately reduces your effective loan balance for interest charges and this interest savings helps you knock off your principal faster.
Let’s break it down. If you have money sitting in your savings account (at a rate less than your home loan rate) your money will be working harder for you if you put it in our redraw or offset. So, if you had $100k in a savings account at 4.70%, you’ll earn $4,803 across the year in interest (and you may be taxed on that depending on your income threshold!).
But if you put it in our redraw or offset at 6.39% (Comparison rate 6.39%^) you’d save $6,390 in interest across the year – and not lose any of it in tax either! We can’t give you tax or financial advice so go see your advisors to explain it more.
And unlike other lenders, Athena won’t sting you with fees for moving your money in and out of your redraw or offset for Straight Up and Power up home loans. Athena's offset is only available on our Power Up product.
What should you do?
Unless you can get a better savings rate elsewhere, pop as much as you can into our redraw or offset.
When you’re sure you don’t need those savings anymore, ask for a limit decrease to permanently paydown your principal and drop your LVR to take advantage of Athena AcceleRATES.
6. Be more regular
Your minimum home loan repayments are always billed as monthly payments. But just by making fortnightly or weekly repayments via direct debit, you’ll reduce your loan amount quicker as this money stays in your redraw or offset and reduces interest until your monthly loan repayment. BAM!
That’s because interest is calculated on your daily balance. So the less your balance is each day, the less interest you pay. Athena lets you pay as free‑quently as you can – through weekly or fortnightly direct debits.
OR Take full control of when you make repayments! Ask to get flexible repayments set up so that all your money sits in your redraw or offset until it’s needed for your minimum monthly loan repayments. You can deposit money into your redraw or offset as often as you like. Easy.
What should you do?
Set up weekly or fortnightly direct debit payments to reduce interest and pay off principal faster.
7. Thirteen months a year!
Not all lenders calculate fortnightly and weekly repayments the same. We split it so you get ahead.
Athena takes your monthly repayment and divides that by 2 for fortnightly and by 4 for weekly. It means you pay more off your loan faster than other lenders who take the total annual repayment and divide by 26 or 52.
The way we calculate it means you’ll end up paying an extra month’s repayment over a year! The extra repayment stays in your redraw or offset that you can access whenever you want.
What should you do?
Add a month’s repayment and subtract years off your loan by paying weekly or fortnightly if you’re on direct debit with Athena.
8. F*** fees
Playing on our apathy, the big banks charged Australians $1.12 billion (according to the RBA in March 2023) last year in fees. Bastards. They sting you to apply for the pleasure of getting a loan, every month for being a customer, and if, shock-horror, you ever want to leave.
These fees quickly add up; they could be thousands over the life of an average market loan. Athena won’t charge you fees on our Straight Up or Power Up home loans. We’ll reward you for being a customer, not sting you.
What should you do?
Stay clear of lenders who charge you to join, stay or leave.
Check the small print for fees or annual charges before you apply, or switch and join Athena.
9. Every little bit helps
Even the smallest extra repayments will make a big dent in your mortgage.
Can you afford to put in an extra $50 a fortnight? It really does make a difference.
For instance, an extra $50 on a fortnightly loan repayment, on a $400k loan at our lowest rate, slices about 5 years and 6 months and about $118K in interest off that baby. Leaving you with the flexibility to use that money elsewhere in your budget.
What should you do?
Make extra payments frequently - Athena’s fee-free turbo-boost.
Pay down your home loan faster and free up cash.
10. Totally lose it!
Follow all our Home Loan Hacks and you’ll go from a home loaner to owner in no time.
Take an average home loan of $400,000 for 30 years at 6.43% with another lender paying monthly with no offset funds, and moved to Athena’s hottest rate of 6.24% (Comparison rate 6.24%^).
If you paid weekly, and made extra repayments of $50 per week, you could save a game-changing 9 years and 6 months, and $194K interest over the life of your loan.
Based on a $400,000 Straight Up Owner Occupier, P&I Variable ≤ 50% LVR
Average Aussie home loan
6.43% p.a. Variable rate
Monthly repayment frequency $0 extra repayments
😔 It would take you 30 years to pay it off
😩 You would pay a total of $504K in interest
Athenamazing home loan
6.24% p.a. Variable rate (6.24% p.a. Comparison rate^)
Weekly repayment frequency $50 p/w extra repayments
😃 It would take you 20 years and 6 months to pay it off
🤩 You'd pay a total of $310K in interest
See how much you could save
Look out for our hacks and start saving a whole lotta time and money.
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