Forum Replies Created
Hi Lisa,
I found an error on my home loan where the bank had charged me investment rates, instead of home occupier rates. This was from a loan that was 14 years old (when there used to be a 1% difference between the two rates). I tried using a spreadsheet, but the compounding on compounding all got a bit messy, so I ended up buying Home Loan Interest Manager Pro to do all the calculations.
mathewc73 wrote:In my opinion you are better off just doing the calc in excel.It was really time consuming trying to set up the spreadsheet to work out all the numbers, and then make sure it was all correct. Maybe I was doing it wrong, but if all you want to do is a quick check of your statements, for free, then I would save yourself the hassle and try one of the following:
– use the web based checker at http://www.interestsavers.com.au, or
– download the free trial of the mortgage checker from http://homemoneymanager.com.au
Cheers,
MartyHi Shipwreck,
I was looking into mortgage checkers last year and I found the three main ones on the market were Home Loan Interest Manager Pro, Mortgage Watchdog and Interest Savers.
After shopping around I ended up with Home Loan Interest Manager Pro as from memory it was the only one I could download and fully try before I had to pay for it. I think interest savers also had something on their website that let you do a free check, so if you want to start checking your RAM mortgage statements without paying anything, I would suggest you start with one of these two.
Cheers
MartyHi Scruff,
You can always load your statements into a spreadsheet or one of the better mortgage software packages out there, and check the bank isn’t overcharging you.
Some of the better software packages give you reports that show you how much interest you will save over the life of the loan, and how much quicker you will pay it off. They let you play with the repayment amounts, offset accounts, etc.
I use a the mortgage checker by http://www.HomeMoneyManager.com which I find really good (I just import my statements one every 6 months), or just do a search for “Mortgage Audit Software” on the web to find others.
A small error at the start of the loan can compound into thousands over the life of the loan, so worth doing a check every 6 months or so, and keeping on top of things.
Cheers,
MartyHi Rexilla99,
From a previous post:
I downloaded the free trial of the watchdog once, but got really bored of typing in statements. It’s also a very basic software package. Common opinion (on forums) is that the software isn’t worth it. Other complaints include that the trial is crippled so you can’t really test it with your mortgage (interest rate is fixed) [grrr].
If you want to check your statement I’ve been using the mortgage checker Home Loan Interest Manager Pro (http://www.homemoneymanager.com/home-loan-interest-manager.html)
from http://www.homemoneymanager.com as it lets your load all your statements electronically, and provides you with a whole lot more reports on your mortgage [thumbsupanim].Works with offset accounts, and the free trial isn’t crippled so you can start checking your mortgage statements straight away…[specool]
Otherwise a quick search for “Mortgage Audit Software” will help you.
Cheers,
MartyThanks for the GREAT list. That will save me some searching around [biggrin]
Kayleen, I downloaded the free trial of the watchdog once, but got really bored of typing in statements. It’s also a very basic software package. Common opinion (on forums) is that the software isn’t worth it.
If you want to check your statement I’ve been using the mortgage checker from http://www.homemoneymanager.com as it lets your load all your statements electronically, and provides you with a whole lot more reports on your mortgage. Otherwise a quick search for “Mortgage Audit Software” will help you.
Cheers,
Marty
