If you’re struggling to qualify for a home loan, then an option is to simply purchase a cheaper property. While you might not get into your dream suburb straight away, as your equity position improves you can use that to move forward and upgrade. In addition, a more affordable home would mean you can pay down your debt faster.

If you increase your repayment frequency to fortnightly or weekly, you will end up making more repayments over the course of the year and be paying down a higher amount of debt. There are only 12 months in a year, while there are 52 weeks and 26 fortnights. That means your loan gets paid off faster and you’ll also be saving interest along the way. Along the same lines, you also have the option of increasing your repayments. You don’t have to simply pay down the minimum each month. The more you can pay down that principal component the better.

Your total interest repayments are calculated based of the value of your home loan, less the funds in your offset account. This means the more money in your offset account, the less interest you’ll pay. In turn, you can use those extra funds to make higher repayments on the principal loan. If your current home loan doesn’t come with an offset account or lacks the flexibility that you need, it might be worth speaking to a mortgage broker to compare your options.