It's 4pm on Friday afternoon and as we occasionally do, we are enjoying a drink as we wind down toward the weekend. Naturally (in an office like ours at least) the conversation turned to money and the ever increasing cost of a weekly supermarket shop and how making a small saving on your home loan could make a big difference to your surplus in your weekly budget.

Although not a staple by any stretch, it seemed topical to use a beer as an example. This one sitting on Claire's desk retails for around $24 per dozen. A recent study from an Insurance Company showed the average adult in New Zealand will consume around 10 standard drinks per week. Let's say that's $20 worth.

If you have a $250,000 Home Loan then at an interest rate of 5% that will be costing you $240/wk in interest. Most people will select a fixed interest rate, based on what they feel best suits them or the advice/advertising they get from their lender. All too often we're seeing people with a fixed rate that either isn't the best for them, or that could have been further discounted from the rate they were offered.

At My Mortgage we always endeavour to get the best interest rate available for our clients and if we could secure a discount of .20% below what you were offered by your own bank initially then that would save $10 per week. Enough to fund your social life to the tune of 50% of your average weekly alcohol consumption... but what is more important is that it puts money in your back pocket rather than that of the bank - We know you'll put it to good use!

If you used these savings to contribute to further reducing your loan balance then you could really make some quick headway on reducing your home loan... but we'll cover off the benefits of compounding interest in next week's blog.

We regularly hear people saying "my bank has the best deal" "it's the best deal I saw on the internet" or "my work gets a discount from this bank" - All of which have merit. However you cannot be sure that you have the best deal on your home loan unless you understand the discounts being offered off the carded rates or have an in depth understanding of what your bank and others are really offering their clients. We pride ourselves on being able to do this for you easily and of course free of charge.

So the next time someone you know is buying or has a fixed rate expiring, do them a favour and refer them to us so that we can save them some money on their Home Loan... They might even buy you a beer for your troubles!

Have good weekend