Home Loans . . . To fix or not to fix?  

It is said that Aussies will bet on anything – even two flies crawling up a wall. Our bets have become a bit more sophisticated and now it seems the latest "bets" are taken between economic commentators on what the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) board will do to the cash rate on the first Tuesday of every month. The betting odds are pretty low so it won't be commentators who will lose too much; it's the mortgage holders who have more skin in this game.

However, while the economists monitor the manoeuvrings of the RBA, the banking regulator, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has tightened the lending rules major banks must follow. One effect from this decision is increased interest rates to both investors and home owners regardless of the RBA board's announcements.

So is it time to take action?

Well, regardless of whether rates are going up or down, before you act, carefully consider both sides - the advantages and disadvantages of fixing your interest rate.  

Advantages

Although the obvious advantage is that when you fix, repayments will not increase with rising interest rates, this hasn't been the issue over past years. More recently with bank-driven increases this advantage is again becoming reality. You know in advance what your repayments will be for the fixed period, and you can usually choose terms of between one to five years. This helps to remove the guesswork.

Disadvantages

Clearly the biggest disadvantage is what would happen in the doubtful scenario of rates dropping. It has been widely documented that the global economy isn't acting "normally", so unless you have a crystal ball, it's anyone's guess what could happen in the near future. Rates were originally reduced to reinvigorate the overall economy but even the experts couldn't have foreseen that the expected growth wouldn't follow. Instead, the biggest consequence has been skyrocketing house prices. Is all this about to change?  

Another downside of a fixed interest contract is you may not be able to make extra repayments and there is usually a sizeable penalty for paying out your mortgage earlier or breaking your contract. This must be factored in.

The usual economic rules don't seem to be working (and the banking rules have changed), so there is no precedent to rely on with regard to fixing.  

If you're thinking of refinancing, first read your loan documents carefully to make sure it's worth it.  

Life is about choices and nobody should make this decision for you. In the meantime, keep paying your mortgage off regularly and make additional payments when you can.