Home loan increase

• Your loan balance is the amount you currently owe, and are paying interest on. 
• Your loan limit is the combination of your balance and available credit (when you’re on Principal & Interest repayments, your limit reduces over time).

If your home loan limit increase is approved, interest will only be charged on your balance, not the new limit you have in place. 

Play with our calculator to estimate what your repayments might be with an increased home loan amount.

Calculate new repayments

Advantages

• Home loans tend to have lower interest rates than other loans, plus it can be easier to manage one repayment.
• You’ll only pay interest on your outstanding loan balance, not your higher loan limit.   
• Our application process can be simpler than applying for a new loan.
• We’ve removed our top up fee.

Considerations

• If you’re borrowing for an investment property, talk to your accountant about the potential tax implications.
• More debt means more interest, and potentially higher home loan repayments.
• There may be an associated valuation fee to top up. And if you top up by opening a separate loan account, some loans may come with an establishment fee. To find out, request a call back and one of our lenders will call you back to chat.
• You'll only enjoy home loan interest rate savings (compared to higher short-term loan rates) if you repay the extra debt within a comparable term. Let’s say, for example, that you buy an electric car using a $50,000 home loan top up instead of a $50,000 3-year car loan. If you don’t accelerate your home loan repayments to repay the extra $50,000 within 3 years, your car purchase will be spread over the life of your home loan – and you’ll end up paying more interest.

Yes you can. Instead of increasing your current home loan balance, we could simply set up another home loan account for you. This lets you get features that your current loan might not have, like a fixed or variable rate, an offset account or a different loan term. 

Depending on your situation, there may be an establishment fee on your extra loan. To find out, request a call back and one of our lenders will call you back to chat through your options.

Let’s say you owe money on a personal loan and credit card with another bank, plus a St.George home loan and new car loan. When you successfully apply to consolidate debts with a home loan top up, we'll use the additional funds to pay off all your non-home loan debt accounts for you – even the debts with other banks – then add the combined amount to your home loan balance. 

Tips

• Cancel the loans and credit cards you’ve paid out. 
• You'll only enjoy home loan interest rate savings (compared to higher short-term loan rates) if you repay the extra home loan amount within a comparable term. Let’s say, for example, that you consolidate a $50,000 3-year car loan into your home loan. If you don’t accelerate your home loan repayments to repay that $50,000 by year 3, your car purchase will be spread over the life of your long-term home loan – and you’ll end up paying more interest in total. 
• Do your best to pay off more than the minimum repayment amount, or you could end up paying compound interest (interest on interest). If you find yourself struggling, let us help you get back on top of things.

You can use your top up to pay for a cosmetic renovation that costs $100k or less, like a whole new kitchen, solar panels or new floorboards. 

If your reno is going to be over $100k, or includes structural changes like constructing an extra room, consider topping up with our building option. Available on our Standard Variable Rate Home Loan, this handy feature lets you draw down funds progressively as you meet each stage of your building milestones – so you’ll only be charged interest as your build progresses. We’ll set up a separate loan account for you, and we can manage the progress payments for you, giving you more control of your project.

Estimate your home rebuild costs

Homeowners tend to use the extra cash from a top up to: 

• Consolidate debts into a lower home loan interest rate.
• Grow wealth by investing in shares.
• Cover big purchases, like a car, holiday, private school or medical bills.
• Put down a deposit on a new property.

To see your loan details, like your interest rate and repayments, just logon and click your home loan account > Tap the ‘Details’ tab in our App, or click ‘Account details’ on desktop.