Minimise fees

With some quick tips, you can learn to minimise your home loan fees. Often minimising fees is all about looking at your banking as a whole to make sure you've got the right loan to fit your lifestyle and the way you bank.

5 steps to minimising home loan fees

 1.   Review your home loan – is it still right for you?

• Compare home loan features to make sure you've got the right loan. You may be paying for features you don't need. Call us on 13 13 76 or drop by a branch if you want to talk about what loan suits you best.
• Consider Advantage Package, an all-inclusive home loan, credit card and transaction account that will help you save on fees. You pay a yearly fee of $395 and get interest rate and discounts that could help you save on your home loan, credit card and everyday banking fees¹
• See a complete list of Home Loan fees and compare Home Loan features.

2.   Consolidate all your loans

• If you have loans across a number of different banks, apply to consolidate your loans with us to save on monthly administration fees. Call us on 13 13 76 or drop by any branch to see how we can help.

3.  Monitor your home loan to avoid exception fees

• Exception fees (Payment Dishonour Fees, Payment Honour Fees, Arrears letter fees, etc) are charged when you haven't kept enough money in your nominated account to cover your home loan repayment.
• Check your nominated account regularly using Internet or Phone Banking to ensure that you've got the funds to cover your loan repayments. You can also call us on 13 13 76 or drop by any BankSA branch. For Portfolio Loan, get a balance enquiry at any BankSA ATM or set up SMS and Email Alerts.
• Exception fees are outlined in your loan Terms & Conditions. It's best to know what they are in order to avoid them:
  • Payment Dishonour Fee ($9 per direct debit) – payment whenever a direct debit order for payment from another institution is dishonoured.
  • Arrears Letter Fee ($9) – when you receive an arrears letter alerting you to an overdue amount that must be paid
  • On a Portfolio Loan, Payment Honour Fee and Payment Dishonour Fee ($9 per transaction) – Payment Honour Fee is for each transaction we honour which exceeds your available credit, and Payment Dishonour Fee is whenever a direct debit order for payment from another institution is dishonoured.

4.   Save on transaction account fees

• For all home loans other than a Portfolio Loan, arrange to automatically deduct your home loan repayments from a BankSA Complete Freedom account at least once a month and pay no monthly account service fees
• Use your Portfolio Loan as your everyday banking account to avoid having a transaction account. If you have more than 2 sub-accounts, save on fees by choosing to pay an annual fee rather than an account service fee on each sub-account.

5.   Redraw electronically

• Making additional repayments on your variable rate home loan is a great way to save on interest, while still having the flexibility to access your money with Redraw
• Save on fees if you Redraw via Internet or Phone Banking. Fill in the Internet and Phone Redraw Registration form and you'll be ready to Redraw when you need to.