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40 >> OUR HOUSE SUMMER 2017 DoMinion LEnDing CEntRES 25 Secrets your Banker DoeSn't Want you to know twenty-five or 30 years can sound like an impossibly long time to service a loan, and for many of us, it is. Smart borrowers find ways to slash that amortization period, and find financial freedom sooner. Here are some tried-and-true tactics to pay off your mortgage faster By Len Anderson (3) iStoCK tooLBoX 1 makE a dOUblE mORTgagE paymEnT Doing this once a year can shave over four years off the mortgage. Sometimes you can skip a payment later on too… if you really, really need to. (try not to.) if your payment is $2,000 a month, four years of no payments equals $96,000 in savings! 2 incREaSE THE fREqUEncy Of paymEnT For example, go from monthly to bi-weekly accelerated payments. these can shave over three years off your mortgage. at $2,000 a month, three years of no payments is worth $72,000! 3 incREaSE yOUR paymEnT For example a one-time 10% increase can shave four years off the mortgage. (that's $96,000 again!) imagine if you bumped the payment 10% every year from the get-go. You would be mortgage-free in 13 years—start to finish! Can't do it? How about 5% every year? You would be mortgage-free in 18 years! How about increasing the payment by the amount of your annual raise? 4 lUmp SUm paymEnTS Same idea—the mortgage is gone way faster! Even just one extra payment a year equivalent to one monthly payment will give you similar results as #2 above. How about using your annual work bonus? 5 REnEgOTiaTE wHEnEvER RaTES dROp generally this is a good idea, however get independent professional advice (a cost- benefit analysis) to make sure it makes sense for you at that time. a 1% reduction on a $300,000 mortgage will save $250 a month—times five years, that's $15,000. 6 kEEp yOUR cREdiT RaTing HigH always pay your bills on time. never let payments slip past their due date—these will affect the mortgage rate you get quoted. always keep balances low in relation to credit limits on credit cards, lines of credit, etc. Fifty per cent or less is best even if you pay the balances in full every month. it's generally your statement balance each month that gets reported to the credit bureau. So if your credit limit is $3,000 and you are running $3,000 a month through the card each month (to collect all those points you never spend) and paying in full, it will look like you are maxing out your credit limit and your credit score will drop accordingly. 7 incREaSE yOUR mORTgagE Yeah, i know that sounds backwards! Use it to pay off your credit card debt, line of credit, car loan and so on for a better rate and a set payment plan. oh, you say, you don't want to extend the repayment period of that stuff by rolling it into your mortgage? then keep the total payment amount the same but pay it in one neat monthly payment to the increased mortgage. 8 makE an RRSp cOnTRibUTiOn then use your income tax refund to pay down your mortgage. 9 SwiTcH TO a vaRiablE RaTE But keep your mortgage payments the same as if on a fixed rate. Variable rates usually

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