But sorry, those quick fix 'miracle hacks' that the internet loves to offer us are usually too good to be true. The real solution involves small regular steps in the right direction, no miracles involved. By Frances Cook
Every few months, there’s a new viral hack that promises to get you mortgage-free in five years.
And every few months, I watch Kiwis get their hopes up… only to realise the maths doesn’t stack up, or the trick only works if you’re earning six figures and living like a monk.
The problem is, in the online world we live in, there are shortcuts designed to get attention and go viral, and then there are the real shortcuts that can genuinely change your financial life.
You don’t want to miss out on the second category.
So, how to tell the difference? With difficulty, sometimes.
The real tricks are quieter, far less glamorous, and much cheaper. They don’t require a personality transplant or an iron will.
They work because they respect how people actually behave, not how the internet thinks they should.
And while none of them will have you dancing next to a whiteboard, they will chip years off a 30-year loan, and save you thousands in interest along the way.
Is it worth it? Yes, because paying off the mortgage early doesn’t mean just saving yourself time. It can mean tens of thousands of dollars, or more, that you never pay at all.
Making an extra payment on the mortgage wipes off the interest and fees that that dollar would have cost you if it was still on the loan.
Every $1 extra can be worth $2, in what it’s saving you. So imagine putting a little extra every week, over a few years, and how fast that adds up to thousands upon thousands saved.
Here’s what really works.
1. Start small, but start early
If you don’t have much money, time is your best friend. The sooner you start, the less money you need to make serious progress.
Adding a tiny amount as soon as you can, even if it’s $20 a week, can wipe years off your loan.
It’s not that $20 is a magic number, but that it’s a number most people can stick with every week, over years. And that can soon add up to tens of thousands saved, because it snowballs much faster than you expect.
Tiny is fine. Consistency is everything.
2. Have a little fun and a little forethought
If you get a windfall, you don’t need to dither about whether to enjoy it now, or put it to work.
In the words of a famous taco ad, why not both?
Tax refunds, a minor Lotto win, payment from something you put on Facebook marketplace, maybe a Christmas bonus if you’re lucky. These are all moments to give yourself a little breathing room.
If you don’t have overdue bills it needs to go on, my personal favourite tactic is to split it. Some for a little celebration now. Some for a future goal, such as an extra mortgage payment.
The best part is, you don’t need a spreadsheet. Just a rule: a certain percentage of any extra income goes straight to the loan.
3. Negotiation isn't a personality type, it's a habit
As New Zealanders, we kind of suck at negotiating.
Businesses know this, and it means we easily end up overpaying. Including to the bank.
Except the advertised mortgage rate often has a little wiggle room on it, if you could only bring yourself to ask.
And recently, banks have been ready to offer seriously substantial cashbacks, in order to win new customers, or keep their current ones.
You don’t need to be confrontational, or an expert negotiator. Often all it takes is one phrase: “is that the best deal you can offer me?”
Even better if you can back it up with numbers, because you’ve checked what other lenders are offering, or have read some news stories about the types of deals available at the moment.
But really, often all it takes is to ask.
The worst they can say is no; the best they could do would save you thousands.
4. Prep to pay smarter
You may be wondering how you make these mythical extra payments that can wipe so much off your loan.
Well, each bank often has their own fine print.
A fixed rate means you’ve usually agreed to a certain payment, and the bank will not actually let you pay much extra.
But you can usually do some. It might be 5% extra, or up to $200 a fortnight. Check the terms and conditions, and then sneak that bit extra on there.
But another way to get ahead is to carve off part of your loan, put it on a floating, offset, or revolving loan.
This gives you the flexibility to pay off as much extra as you can, which is particularly helpful for freelancers, or people in industries that have lumpy but highly paid work.
Make it an amount that you think you could do in a year, if you worked at it. Then treat it as a sprint effort. Breaking a goal down like this makes it much more achievable.
The trick with all of these tactics is that none of them rely on luck. It’s just a few small decisions that quietly stack up in the background.
Mortgage freedom isn’t won by doing one big clever thing. It’s making a few smaller decisions that you know you can stick with over time, automating them, and then letting time do the heavy lifting.
The shortcuts exist, they’re just not designed to go viral.
The information in this article is general in nature and should not be read as personal financial advice.
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