While the comparison rate can be a useful tool, Your Mortgage has gone even further and developed its own method to uncover the true cost of a mortgage.
The team at Your Mortgage has worked out the 'true cost' of the 13 basic variable rate products from banks and 31 products from non-bank lenders in our books, by taking into account each and every fee, including upfront, ongoing and deferred establishment fees, as at 18 March 2008.
By working out how much a given loan will cost you after a range of time periods - three, five and 10 years - we show you the impact that these fees can have on the total cost of your mortgage. By adding all fees to the cost of principal & interest (P&I), we calculate the true cost of a mortgage over three, five and 10 years. This month, we based our calculation on a loan amount of $300,000 at 80% LVR taken over 30 years.
And the winner is...
AMP Banking Basic Variable Rate loan smashed the competition in the banking category, thanks to its competitive interest rate of just 8.57% - one of the lowest rates among the top ranking banking products.
Despite having a hefty exit fee of $1,350, the product is still $1,777 cheaper compared to the average loan in our book after a three-year period. You could also save up to $3,158 over a five-year period, and $5,765 over 10 years.
In the non-bank category, Wizard's Rate Breaker Loan has once again established its dominant position as the cheapest basic variable rate loan, thanks to its ultra low rate of just 7.76%. Like AMP, Wizard has also trumped the competition by winning all three-year, five-year and 10-year categories.
Even with total start-up costs and ongoing costs of $1,520, and a $2,150 deferred establishment fee if you pay off your mortgage within three years, you'll still come out ahead.
Compared with the average basic variable rate in our books, Rate Breaker is $5,613 cheaper after three years. The loan can save you $10,800 after the five-year mark and up to $22,447 after 10 years.
For the complete list of top-ranking basic variable rate products, read the latest issue of Your Mortgage magazine, on sale now.