Most Australians (68%) are ‘very comfortable’ with their home loans, according to new report by ING Direct, titled Household Financial Wellbeing Index.

The non-major bank’s survey stated 31% of the country’s households are mortgage free, while 44% are paying their loan faster than required.

In fact, a total of 18% of the households have a personal loan, with the average household bearing 1.8 credit cards. Fifteen per cent do not have a credit card.

New South Wales appeared to be the most comfortable of all the states, followed by Western Australia and Victoria. They were all up on their second quarter 2014 results.

Meanwhile, South Australia and Queensland have dropped places since the second quarter.

“Almost half of all homeowners are making the most of the current low interest rate environment and are getting ahead with their home loan repayments, which are a good strategy that will help them to maintain their financial health well into the New Year,” said Mark Woolnough, head of third party distribution at ING DIRECT.

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