Does the term of my home loan always have to be 30 years? What if I want to put some pressure on myself to pay it back earlier?

Is advisable to have the longer loan term as the minimum repayment is also lower. Important that the loan you choose will allow for additional extra repayments and early repayment also check the exit fee.

Hi Jimmy, with some lenders yes it does. However if you have unlimited extra repayments which is broadly essentially every variable loan you can then pay it off as quickly as you want. Regards Ariel

This is a train of thought that not many have so kudos to you Jimmy.

I am not sure why you are thinking this but all lenders for mature age borrowers will require a shorter term, not sure if this is applicable to you.

Most lenders allow you to have a shorter loan term and ultimately this will mean you pay less interest. The trick is knowing the right amount of pressure to put on yourself. If this cannot be easily determined then there are other ways to pay a loan down faster or as alrrady mentioned just dump what extra cash flow you have into the Variable loan/Offset account.

There is no right way just what suits your life plans.

Hope this helps. Any questions let me know.

The maximum term is typically 30 years, this doesn't mean that you can't pay it off sooner. From memory the shortest term option is 8 years. But why put yourself under that pressure? Calculate the repayments at 8 years, and simply make those repayments but keeping a 30y term. Remember Life happens in the meantime and you won't always have those extra funds to put in. And when that happens, it's good to have the lower minimum monthly repayments of the 30y term.

Jimmy. If you have a variable rate loan, then you can normally make extra repayments without a penalty. Any extra payments (provided they stay permanently against the loan) will work toward reducing the loan term.
The term of the loan can be reset to less than 30 years. Essentially the difference is whether the Bank sets a minimum payment that must be met, or you flexibly just place extra money to the account when you can afford it.
Please give me a call if you would like to discuss options.
Regards
Ken