Baby boomers least likely to secure home loan discount

Bargaining a better mortgage rate is a skill mastered by only one in three Australian homeowners.

According to Finder.com.au's survey of 1,286 homeowners 33% having been successful in negotiating a lower interest rate on their home loan.

Forty three percent of homeowners have attempted to get a discount and of those who asked, 77% were successful.

The research also shows almost half of homeowners (45%) didn’t know you could ask for a discount or simply didn’t bother to request one upon application. 

Men (37%) were more likely than women (29%) to have asked for and received a rate discount.

Bessie Hassan, money expert at Finder.com.au, says mortgage holders need to embrace negotiation. 

“Don’t settle for the advertised rate. Have the confidence to ask for a lower rate, and reap the reward that will come with making smaller mortgage repayments.

“If you don’t ask, you don’t get,” she says.

A discount of 0.2 percentage points could save you $20,000 over the course of the average mortgage.

Generation X were the most likely to have received a discount (38%) followed by Generation Y (32%). Perhaps surprisingly, Baby Boomers were the least likely (28%) to secure a rate discount.