Third of homeowners ignorant of mortgage interest

ALMOST a third of homeowners don’t know how much interest they are paying on their mortgage and 43 per cent are unaware of the total cost of their home loan, according to a report out today.

A sixth of homeowners don’t know how much they have left to pay off their mortgage, the First Direct research found.

It also revealed that just one in five homeowners is taking advantage of low interest rates to clear their mortgage sooner by regularly overpaying on their home loan. While 42 per cent are managing to save regularly, just 21 per cent are paying extra interest off their mortgage.

The discrepancy is due partly to low awareness of the ability to overpay, with a quarter of mortgage holders unsure whether their lender would allow them to do so.

Yet almost half said they would overpay their mortgage if they had some spare income.