Laine Gordon

Reduce mortgage stress with a few simple steps

If you are a few months behind on your mortgage repayments and facing a default notice, you are not alone. You'll likely find there is often a really easy fix to mortgage stress, such as looking to go interest-free for a while to reduce the repayment or consolidating other loans.

No and low deposit mortgages benefits and drawbacks

While no deposit home loans and low deposit home loans have become harder to come by in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, if you can track one down, it can help you to buy property when you have little or no savings to put towards a home loan deposit.

Interest rate hikes predicted for second half of 2011

With interest rates at a record low, is now the time to look at fixing your mortgage?

Mortgage exit fees What do the new rules mean?

As part of the federal government’s overhaul of the banking sector, Treasurer Wayne Swan recently announced a ban on mortgage exit fees as of July 1, 2011.

South Australia top state for car owners

South Australia is arguably Australia's friendliest state for drivers. The Virgin Car Insurance study, which compared the costs of car insurance, petrol, parking and tolls as well as theft, revealed Adelaide as the most driver-friendly city in Australia

Free roadside with Coles Car Insurance what's the catch?

In a bid to reform the car insurance market and lure new customers, supermarket giant Coles has sparked a price war not just on the shelves, and is now offering free roadside assistance to some of its comprehensive car insurance policy holders.

Home owners fix rates amid rate rise speculation

Despite no change to the cash rate in the past four months, Australian home owners are bracing for an interest rate rise and are rushing to lock in their mortgage interest rates at record levels since October 2010.

Commonwealth Bank's fee free but not the cheapest mortgage

Competition between the major banks escalated this month when the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) unveiled its new No-Fee Home Loan. But how does it stack up when compared with some of the top mortgages monitored by RateCity and does a fee-free option always equal a cheaper home loan?

Is the honeymoon over for introductory rate loans?

Home owners are wising up to some deceptively pricey introductory rate home loans, with application rates at record low levels last month for the mortgages RateCity monitors.

Avoid bank fees at the BPay checkout

Despite a stereotype that insists that generation Y is online savvy, new research points to the contrary when it comes to the under-thirties group's bill-paying habits on their transaction accounts.