How to save hundreds of thousands on your home loan.
It’s a Kiwi obsession, a discussion you’ll hear as often across the BBQ grill or the café table than the weather, who’s going to be dumped from Love Island, or whether the Wahs are going to make the Grand Final
this year.
“What’s your mortgage rate, then?”
But, says an expert with more than 35 years’ experience across banking, home finance and insurance, we’ve got it all wrong.
“It’s not the interest rate you pay – it’s the rate you pay it off,” says Mark Hayward.
He’s a mortgage mentor – note that title – with New Zealand Home Loans (NZHL), a Kiwi-owned home loan and insurance advisory network focused on helping New Zealanders achieve financial freedom faster.
Mark Hayward, mortgage mentor, NZHL.
NZHL operates through a nationwide network of around 70 locally owned offices and 160 mortgage mentors, with more than 45,000 clients across the country.
NZHL takes a different approach to traditional lending.
Instead of focusing purely on interest rates, it combines personalised mortgage coaching, tailored loan structures designed to reduce interest – including strategies like channelling income to minimise interest over time – and its DebtNav tool, which helps clients actively manage their money without sacrificing their lifestyle.
The company says many of its clients are able to pay off off their 30-year mortgage years faster and save significantly in interest as a result.
Hayward believes Kiwis need to change their mindset about their mortgage and their plan to pay it off.
“Managing your budget is really important, and so is making sure you’re channelling money into the repayment in a really efficient way,” he says.
“Yes, the rate matters – no one wants to pay more interest than they need to. But over the life of the loan, how you manage it has a much bigger impact.”
That’s at the core of NZHL’s philosophy: homeowners can have a mortgage and a life.
It was what attracted Hayward to the company after 30 years working for the banks, and why the company refers to its team not as ‘advisers’ or ‘managers’, but ‘mortgage mentors’.
“For me, it was about getting back to real relationships with clients,” he says.
“I want to get alongside them, help them repay their loan more effectively, and support them in achieving what they’re working towards, because financial freedom looks different for everyone.”
“It’s about coaching, it’s about mentoring, and at heart it’s about keeping them focused on the journey they want to achieve.”
NZHL’s personalised debt monitoring software, DebtNav, tracks a client’s finances and forms the basis of an annual review between client and mentor.
“We sit down and say, ‘You told us you wanted to achieve this, have you?’ If the answer is yes, great, we know we’re heading in the right direction. If not, we look at the data together so they can understand why, and make any necessary adjustments.
“It’s like having a personal trainer – you don’t always want to do the 10 extra push ups, but you know it gets results.
“We’re there to encourage people, keep them focused, and help them make smarter decisions with their money. It’s about making conscious, well-informed choices.”
That long-term, personal relationship between client and mentor is crucial, Hayward says.
“The client always makes the decision – it’s their money, after all. But we’re there to guide them as their life changes. You can’t just set a plan and check in five years later.”
Life changes and so, Hayward says, it’s important that the client can access advice whenever they need.
“Whether it’s buying a home, helping the kids, or planning a holiday, we help people navigate those financial decisions.”
“We’ve all got different attitudes to risk and different end-games – what we want our future to look like, how we see our retirement lives. There’s no one size fits all.”
Managing your mortgage is one of the biggest financial commitments you’ll take on, and it’s not something you have to navigate alone.
Having someone by your side can help you move forward with more confidence and make sure your approach is truly supporting the life you want, so it’s worth asking whether your current approach is working as well as it could.
Visit nzhl.co.nz to learn more or try NZHL’s online calculator here.
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