Glossary

Home Equity Loan

A home equity account gives you a revolving line of credit secured by the value of your house. This allows you to use the funds for any other purpose such as the purchase of a second property, shares or other investments. The interest rate is generally higher than a standard variable rate, and these accounts are not suitable for everyone.

Honeymoon Rates

"Honeymoon" or introductory rates are offered to entice borrowers with a low advertised rate that may be up to 2 percentage points below the standard home loan rate and therefore look very attractive. The rate can be fixed, capped or variable for the first six to 12 months of the loan. Then they automatically revert to the standard rate offered by that lender. Use the 'comparison rate' to help choose and compare loans, not the intro rate.