What is an offset account and how does it work?
An offset account is similar to a savings account, however, it is linked to your home loan and offsets the balance of your home loan. The balance of money in your offset account is deducted from your home loan balance when your interest is calculated, instead of earning interest like a normal savings account. If you have a decent balance in your offset account, you could save thousands of dollars in interest over the life of your loan (and potentially pay off your loan faster, too).
Qantas Money Home Loans offers up to six 100% offset accounts with all of our Offset Home Loans, including our fixed rate loans.
What are the benefits of having up to six offset accounts?
Some lenders only provide one offset account. However, Qantas Money Home Loans provides you with the option to have up to six offset accounts. Being able to access multiple offset accounts provides you with a powerful cash flow management tool, allowing you to ‘bucket’ your money. Different accounts can be used for different saving purposes - one for bills, one for holidays, one for home renovations, etc. So you can easily see and keep track of your savings goals.
Can I withdraw money from an offset account?
An offset account has most of the features of a normal transactional savings account. You can deposit money into it and withdraw from it any time to pay bills or for day-to-day expenses. We will also send you a Qantas Money Home Loans Debit Card so that you can access funds in the account for regular transactions.
It is important to remember that the more you have in your offset account, the less interest you are paying on your home loan.
Is my money protected?
Your offset account(s) are maintained by our funder, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, who is an Authorised Deposit-Taking Institution (ADI). This means your offset account/s are guaranteed under the Australian Government's Financial Claims Scheme (FCS) for up to $250,000.
Qantas Money Home Loan offset accounts
We don't build the cost of the offset account into our interest rate. Whether you have one account or six, the cost is covered by the monthly fee that comes with our Offset Home Loans. Our offset accounts include:
- a Qantas Money Home Loan Debit Card, which you can use like any other Mastercard Debit or EFTPOS card, including the option to use ATMs free of charge, like all other banks;
- a BPAY facility to make bill payments; and
- deposit and debit features, just like a normal bank account.
Adding or removing offset account
If you decide, after you get your home loan that you'd like an offset account, or additional offset accounts, you can add these to your existing home loan for a fee. Removing an offset account from your existing home loan will also incur a fee.
See a breakdown of the costs associated with offset accounts on our rates and fees page.
To add or remove an offset account before settlement, please give us a call on 1300 992 700 or email ask@homeloans.qantasmoney.com.
To add or remove an offset account after settlement, please give us a call on 1300 992 700 (Option 3) or email myloan@homeloans.qantasmoney.com.
What is the difference between an offset account and a redraw facility?
Redrawing simply means accessing any extra payments that you’ve made on your home loan. Both a redraw facility and an offset account allow you to access your money you are using to reduce interest, but they do it in different ways. When you use a redraw facility, you are redrawing extra payments you’ve made into your home loan account, whereas an offset account is a separate bank account to your loan. With Qantas Money Home Loans, you can ‘redraw’ any additional payments you’ve made whenever you want for free, you just need to make sure you have at least one month's minimum repayment left to reduce the risk of overdrawing on the home loan.
