How one Kiwi couple hit freedom fast – without missing life’s fun.
When Hamilton’s Jenny Cross looks back on the day she and her partner Steve became mortgage-free in just six years, she still can’t believe it.
“I honestly thought we were going to be paying it off for 25 years,” she says. “I always had this goal to be freehold by 50, and we just snuck in there. As well as doing a lot of fun stuff along the way.”
The “fun stuff” has included buying and selling a 32-foot launch, family holidays in the US and Australia, and motorbike tours through Vietnam, Mexico and Namibia. “I’m of the opinion that life is for living,” Jenny says. “And that you’ve got to make memories while you can.”
Jenny, now 55, thought she knew mortgages after more than 20 years working in a bank. But arranging theirs through NZHL, and being supported by mortgage mentor Blair Miller, totally changed the game for her and Steve.
Their loan was structured with a mix of fixed and floating rates, with their savings accounts linked to their mortgage to save as much interest as possible. The couple then concentrated on pouring as much money into the loan as they could.
“You could say we were reasonably frugal, but I never felt like we went without,” she says. “There’s a lot of stuff you realise you just don’t need.”
She found the most powerful motivation from regularly logging in to NZHL’s unique online debt management tool, DebtNav, which explicitly showed them the difference that a few extra dollars a week was making to the length of their mortgage.
“From the time Blair set us up with the loan, I was like a dog with a bone,” she says. “It worked so well for us. The graph projecting our repayment date just kept coming down and down and down, and I just couldn’t believe it.
“I can’t sing the praises of the facility enough,” she says. “People think it’s too good to be true, and that’s a shame because it actually works. They say, ‘You’re so lucky’ and I say, ‘Well actually, you could do it too!’”
Jenny and Steve took on their mortgage in 2014. As Blair explains, NZHL’s smart loan structure – together with ongoing support from your mortgage mentor – can work for a wide range of situations. It’s like having a coach in your corner, focused on helping you become mortgage-free faster.
“It’s really nice when Blair rings up and goes, ‘Hey, well done,’ Jenny says. “It was motivating to know somebody else had our back.”
Blair has been with NZHL for 16 years and says he’s now helping former clients’ children into homes. One of the highlights of his job, he says, is watching people realise they can actually pay off their mortgage – and then seeing them do it.
Blair says it’s “super rewarding” helping people reach the moment of becoming mortgage-free. “It’s especially satisfying because I know who they are, I’ve met their children, their dog, I know the milestones they’re trying to achieve, and I can help keep them on track.”
“Jenny and Steve were able to travel, buy a boat and build a campervan, and still pay down their mortgage faster than most people think possible,” Blair says. He explains that results like theirs come down to having the right structure and support in place, understanding what’s possible, and having a clear goal – giving people options they wouldn’t normally get without personalised advice.
Blair says mortgages can be tailored to suit each client. “I’ve helped people buy houses at 50 and 55 and become debt-free before retirement.”
Both Jenny and Blair have discovered that a popular misconception about NZHL is its offering is just another form of revolving credit. But Blair can’t think of a single client over the years for whom he hasn’t been able to save money.
“We get a lot of people going, ‘Oh, this looks too good to be true; I’ve had revolving credits before, and they don’t work’. But that’s where NZHL is different; the credit limits are always reducing which means you are actually paying off your debt.
“Once people are onboard, they’ll track their loan, see it’s tracking as we planned and realise, they are actually making progress paying it off. They can’t quite believe how easy it is and how it works without having to do a lot themselves, because the structure takes care of itself.
“So many times early on, you hear from people: ‘I’ve got so much more money than I ever had before.’”
For Blair, that’s what it’s all about – helping Kiwis like Jenny and Steve achieve their financial goals, without giving up the fun stuff along the way.
See how much interest you could save — and how many years you could potentially shave off your mortgage — with NZHL’s online calculator here. Or, if you’d like to learn more about how NZHL works, visit nzhl.co.nz.