Home loan repayments
Understand your repayments, how to manage them and make the most of your home loan.
Understand your home loan repayments
Home loan repayments aren’t just a set and forget. You can adjust them over the life of your loan to pay your home loan off faster. Or you could apply to pause^ them if your circumstances have changed and you need support.
Book an appointment to make sure you're getting the most out of your home loan.
Manage my repayments
Through online banking or our Australia's Best Banking App*:
For principal and interest home loans, you can change your repayment amount and frequency yourself in a few simple steps, as long as you’re debiting a Westpac account in your name.
Update your repayments here, or follow these instructions:
- Westpac App: Search home loan direct debits in the Smart Search bar > Tap your home loan > Follow the prompts
- Online Banking: Select your home loan > Select More and then Home loan direct debit in the dropdown > Select your account and follow the prompts
Good to know: You can’t adjust repayments on interest-only loans, but you can make separate additional repayments if you set up a recurring payment.
Instead of a direct debit, you can set up a recurring or repeat repayment. This is a fixed payment amount scheduled for a set number of times or frequency.
If your home loan repayment changes, you’ll need to update it yourself. This is different from a direct debit that automatically updates if changes occur. You can cancel, pause or adjust the amount up to one day before the payment date.
You can instantly see these by signing into the Westpac App or Online Banking and selecting your home loan account. You'll see your balance and repayments, including any extra repayments you’ve made.
Your fixed rate home loan will automatically roll onto our variable interest rate when your term ends, unless you re-fix beforehand. We’ll mail you a letter 6-8 weeks before your fixed rate ends, detailing your options and what your new repayments could look like.
You’ll also be able to view your options in the Westpac App or Online Banking: Sign in and select your home loan > Select Account details > Select View options.
If the interest rate on your home loan changes, we’ll send you a letter to inform you about your new repayment amount and when that repayment comes into effect. If you’ve opted to receive Digital Mail, your letter will be sent to your Online Banking inbox.
To find your Digital Mail:
- Westpac App: Tap Profile in the bar menu > Tap Inbox.
- Online Banking: Select the Notifications tab > Choose Messages from the drop-down list.
Contact us directly on 132 558 to:
If the account you want to direct debit from isn’t with Westpac, you’ll need to send us one of the below forms:
- Principal and interest home loans - Direct debit request form
- Interest only home loans - Direct debit request form
Either:
Scan and email to: loanmaintenance@mortgage.westpac.com.au
Or drop it off at your local branch.
You can apply for interest-only repayments on any of our variable or fixed rate loans. Owner-occupiers can apply for interest-only repayments on an existing home loan for up to 5 years over the life of the loan. For an investment property, interest-only repayments apply for up to 10 years over the life of the loan.
To change from principal and interest repayments to interest-only, you’ll need to contact us to apply. Your lender will want to make sure you can repay the loan at the interest-only rate, since it’s generally higher.
When your interest-only term ends, you’ll be automatically switched to principal and interest repayments. You might be able to apply for another interest-only term – get in touch with our home loan specialists to discuss.
If your circumstances have changed and you need to reduce your payments for some time, then we could help.
Repayment Holiday
Ahead on your home loan because you’ve made extra repayments? If you need to, you can arrange to skip repayments or repay less, as long as your ‘available’ funds are enough to cover your minimum scheduled repayment. Could be a handy if you’re expecting less short-term income or more expenses.
Reduced Repayments
Had your home loan more than a year, and going through a key lifestyle event, like parental leave? You could apply to lower your minimum repayment by up to 50% for up to 12 months. But, when this time ends, your repayments will increase to ensure you repay your loan within its original term. Conditions, eligibility, and suitability criteria apply.
Tips to help get ahead on your home loan
Switch repayment frequency^^^
Our loan repayments start monthly. Changing to fortnightly or weekly could reduce your total loan term and interest costs.
Extra repayments
By adding a lump sum to your mortgage (like from a tax refund, inheritance or work bonus) you may be able to pay the loan off sooner. A prepayment threshold may apply1. You can still redraw these funds if you need to2.
Use your offset account
Our variable loan lets you link up to 10 offset accounts^^, which means you'll only pay interest on the loan balance minus the funds in your combined offsets.
Ways to lower mortgage stress
Get support to assess your current circumstances, which could include reducing your minimum repayments or applying for financial hardship assistance.
Other tools and resources
Book in a home loan review
One of our friendly home loan experts can review your home loan to make sure you're getting the most out of it. They'll look at the rate you're paying and talk to you about features you might not know about. All obligation-free.
Things you should know
Conditions, credit criteria, fees and charges apply. Residential lending is not available for Non-Australian Resident borrowers.
This information is general in nature and has been prepared without taking your personal objectives, circumstances and needs into account. You should consider the appropriateness of the information to your own circumstances and, if necessary, seek appropriate professional advice.
Taxation considerations contained in this article (on this page) are general in nature. They do not take into account your personal circumstances and they should not be interpreted or used as tax advice or a tax guide. You should seek independent tax advice to determine the appropriate tax consequences relevant to your circumstances before making any decision based on this information.
*This claim is based on The Forrester Digital Experience Review™ of 4 Australian mobile banking apps in Q3 2025. Future findings are subject to change. Forrester does not endorse any company or brand, nor their products or services, nor advise anyone to select them based on this review. If you want to learn more, go to the Forrester website.
^Options to lower repayments: conditions, eligibility and suitability criteria apply.
- Reduced loan repayments. Had your home loan for more than a year? You could apply to lower your minimum repayment by up to 50%, for up to 12 months. But, when this time ends, your repayments will increase to ensure you repay your loan within its original term.
- Repayment Holiday. Ahead on your home loan because you’ve made extra repayments? If you need to, you can arrange to skip repayments or repay less, as long as your ‘Available’ funds are enough to cover your minimum scheduled repayment
- Switching to an Interest Only repayment term. Sometimes you can apply to repay just the interest for a while. But, when you go back to repaying Principal & Interest, your repayments will be higher. This is because you still have to pay back the money you borrowed. And means you’ll pay more interest overall than if you instead chose to continue paying Principal & Interest.
^^Offset is available on a Rocket Repay Home Loan or a Rocket Investment Loan. You can link multiple offset accounts to a loan account, but each eligible offset account can link to just one loan account. If any named account holder of a transaction account is not a borrower on the loan account, the loan account cannot be linked to that transaction account.
^^^Changing repayment amount or frequency: Cannot be performed on an interest-only loan. However, you may make extra repayments. For more details on interest-only home loans.
1Prepayment threshold: Customers can make total prepayments of up to $15,000 (cumulative) for loans fixed prior to 21 March 2009, $25,000 (cumulative) for loans fixed between 21 March 2009 and 16 March 2012 or $30,000 (cumulative) for loans fixed on or after 17 March 2012, without costs or fees applying. Prepayments exceeding this threshold may incur a break cost and administration fee.
2Redraw facility: if you have 'available funds' (you've made extra home loan repayments) and you've activated your redraw facility, you're free to redraw them with no redraw fee. Up to $100k will be available to redraw from your variable loan online or over the phone each day (unlimited in-branch). For fixed loans you can redraw up to your prepayment threshold during your fixed term. Read our Home Loan Redraw Authority form (PDF 66KB) for full details.