4 ms·

It could be because I’m Australian or perhaps I’m just unfamiliar with mortgages - how does tax affect the effective loan rate?

• Sohcahtoa82 6y ago
  Mortgage interest on your primary residence is tax deductible.
  • lotsofpulp 6y ago
    Assuming you itemize. For married couples, the standard exemption is $24k. Very few people well end up actually needing to itemize to deduct more than the standard exemption.
• rswail 6y ago
  As an Australian that's dealt with the US bank/tax systems: * Mortgages in the US traditionally are 30 year fixed rate. * Mortgages are deductible from federal income tax up to a certain value * People in the US have trouble understanding things that Australians are used to, like: variable rate mortgages, fixed/variable rate mortgages, redraw accounts, lines of credit mortgages, which all Aussie lenders offer. On the other hand, as an Aussie I was confused by: * People still writing cheques (checks). Like, really? On paper and stuff? Haven't written a cheque in Australia since 2000 and the only time I see it is the "CHQ" button on an EFTPOS. * Contactless credit cards are only just a thing and people don't have PINs, they still stick their card in, or swipe (?!?) and sign. * There's no such thing as EFTPOS which goes direct to your account, there are Visa/MC debit cards that work in the field like credit cards, but you can overdraw and get fees charged. * Discounts for cash are still a thing because the CC charge isn't available. People get things like cash back on their spend, but then pay more for the card in the first place. * Everyone worries about their credit score that changes in magical ways depending on different weird spending rules that have incentives for taking on debt but only in certain patterns that they won't tell you.