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Are fortnightly repayments really a trick to paying off your home loan sooner, or is it a myth?

Bayley Clarke · Mortgage broker on the road · Last checked 16 October 2026 · 4 min read

The 90 second version, filmed from the driver's seat. The rest of this page is the detail underneath it.

True fortnightly: the version that changes nothing

A lot of people say switch to fortnightly and you'll pay it off sooner. Well, guess what. If your bank does a true fortnightly repayment, it takes your monthly amount, times it by 12 months in the year, then divides by the 26 fortnights in that same year.

Say your monthly repayment is $3,000. Times 12 is $36,000 a year. Divide by 26 and your true fortnightly repayment is about $1,385, or roughly $690 a week. Over a full year you've paid exactly the same $36,000 you would have paid monthly. Same money, sliced differently. If that's how your bank works it out, it makes next to no difference to how quickly the loan is gone.

Accelerated fortnightly: the version that works

An accelerated fortnightly repayment skips the times 12, divide by 26 step. All the bank does is take the monthly amount and divide it by two. On the same $3,000 a month, that's $1,500 a fortnight, or about $750 a week.

Here's why that matters. There are 26 fortnights in a year, not 24. So $1,500 times 26 is $39,000. That's $3,000 more than the monthly version, which is one full extra monthly repayment every year, and all of it goes straight off the principal.

Do that year after year and you pay the loan off a lot sooner and save on interest along the way. That's the hack. It isn't a trick of timing, it's simply paying more, in a way most people barely feel because it lines up with a fortnightly pay cycle.

How to tell which one you've got

Look at your fortnightly amount and compare it to your monthly. If it's exactly half the monthly figure, you're on accelerated. If it's a bit less than half, you're on true fortnightly, and you're gassing yourself up for nothing.

If you're on true fortnightly and want the accelerated effect, you don't need your bank's permission. Work out half your monthly repayment and set your fortnightly payment to that amount yourself. Same outcome, as long as your loan lets you make extra repayments. Most variable loans do. Fixed loans are where you need to check, and that's covered below.

Where the banks actually split on this

Here's the part nobody tells you. When you look through how lenders write this up, not one of them documents letting you choose between true and accelerated fortnightly. A few spell out that their fortnightly repayment is the monthly amount divided by two, which is accelerated. Most offer fortnightly and say nothing about how they work it out. So the advice stands: ask your bank which one it is, or do the half-the-monthly check yourself.

On a fixed rate, the extra amount you can pay is capped, and the caps vary a lot. The most common is $10k a year. Some lenders allow $20k to $25k. One allows the lesser of 5% of the fixed amount or $5k a year. And at least one gives you no free amount at all, so any extra off the principal during the fixed period can bring break costs.

Here's the so-what. On a $3,000 monthly repayment, going accelerated adds about $3,000 a year. That sits under every one of those caps except the lender with no free amount. So if you're fixed and setting the accelerated amount yourself, check your cap first, and check how your lender counts it. It's a two minute question that saves you a nasty break cost letter.