Increase Monthly InterestTerm Repayments By SavedReduced By £50 15,2543 years and 8 months 100 23,1066 years 150 34,5478 years and 5 months 200 40,51110 years The monthly repayment on a £100,000-mortgage at 6.1 per cent APR over 25 years is £637.59.

Figures supplied by the Irish Permanent

Do you see your mortgage repayment as a fixed monthly outgoing not to be tampered with or do you have a repayment strategy making full use of your flexible options? Borrowers should be aware that a little hands-on mortgage management could do wonders for their financial comfort.

Mortgage flexibility has become a key element of all competitive mortgage offerings and borrowers could be taking a much more proactive role in pacing and paying off their home loans. Now is a good time to ask yourself and your lender how flexible your mortgage is to ensure you get all the advantages available to a valued customer. Think of your mortgage as a road trip. There will be stretches when you are cruising at full speed on the motorway and other times when you take the scenic route or stop by the roadside for a rest.

All institutions allow their variable rate customers some degree of flexibility but fixed-rate borrowers have much less scope. A comprehensive range of options is available to new and existing customers, including increasing repayments, repayment breaks, lump sum payments, index linking and reducing the term.

Maintaining repayment level after a rate cut This is an opportunity that has presented itself repeatedly over the past 18 months and all it takes is a phone call to set it in motion.

You can make significant inroads into the mortgage by forgoing even a very small reduction in the monthly repayment. For example, take a £100,000 (#127,000) mortgage over 20 years with Bank of Ireland. Last month, the bank reduced its variable rate by 0.25 per cent from 6.1 per cent. This equated to a difference of £14.25 per month, reducing the monthly repayment from £720.74 to £706.49.

If the customer opted to maintain the repayment at £720.74, the amount of interest repaid at the end of the mortgage term would reduce by £2,668 and the mortgage would theoretically be repaid nine months earlier.

Increasing repayments: When you take out a mortgage, your budget is based on what you can afford to repay at the outset. A year or two into the mortgage, you may be in a position to pay more, for example an extra £50 per month. With this option, each time the repayment amount is recalculated, such as when the variable rate change takes place, the amount you pay will be set at the repayment amount plus £50. This is not a fixed commitment, a customer can cancel or amend this amount at any time.

There is generally no restriction on the amount of overpay for variable-rate mortgages. There may be a limit for fixed-rate mortgages. The maximum for ICS and Bank of Ireland customers, for example, is £50.

By paying extra each month, the borrower reduces the amount of interest repaid and the mortgage is repaid earlier.

Withdrawing overpayments: First Active's Flexible Options package is based on making additional payments to your mortgage or "accelerating" your mortgage payments.

Unlike most other overpayment options, customers prepay any breaks they take. Customers can also withdraw their overpayment, subject to certain terms and conditions, just as you would from a savings account.

Lump sum payments: Changing employment patterns and remuneration packages mean that more people are likely to have a windfall or bonus from time to time.

Most institutions allow variable rate customers to offset such sums against their mortgage repayments. The majority also allow fixed-rate customers to do so.

First Active fixed-rate borrowers can make a lump sum payment up to a maximum of 4.99 per cent per annum of the original amount borrowed. ICS fixed-rate customers can pay up to 10 per cent of the outstanding balance without penalty during the fixed-rate period. There should be no penalty for variable-rate customer loading lump sums and it can reduce the amount of interest paid and shorten the mortgage term.

Paying £3,000 against an ICS mortgage with a balance of £60,000 and 18 years left to run could save future interest charges of £1,900 and reduce the repayment from £459.64 to £436.65.

A customer opting to pay the £3,000 and to maintain the same repayment would reduce the interest charged by £5,600 and cut 18 months off the term.

Payment breaks: Most lenders offer customers the opportunity to freeze their repayments for varying periods.

The length of the break is sometimes decided on a case-by-case basis.

Bank of Ireland customers can stop repayments for three consecutive months up to four times during the life of the mortgage. This can be used by borrowers to get them through a period of extra financial demands such as maternity leave, moving house or illness. Generally when this option is taken, the repayment is recalculated at the end of the break to ensure the mortgage is repaid within the original term. The cost of the skipped payments is then spread over the rest of the term. Some lenders only offer this facility a couple of years into the mortgage.

First Active offers repayment breaks to customers who have built up extra repayments over a number of months. Irish Permanent also allows customers to use previous overpayments to finance a payment holiday or underpayment. Alternatively, Irish Permanent customers can apply to have three payment holidays in any three-year period.

Fewer annual repayments: With this option, offered by some institutions, customers can pay off the annual repayment amount over 10 or 11 months instead of 12. This is generally used as a way of managing finances at Christmas.

This gives customers the choice of increasing their monthly repayments by a set percentage each year. The additional amount each month is offset against the capital balance, which reduces the interest charged and the mortgage is paid off quicker. Even 1 per cent can make a difference and customers should be able to return to the original repayment at any time.

There are generally no restrictions for variable-rate borrowers who avail of this facility but fixed-rate customers may only be able to avail of this up to a limit.

On a £100,000mortgage over 20 years at a variable rate of 5.85 per cent, indexing the repayments by 1 per cent per annum would reduce the term by 32 months. This would save £7,823 in interest.