There is no single right amount. Any extra you pay on a home loan saves interest, and the earlier you start the more it saves. The useful question is what a given amount does to your bond — and whether that money would do more good somewhere else.
Why a little extra goes a long way
A South African bond charges interest every month on the balance you still owe. Your instalment first pays that month’s interest, and only what is left reduces the balance. Early in a 20-year bond most of the instalment is interest.
Anything you pay on top of the instalment skips the interest and goes straight to the balance. A smaller balance means less interest next month, so a bit more of the next instalment reduces the balance too — and so on, every month until the bond is paid off.
An example, at today’s prime
A bond with R1 000 000 still owed and 20 years left, at prime (10.75%). The instalment is R10 152 a month, and over the 20 years you would pay R1 436 549 in interest — more than the amount borrowed.
| R500 extra a month | 2 years 9 months sooner · R240 370 less interest |
|---|---|
| R1 000 extra a month | 4 years 9 months sooner · R403 344 less interest |
| R2 000 extra a month | 7 years 6 months sooner · R615 755 less interest |
| R5 000 extra a month | 11 years 7 months sooner · R916 663 less interest |
A once-off R50 000 paid in now, with no extra after that, settles the same bond 2 years 11 months sooner and saves R312 629 in interest.
Calculated at prime 10.75%, effective 25 Sep 2026. Saved analyses record the rate they were run at, so reopening one shows what you were shown.
How to decide how much
- Keep an emergency fund first. Three to six months of expenses in cash or an easy-access account. Money in the bond is harder to get back on a bad day than money in the bank — unless your bond is an access bond.
- Clear expensive debt first. Credit cards, store accounts and personal loans usually charge much more than a home loan. Paying those off saves more per rand.
- Pick an amount you can keep paying. A steady extra every month beats a large one you stop after a year. Many people start with what they would save from their last increase.
- Use windfalls. A bonus, a tax refund or an inheritance paid straight into the bond saves interest from that day on.
- Ask your bank to keep the instalment the same. After a lump sum, some banks lower the instalment instead of shortening the term. Keeping it the same is what pays the bond off sooner.
Can I get the money back?
Most South African home loans are variable-rate and let you pay in extra without a penalty. Many are access bonds, which let you take the extra back out later, up to what you have paid in ahead. Fixed-rate loans and some older bonds have different rules, and some banks charge a fee to withdraw. Check your bank’s terms before you start.
The rate will change
The figures here keep today’s rate for the life of the bond. In practice prime moves with the Reserve Bank’s repo rate. When rates go up, paying extra saves even more; when they go down, it saves a little less — but it always saves something. You can work it out for your own bond at any rate.