Bheja.ai launches free tool to spot mortgage offset errors

Sydney fintech Bheja.ai has launched a free offset verification tool for Australian homeowners after ASIC flagged widespread bank failures in managing mortgage offset accounts. The tool lets users check home loan and offset balances in minutes, either through Open Banking or by entering statement details manually.

Why it matters: - ASIC Report 837 found Australian banks paid more than $55 million in compensation tied to offset account failures. - Australians hold $349.1 billion in offset balances across about 3.3 million home loans. - A missed offset link can leave borrowers paying unnecessary interest over the life of a loan, even when monthly repayments look unchanged. - A free verification tool gives consumers a way to check for errors without waiting for a bank review.

What happened: - Sydney-based fintech Bheja.ai launched a free Mortgage Offset Verification Tool for Australian homeowners. - The company built the tool in 48 hours following ASIC’s report on offset account errors. - The tool is available at the mortgage offset verifier. - Pravin Mahajan, founder of Bheja.ai, said ASIC encouraged affected customers to review their mortgage arrangements, but many borrowers may struggle to interpret mortgage interest calculations from a bank statement.

The details: - The tool checks whether a mortgage offset appears to be working correctly. - Users can connect through Open Banking, also known as the Consumer Data Right, for automated data extraction and interest calculation verification. - Users can also perform a manual check by entering key figures from their latest home loan statement. - The tool cross-checks lender interest charges against standard offset calculation formulas to flag possible linking errors or discrepancies. - The initial release covers the most common offset scenarios. - Support for complex multi-split mortgages and specialised loan structures will be added later.

Between the lines: - ASIC’s findings point to an operational problem, not just a customer-service issue. - Offset accounts are widely used because they reduce interest without changing the borrower’s repayment amount. - That makes errors easy to miss and costly over time. - Bheja.ai is positioning the product as consumer-first infrastructure rather than a bank-facing compliance tool.

What's next: - Bheja.ai plans to expand the tool to handle more complex mortgage structures. - Australian homeowners can use the tool now to check whether an offset account is linked correctly in a few minutes. - The company frames the launch as the start of a broader push for simpler financial visibility tools.