Refinancing lets you change your home loan to suit your circumstances.  Whether you are looking to consolidate debt; carry out renovations; gain access to equity for investment purposes or if you just want a better home loan deal.

Once you have been in your home loan for a year or two we recommend a regular home loan health check to assess whether your current home loan is still the most suitable option as lenders are often offering incentives to new customers that they do not pass on to their existing customers.

Before deciding if refinancing is the right option for you, you will need to carefully consider the reasons behind refinancing and the associated costs.  Many people start to think about refinancing their mortgage when interest rates or their personal circumstances change. Refinancing your mortgage can be a good solution when you need to consolidate debt, lower your repayments, carry out renovations or access the equity in your property.

It is important that you are aware of the costs involved in refinancing your mortgage.  You may be looking at refinancing into a loan with a better interest rate, but the costs associated with the refinance may not make the change so attractive.

HOW DOES REFINANCING WORK?

Refinancing does not have to be complicated and at we guarantee to take the stress out of the refinancing process – you do not even have to talk to your current lender, we will handle the whole process from start to finish on your behalf.

Even if you’ve only had your home loan for only a couple of years, it is possible that there could be a more suitable loan or interest rate out there for you. However, because refinancing may incur additional costs, it is an important decision and one that requires careful consideration of the options available and the financial implications.  At we can help you decide whether your needs are being met by your current lender or whether you could benefit by switching to another lender or loan product.

If you want to assess your home loan refinance options, you should think about why it is you want to refinance, and what the costs (if any) will be to move your loan to another lender.

You may also like to ask yourself if your current home loan matches your needs for example, do you use all of your loan features, or are you missing some features you could really make use of?

When refinancing consider the savings now and in the future, also find out the costs associated and do the sums. It’s important to consider the long term benefits against the actual costs of home loan refinance.

Consider the questions below and if you answer yes to any of them, refinancing might be the right option for you, provided that you carefully assess the options and cost of refinancing.

If you are unsure whether refinancing is right for your current situation, refer to our refinancing checklist below. Alternatively, contact us at and we will show you how much you can potentially save by refinancing to a more suitable home loan.

HOME LOAN CHECKLIST

Make sure you consider the following before you look to save money by refinancing:

1. Do you think that consolidating your debts into your home loan could benefit you?
2. Are you planning on doing any major home renovations this year?
3. Are there other reasons that you might wish to top up your home loan (e.g. purchase a car, take a major holiday)?
4. Are you dissatisfied with the service provided by your current lender?
5. Have your circumstances changed since you took out your loan? For example have you retired, changed jobs, had a baby or have your children moved out.
6. Is your goal to pay off your home loan sooner or reduce your payments?
7. Are you considering buying an investment property?
8. Do you want a cheaper rate? Are you are paying a high interest rate – for example, if you arranged a low-start, rising-rate loan from your homebuilder?
9. Do you want to switch from a variable rate to a fixed rate, perhaps because you can want to reduce the risk of higher repayments?

POINTS TO CONSIDER WHEN REFINANCING

The main points that you need to consider before committing to a mortgage refinance are:

1. Check with your current lender to establish what exit or deferred establishment fees you will be required to pay to payout the loan – ask for a detailed breakup of all costs and charges.
2. What are the establishment fees on the new loan? – Look around for lenders who charge no or low establishment and ongoing fees.
3. If you are refinancing your mortgage to a fixed rate loan or a honeymoon rate loan, make sure you are aware of what the repayments will be once the interest rate reverts.
4. If you are refinancing to access the equity in your property, make sure that you know up front exactly how much you need and that there is enough equity available in your property to go ahead.  You can address this by being familiar with the values of comparable properties in your area.