Home/Residential/Refinancing
Residential lending
The loan you signed three years ago isn't the one you'd be offered today.
Most lenders save their sharpest pricing for new customers. One conversation tells you whether yours is still competitive, what it would cost to move, and whether moving is actually worth it.
Refinancing
Loyalty is rarely rewarded.
Refinancing is the thing most people know they should look at and never quite get to. There is no auction date forcing it and no agent chasing you, so it slides down the list behind everything that feels more urgent. Meanwhile the gap between a competitive rate and the one you happen to be on comes out of your account every month, quietly, for years.
I have spent twenty-one years in lending and settled more than $600 million in home loans, with over twenty-five lenders on one panel. That means I can tell you in a single conversation where your current loan sits against the rest of the market, what it would genuinely cost to move, and what the new repayment would actually be. You deal with me from that first call through to settlement, and on almost every residential refinance it costs you nothing.
Start to finish
How it works
Five steps, and the same person at every one of them.
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Tell me what you're on
Thirty minutes, on the phone or in person. Nothing touches your credit file. Your current lender, rate, balance, loan type and whether any part of it is fixed.
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The comparison, in writing
What you're paying now against what the market would offer you, with every cost of moving included — discharge fees, new loan fees, valuation, government charges, and break costs if you're on a fixed rate.
The number that matters isn't the rate. It's what you're left with after the switch has paid for itself.
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A shortlist, and the honest answer
Usually two or three lenders, with the reasoning attached. If the honest answer is that your current loan is competitive and you should stay, that's what you'll hear.
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Lodgement and discharge
A refinance has two sides: the new lender approving you, and the old one releasing the loan. The second is where refinances stall. I manage both so they meet in the middle.
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Settlement, and every year after
Once a year I review your rate against the market and tell you whether it's worth moving again. The same thing that brought you here the first time keeps happening.
Five reasons people call
Why people refinance
| Reason | Who it suits | What I'd tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Coming off a fixed rate | A fixed term ending in the next six months | Start three months out, not on the day. Lenders roll you onto a revert rate automatically, and that rate is almost never the best one they have. The work is done before the term ends, not after. |
| Paying the loyalty tax | Same lender three or more years, never renegotiated | New customers are routinely offered better pricing than existing ones. Sometimes the fix is a phone call to your current lender rather than a move, and I'll tell you when that's the case. |
| Releasing equity | A renovation, an investment deposit, or money into the business | Your property has probably moved since you bought. How much you can release depends on the valuation and what you can service, and the purpose affects which lenders will do it. |
| Consolidating debt | Credit cards, a personal loan, or business debt | It can genuinely help, and it can quietly cost you. Moving a three-year debt onto a thirty-year mortgage lowers the repayment and raises the total interest unless you keep paying it down at the old rate. We'll run it both ways before you decide. |
| Changing the structure | Interest-only ending, or an offset that isn't working | Splits, offsets and redraw suit different people, and the one you were sold at the time may not be the one that suits you now. This often matters just as much as the rate. |
Buying rather than refinancing? The home loans page covers purchases, and investment lending has a page of its own.
Both sides of it
What it costs you
My part costs you nothing on almost every residential refinance. The lender pays a commission when the loan settles. You don't pay more by coming through me than by going to the lender directly.
But refinancing itself has costs
These are the ones that decide whether moving is worth it, and you'll see all of them in writing before you commit to anything:
- Leaving your current lenderA discharge or settlement fee, and a break cost if any part of your loan is fixed. Break costs can be substantial and are only quoted by your lender on the day.
- Joining the new oneApplication, settlement and valuation fees, depending on the lender. Some waive them to win the business.
- Government chargesMortgage discharge and registration fees.
- Lenders Mortgage Insurance, sometimesIf you're borrowing more than 80 per cent of the property's value, it can apply again — and it is rarely refundable or transferable.
Later, not now
What to have ready
Nothing is needed for the first conversation. This is what we'll want by lodgement.
- Your current loanRecent statements, and the rate and balance. Your last statement usually has everything on it.
- Your incomePayslips if you're salaried; two years of returns and financials if you're self-employed.
- The propertyYour most recent council rates notice, and your building insurance certificate.
- Everything elsePhoto ID, and a list of other debts and credit limits — including cards you never use, because lenders count the limit rather than the balance.
No dead ends
Where it gets hard, and what I do about it
A refinance looks simple until something in the file has changed since you first borrowed. That's most of them.
Tell me where you're stuck-
You're fixed, and nobody will tell you the break cost
Break costs can only be quoted by your current lender, they change daily, and they are the single biggest unknown in deciding whether to move. Plenty of people assume the cost is prohibitive and never ask.
What I do about itWe get the figure before doing anything else, and then run the numbers with it included. Sometimes it is small enough to be irrelevant. Sometimes it means waiting until the fixed term ends, and we diarise it for three months out so the decision happens on your terms rather than on a revert rate.
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Your income looks different to when you borrowed
You were salaried then and self-employed now. Or the household had two incomes and now has one, or a baby arrived. The loan you are already paying comfortably might not be one a lender would write for you today.
What I do about itThis is the part most brokers hand back and most people don't attempt. Several lenders on my panel will write a refinance on twelve months of returns, and a few work from BAS or business bank statements instead. The home loans page goes into how a self-employed file gets presented.
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The valuation doesn't come back where you hoped
Equity is decided by the lender's valuer, not by what the place next door sold for. A low valuation can push you over 80 per cent and trigger Lenders Mortgage Insurance on a loan you thought was comfortable.
What I do about itDifferent lenders use different valuers and some will accept a desktop or automated valuation where others insist on a full inspection. If the first number is disappointing there is often a second opinion worth getting before the application goes anywhere.
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Your current lender suddenly finds a better rate
It happens constantly. You ask to discharge, and the retention team calls with pricing they never mentioned in three years of loyalty.
What I do about itGood — take it, if it genuinely beats the alternative. I would rather you ended up on a sharper rate with your existing lender than moved for the sake of moving. I will tell you honestly whether their offer is competitive, and if it is, that is the end of the job and it cost you nothing.
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You've consolidated before and it didn't go well
Debt rolled into the mortgage, the cards paid off, and then the cards filled up again over the following two years — leaving the original debt stretched over thirty years and the new balances on top.
What I do about itConsolidation only works if the structure changes with it. That means closing the facilities rather than leaving them open, and keeping the repayment at roughly the old level so the shorter debt stays short. We'll model it both ways so the total interest is visible, not just the monthly figure.
Find out whether moving is actually worth it.
One call, no credit enquiry, no obligation. If your current loan is competitive, I'll tell you that and you'll have lost half an hour.
Asked on the phone
Questions people are too polite to ask
If yours isn't here, call and ask it. Ten minutes beats three years on the wrong rate.
Ask Alen directlyWill refinancing hurt my credit score?
Nothing touches your credit file until you've chosen a lender and told me to lodge. We can compare, run the numbers and shortlist without a single enquiry being recorded.
What does damage a file is applying to several lenders yourself over a short period. Each formal application leaves a mark, and a cluster of them makes the next lender cautious.
How much equity do I need?
As a rule, lenders want you to be borrowing no more than 80 per cent of the property's value to avoid Lenders Mortgage Insurance. Above that, refinancing is still possible, but LMI may apply again — and because it generally isn't refundable or transferable between lenders, paying it twice can undo the benefit entirely.
If you're close to the line, the valuation decides it, and that's worth checking before anything is lodged.
I'm on a fixed rate. Can I still move?
Yes, but it depends entirely on the break cost, which only your current lender can quote and which changes daily. Sometimes it's negligible. Sometimes it's thousands.
We get the figure first and then decide. If the cost doesn't justify moving now, we diarise the end of your fixed term and get it done three months out, before the lender rolls you onto its revert rate.
Worth knowing: break costs are driven by what wholesale rates have done since you fixed, and they shrink when rates have risen. I've written up the whole thing — what to check, and when — in coming off a fixed rate in 2026.
Should I put my credit card debt into the mortgage?
It lowers the monthly repayment, which is why it feels like an easy yes. It also stretches a short debt over a long term, so unless you keep paying at close to the old rate, you'll pay considerably more interest overall.
It works when two things happen together: the facilities get closed rather than left open, and the repayment stays high. We'll run it both ways so you can see the total, not just the monthly figure.
How long does the whole thing take?
The new lender's approval is usually the quick part. The delay is almost always the discharge — your existing lender releasing the loan — which runs on its own timetable and is the part I chase.
What if my current lender offers me a better rate to stay?
Take it, if it genuinely beats the alternative. I'd rather you were on a sharper rate with your existing lender than moved for the sake of it.
I'll tell you honestly whether what they've offered is competitive. If it is, that's the end of the job — and it cost you nothing.
Also on the site
One broker for all your financing needs
Twenty-five lenders. One honest answer.
Including, when it's the right one, that you should stay exactly where you are.