Refinance
Refinancing: the seven checks that decide it
This page used to be a “best refinance loans” list. It is not one any more, and the reason is worth a paragraph: a ranked list has to assume a borrower, and the assumption is almost never you. What survives is the part that was always doing the work — the checks that determine whether switching is worth doing at all.
- 01
Ask your current lender first
A repricing request is free, takes days rather than weeks, and requires no application, no valuation and no credit enquiry. Compare what you pay against what the same lender advertises to new borrowers, then ask them to match it. Whatever they offer becomes the number any switch has to beat.
- 02
Get the switching cost in writing
Discharge fee from the outgoing lender, application or settlement fee at the incoming one, state government registration and transfer charges, and — if any part of your loan is fixed — the break cost. Break costs are calculated at the time, not published in advance, so you must request the figure.
- 03
Work out the break-even month
Total switching cost divided by the monthly saving gives the number of months before you are ahead. If you might sell, move or refinance again before that month, the saving never arrives.
- 04
Check your loan-to-value ratio at today's valuation
If the property has risen and you are now under 80% of value, a whole tier of pricing opens and mortgage insurance leaves the equation. If it has fallen, the opposite happens and it is better to know before you apply.
- 05
Do not quietly reset the term
A loan with 22 years left, refinanced back to 30, has a lower monthly payment and a substantially higher total cost. If the goal is a lower rate, keep the remaining term; if the goal is cash flow, make that a deliberate decision rather than a default.
- 06
Treat a cashback as one line in the maths, not the reason
Check the ongoing rate after the promotion, the minimum holding period before clawback, and whether the offer applies to your loan size and loan-to-value ratio. A cashback attached to an uncompetitive ongoing rate is a loss that arrives slowly.
- 07
Confirm your income evidence still stands up
A refinance is a fresh assessment. If your employment type, income or commitments have changed since the original loan — a new business, a contract role, a bigger credit card limit — the new lender assesses today's position, not the one you were approved on.
Why there is no table of current offers here
Rates and cashbacks change without notice and a stale table does not announce that it has gone stale. Verify any promotion on the lender’s own terms page, with the date attached — the seven tests for a promotion covers how. For the wider lane, see refinance; for who changes what and how often, see the review calendar.
General information. How refinancing generally works in Australia. Figures you calculate from these methods are estimates. General information about how Australian lending is organised. Rules, thresholds and eligibility are set by government agencies and change; each lane links to the source so you can check the current position.
Checklist reviewed 17 August 2026.