Home loan health check
A loan that was right when it settled can drift. Introductory discounts end, rates for new customers move while yours doesn't, your home's value changes, and your life changes. A health check compares what your loan costs you now with what it could cost, and whether moving would be worth the cost of moving. Sometimes the answer is to stay where you are. You can run most of the checks yourself, below.
The eight things worth checking on your loan
Your actual rate, from your latest statement, not the one you remember.
What your lender offers new customers for the same loan.
Your fees: an annual package fee, monthly fees, and whether you use what you're paying for.
Your structure: fixed, variable, split or interest-only, and whether it still fits.
Your loan against your home's value, because lenders price by it.
When a fixed rate or interest-only period ends, and what the loan reverts to.
Your offset and redraw: whether the money in them is working.
What switching would cost: any break cost, the discharge fee, and new loan costs.
What rate are you actually on?
Your statement shows the rate you're paying today. Compare it with the rate on your loan contract. If you started with a discount for a set period, or a fixed rate that has since ended, your loan may have moved to a higher rate without anything arriving to tell you. That's the most common way a good loan drifts.
The gap between your rate and a new customer's
Lenders often offer new customers a lower rate than they charge existing ones on the same loan. You can measure your own gap. Find your lender's advertised rate for your loan type, at your loan size and your loan's share of the home's value, and compare it with your statement. If a new customer would pay less than you, you have a reason to ask for a better rate, and a number to ask with.
Are you paying for features you don't use?
A package fee each year, often for a bundle of features and a rate discount. Worth it only if the discount and features are worth more than the fee.
An offset account with little in it. It saves interest only on the balance you hold.
Monthly account fees on a loan with no features you use.
Redraw you've never touched, on a loan that charges more for having it.
Is your structure still right, and has your value moved?
Your structure. A fixed rate suited you when you wanted certainty; interest only suited a season of lower repayments. If your income, plans or family have changed, the loan may no longer match. Check when any fixed or interest-only period ends, and what the loan becomes afterwards.
Your loan against your value. Lenders price by how much you owe against the home's value. If you've paid the loan down or your home has risen in value, you may now sit in a cheaper band. Owing 80% or less of the value usually means a refinance wouldn't need lenders mortgage insurance.
What a lower rate is worth, and what switching costs
An illustration, not a client file. You owe $500,000 with 25 years left, at 6.5% a year. At 6.0%, the repayment would fall by about $155 a month, around $1,850 a year, and you'd pay about $2,500 less interest in the first year.
If switching cost $1,000 in fees, the interest saving would cover it in about five months. If it cost $5,000, because of a break cost on a fixed rate, it would take two years. That's the comparison a review makes: the saving against the cost of getting it.
When the answer is to stay where you are
Your rate is already competitive for your loan size and your home's value.
You're on a fixed rate with a large break cost, and it ends soon anyway.
You'd pay lenders mortgage insurance again to move, because you owe more than 80% of the value.
Your circumstances have changed, and a new lender might lend you less than you owe today.
Your lender matches the better rate when you ask.
A review that ends with "stay" has still done its job.
Asking your own lender first
You can often get a better rate without moving. Call your lender, ask for the retention or rate review team, and say something like this: "I've had a look at my loan. I'm paying [your rate]. You're offering new customers [their rate] on the same loan, and other lenders are offering [the rate you've found]. I'd like to stay, but I'd like my rate reviewed. What can you do?"
Have your loan balance, your home's rough value and the rates you're comparing in front of you. If they say no, ask what they'd need to see. And if they say yes, check the new rate on your next statement.
What a health check with me involves
You send your latest loan statement and tell me what's changed. I compare your loan with what's available for someone in your position, work out what switching would save and cost, and tell you whether to stay, ask your lender for a better rate, or move. There's no charge for the review, and staying put is a real answer.
Questions before a review
Once a year is a sensible habit, and any time a fixed rate or discount ends, your home's value changes a lot, or your circumstances change.
Wondering if your loan has drifted?
Send me your latest statement and tell me what's changed since you took the loan out. I'll tell you whether to stay, ask your lender for a better rate, or move, and what each would be worth.
You'll hear back within the hour in business hours, and by 9am the next business day after hours.
Sources
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The illustration: Money Brain's arithmetic on the stated example ($500,000, 25 years, 6.5% and 6.0% a year, monthly repayments).
Updated 2 October 2026