Skip to main contentRefinancing means replacing your existing home loan with a new one, either with a different lender or a different product, to get a better rate, access equity, consolidate debt or change the loan’s structure. It’s one of the simplest ways to save money on a mortgage, yet many borrowers stay on the same loan for years, quietly paying more than new customers are offered for the same thing.
At Loanworx, we review your current loan, compare it against a wide panel of lenders, and tell you plainly whether refinancing is worth it. Sometimes the answer is a sharper rate elsewhere; sometimes it’s a restructure, an equity release, or consolidating other debts into the home loan. And sometimes the honest answer is to stay put. We weigh the switching costs against the benefit before recommending anything.
As an experienced finance broker, we work for you rather than for any single lender. That means doing the comparison properly, factoring in every cost, and only suggesting a move when it leaves you genuinely better off.
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Refinancing isn’t only about chasing a lower rate. There are a few distinct reasons to do it, and the right one depends on what you’re trying to achieve. Here are the most common.
Lenders often price new customers more keenly than existing ones, so a loan that was competitive a few years ago may now sit well above the market. Refinancing to a sharper rate can cut your repayments or shorten your loan term. Even a small rate difference adds up to a meaningful sum over the life of a mortgage.
If your property has grown in value or you’ve paid down the balance, you’ve built equity you can access by refinancing. That equity can fund a renovation, an investment property deposit, or another major expense, often at home loan rates that are far lower than other forms of borrowing.
Refinancing is also a chance to reshape the loan: switch between fixed and variable, move to or from interest-only, add an offset, or consolidate higher-rate debts like credit cards and personal loans into the mortgage to simplify repayments and reduce overall interest.
The hardest part of refinancing is knowing whether it’s actually worth it. A headline rate looks attractive, but switching has costs, and the real question is whether the saving outweighs them over the time you’ll keep the loan.
We do that maths for you. We compare your current loan against the market, add up every cost of moving, and show you the net benefit in dollars. If it stacks up, we handle the switch end to end. If it doesn’t, we’ll tell you, because a refinance that costs more than it saves isn’t a win.
Refinancing is often the first step toward something bigger, an investment, a renovation, or your next home. Our other home loan services cover where you go from here. Explore the options below to find the right fit for your plans.
Finance for your next move, with the buying and selling coordinated around you.
Finance for building rather than buying established, with funds released in stages as the build progresses.
Borrow inside your self-managed super fund to buy property under a limited recourse borrowing arrangement.
Secure a property before completion, with finance timed to a settlement that may be months or years away.
Grants, schemes and low-deposit options that make a first purchase more achievable.
Loans structured around an investment property, your rental income and your wider tax position.
A refinance is a fresh loan application, so it’s assessed much like any other. These are the factors that determine whether you qualify and what rate you’re offered.
The new lender values your property and works out your loan-to-value ratio (LVR). A lower LVR, from equity growth or paying down the balance, opens up sharper pricing and more lender options.
If your LVR is still above 80%, lenders mortgage insurance may apply again on the new loan, which we factor into the decision.
Even though you’ve been making repayments, the new lender re-assesses whether you can service the loan at their current buffer rate, along with your income, expenses and other debts.
If your circumstances have tightened since you first borrowed, we match you to a lender whose assessment suits your position.
A clean record of meeting your existing repayments, and a tidy credit file, support the best pricing and the widest choice of lenders at refinance.
If there have been missed payments or new defaults, there are still lenders who will work with it, and we approach the right ones.
Moving has costs: a discharge fee on the old loan, establishment fees on the new one, and, if you’re on a fixed rate, a break cost that can be significant. These need to be weighed against the saving.
We add up every cost of switching and compare it to the benefit, so the decision is based on the net result, not the headline rate.
Because the property secures the new loan, its type, location and condition still matter at refinance, and the lender’s valuation drives your LVR and pricing. Standard houses and apartments in established areas are straightforward, while small apartments, rural properties and unusual builds can attract tighter loan-to-value ratios or a narrower lender panel, which can affect how much benefit a refinance delivers. We factor the likely valuation into the comparison before you commit.
A refinance isn’t only about the headline rate. It’s about an honest comparison, every cost accounted for, and a recommendation you can trust, even when that recommendation is to stay put. Here’s what working with us looks like.
We compare your loan against a broad panel of banks, second-tier lenders and non-bank funders, so you see where you actually stand rather than one lender’s offer. We match you to the lender most likely to approve a refinance at a competitive rate, which often isn’t your current bank.
We add up the discharge fee, new loan fees and any fixed-rate break cost, then compare them against the saving over the time you’ll keep the loan. You get the net result in dollars, not just a headline rate that ignores the cost of moving.
Because we work for you, not a lender, we’ll tell you when refinancing isn’t worth it. Sometimes a quick repricing call to your current lender does the job. We’d rather give you the right answer than push a switch that doesn’t pay off.
For most refinances, Loanworx is paid an upfront and trail commission by the lender after settlement, and that commission typically does not change the rate or fees you pay. Where a fee for service applies to a more complex scenario, we disclose it in writing before any work begins. No surprises.
The main reasons are to secure a sharper interest rate, access equity you’ve built, consolidate higher-rate debts into the mortgage, or restructure the loan, for example switching between fixed and variable or adding an offset. Lenders often price new customers more keenly than existing ones, so a loan that was competitive a few years ago can drift above the market. Refinancing is the way to bring it back in line, provided the saving outweighs the cost of moving.
It depends on the gap between your current rate and what’s available, and on your loan size. Even a modest rate reduction can translate into substantial savings over the remaining life of the loan, because mortgages run for so long. The saving only counts net of switching costs, though, which is why we calculate the dollar benefit after fees rather than quoting a headline rate. If the net result isn’t worthwhile, we’ll tell you.
Typical costs include a discharge fee on your current loan, establishment or application fees on the new loan, and a property valuation, though many lenders waive some of these. If you’re on a fixed rate, breaking it early can trigger a break cost that may be significant. There may also be a small government fee to register the change. We add up every cost upfront and weigh it against the saving so you see the true net benefit.
Yes. If your property has grown in value or you’ve paid down the balance, refinancing can release some of that equity as cash or an available redraw, subject to serviceability and the lender’s loan-to-value limits. Borrowers commonly use it for renovations, an investment property deposit, or consolidating other debt, at home loan rates that are usually far lower than personal loans or credit cards. We’ll work out how much you can access and the cleanest way to structure it.
Only if your new loan is above 80% of the property’s value. If equity growth or repayments have brought your loan-to-value ratio to 80% or below, lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) won’t apply. If you’re still above 80%, or you’re releasing equity that pushes you back over it, LMI may apply again, and unfortunately it generally can’t be transferred between lenders. We check where your LVR sits before recommending a move.
Often, yes. Refinancing can roll higher-rate debts, such as credit cards, personal loans or car loans, into your mortgage, leaving you with one repayment at a lower rate. That can ease monthly cash flow, but spreading a short-term debt over a long loan term can increase the total interest paid unless you keep up higher repayments. We’ll show you both sides so you can consolidate in a way that genuinely helps rather than just defers the cost.
A straightforward refinance with clean finances often moves to approval within a week or so and settles in around two to four weeks, depending on the lenders involved and how quickly the old loan is discharged. More complex situations, such as releasing equity or consolidating debt, can take a little longer. We give you a realistic timeline upfront and manage the process between the two lenders so the switch is smooth.
Sometimes, but it needs care. Breaking a fixed rate early can trigger a break cost that may be substantial, and that cost can wipe out the benefit of switching. Whether it’s worth it depends on how much you’d save against the break cost and how long is left on the fixed term. We can request your break cost figure and run the comparison, so you make the decision with the real numbers rather than guessing.
We’ll compare your current loan against the whole market, add up every cost of moving, and show you the net benefit in dollars, so you only switch when it genuinely leaves you better off.
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