Straight Answers
Refinancing
Refinancing can save thousands each year, or quietly cost you more. These guides help you tell the difference.
When Should You Refinance?
It's worth looking at refinancing when you can get a meaningfully lower rate or better features, when a fixed rate is about to end, when your property value or income has improved, or when you need to restructure or access equity. The test is simple: do the savings or benefits outweigh the costs of switching, such as discharge fees and any break costs, within a reasonable time? A review every year or two is a good habit, even if you end up staying put.
7 min readHow to Use a Refinance Calculator
To use a refinance calculator, enter your current loan balance, interest rate and remaining term, then the new rate, new term and switching costs. The calculator shows the change in repayments, the interest saved over the loan and how long it takes to recover your costs. The most important step is keeping the loan term the same when comparing, because stretching back to 30 years can make repayments look lower while costing more interest overall. Treat the result as an estimate, not a quote.
6 min readDebt Consolidation Explained
Debt consolidation means rolling higher-interest debts, such as credit cards, car loans and personal loans, into your home loan, usually through a refinance. Because home loan rates are generally lower, your monthly repayments can drop significantly. The catch is time: if those debts are stretched over 25 or 30 years, you can pay more interest in total, not less. Consolidation works best when you keep repaying the consolidated debts quickly, close the old accounts and address what caused the debt.
7 min readAccessing Equity Explained
You access equity by increasing your home loan, or adding a separate loan split, secured against your property, either with your current lender or by refinancing to a new one. Lenders usually allow you to borrow up to 80% of the property's value without LMI, minus your current loan, and you need to show you can afford the higher repayments. People commonly use equity for renovations, investment property deposits or other investments. It's still debt, so it pays to use it for things that build value.
7 min readBook a discovery call
Let’s talk straight about your next move.
Book a free, no-obligation discovery call with Andrew. We’ll look at where you are now, where you want to be, and the clearest way to get there. In person on the Sunshine Coast, or by phone and video anywhere in Australia.