Refinancing
Your bank hasn't called in two years. There's a reason.
New customers get the sharp rate. Existing ones quietly pay for it. A 15-minute review tells you what staying put is costing you, and whether switching is actually worth the paperwork.
- A director reviews your loan against the 100+ lenders we have access to
- We'll tell you plainly when switching isn't worth it
- Offset, term and consolidation first, then the rate
- We handle the switch admin, not you
Get started
Tell us what you're trying to do.
Who you'll be dealing with
Jonathon Radford, Director
- Master of Applied Finance, majoring in Investment Management
- Advanced Diploma of Financial Planning
- Diploma of Finance and Mortgage Broking Management
- 15+ years across commercial banking, investments and wealth management
- 15+ years of business ownership and operating experience
Finstac Pty Ltd, Credit Representative 582083, authorised under Elders Home Loans Pty Ltd, Australian Credit Licence 384408
The situation
The loyalty tax is real, and it's quiet.
Lenders compete hard for new borrowers and rely on existing ones not checking. Two or three years after settlement, the rate you signed up for is often no longer the rate that lender is offering people walking in the door.
Most people suspect this and do nothing, because refinancing sounds like a weekend of paperwork for an uncertain gain. Fair enough.
So we do the checking. Fifteen minutes, one business day to come back to you, and a straight answer: here's the gap, here's what switching costs, here's your break-even, or here's why you should stay exactly where you are.
Why Finstac
What the review covers.
What your rate is really costing
Your current repayment against what's available now, with the switching costs and break-even included, not hidden.
Structure, not just rate
Offset set up properly, the right term, and whether consolidating debt helps or quietly resets the clock on your mortgage.
Whether to fix
An honest read on fixed versus variable for your situation, including what you give up by fixing.
The admin
If it's worth switching, we handle the discharge, the application and the coordination. You sign things.
Want the real number, not an estimate?
A director will run your actual position across the 100+ lenders we have access to.
The process
How it works.
Tell us what you're trying to do
A quick conversation gives us the context: your goal, your timeline and where you're up to.
We assess your position
We look at your circumstances, objectives and the lending options actually available to you across the lenders we have access to.
We structure the strategy
We identify an appropriate lending approach, and explain the trade-offs in plain English before you commit.
We handle the process
From application through to settlement, we stay involved and keep you updated.
Free guide
The Fifteen Minute Refinance Review
What staying put is really costing you
- How to check your rate against what's actually available now
- The real cost of switching, and when it isn't worth it
- Structuring an offset properly instead of just chasing a rate
- Consolidating debt without quietly resetting the clock
Straight answers
The questions we get asked most.
The things people actually ask before they pick up the phone. If yours isn't here, ask us directly and we'll give you a straight answer either way.
Sometimes it is, and we'll say so. But the hassle is mostly ours, not yours. If the gap is 0.5% on a $600,000 loan, that's a meaningful amount of money for signing some documents.
Run the numbers before you decide. Our refinance calculator shows the monthly difference and the break-even on switching costs in about a minute.
Usually discharge and registration fees, and sometimes a new lender fee. If you're on a fixed rate, break costs can be significant. We include all of it in the review. The net number is the only one that matters.
Often they will, once you have a competing offer in hand. That's a perfectly good outcome and we'll tell you when to use it rather than switch.
A formal application creates a credit enquiry. We only submit one once you've decided to proceed. The review itself doesn't.
Commonly three to six weeks from application to settlement, depending on the lender's processing times and how quickly documents come back. Most of the work is ours.
It depends on how much you value certainty versus flexibility, and whether you might need to sell, refinance or access equity during the fixed period. Most fixed loans don't offer a full offset, and that trade-off is usually the deciding factor.
Often yes, and the lower rate is attractive. The catch is stretching a short-term debt over 30 years, which can cost more overall. It can still be the right call for cashflow. It just should be a deliberate one.
Then your LVR is higher than when you started, which narrows your options and may trigger LMI. Worth knowing before you apply rather than after.
Yes. It's a question of lender selection and how your income is presented. Our complex income page covers how add-backs work.
Refinance · Case study
A fixed rate ending, and a revert rate nobody mentioned.
The situation
A family three years into a loan taken out on a competitive fixed rate. The fixed term was ending and the loan was due to revert to the lender's standard variable rate, which was materially higher than what the same lender was advertising to new customers.
The problem
Switching looked like a hassle for an unclear benefit, and there was a real chance the numbers wouldn't justify it. Break costs, discharge fees and a new application all had to be weighed against the gap.
What we did
- Modelled the actual cost of staying put across the revert rate, not the headline rate
- Included every switching cost in the comparison, rather than presenting a rate difference in isolation
- Reviewed structure before rate: offset, term remaining, and whether consolidation was appropriate
- Gave a break-even figure in months, so the decision was a number rather than a feeling
The outcome
The gap was large enough to justify moving, and the switch was completed before the fixed term expired so the revert rate never applied. The new structure included an offset the previous fixed loan did not allow.
The numbers
- Loan balance
- $615,000
- Revert rate vs new rate
- 0.71% gap
- Total switching costs
- $1,240
- Break-even
- Under 3 months
- First-year saving
- ~$4,100
Illustrative example based on typical client scenarios. Individual circumstances, lender policies and outcomes vary. Not a guarantee of approval or result.
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Our people
The people behind Finstac.
A small senior team, by design. You deal directly with the people who built the business, from the first conversation through to settlement.
Meet our people
Ready when you are.
Three quick questions, then a director comes back to you within one business day. No obligation, and we'll tell you honestly if the answer is “not yet”.