Refinancing your home loan

The first thing to do is to look at your current loan including the type of loan it is, the interest rate you’re paying, the features it offers, and the fees you’re paying. Identify the things you would like to improve with a new loan. For example, maybe you want to pair your fixed-rate with an offset account? Or maybe you want to move from a fixed rate to a variable rate?

Next, crunch the numbers to calculate how much you will gain from refinancing. Use our refinance calculator to determine your monthly savings if you refinanced with Tic:Toc

Next, watch out for fees. Every lender has its own set of fees for refinancing. Expect to pay ‘closing your old loan fees’ ( such as discharge fees, break fees for fixed home loans etc) + ‘opening your new loan fees’ ( government fees, third party fees).

Then divide the monthly savings by your total closing costs to figure out how many months it takes to break even.

Once you have calculated if it's worth it to pursue a refinancing home loan, shop around for the best refinance rates and features and find a home loan that suits your scenario. Then, choose your new lender and apply. How long will the process take? Every lender is different. With Tic:Toc, your refinancing online home loan application will take approximately 20 mins.

You can refinance a loan whenever you want, but you should only switch if you can get a better deal. A refinancing loan comes with upfront costs such as break fees (if you’re on a fixed loan), exit fees and open fees. When deciding, calculate how long it takes to recoup the costs of refinancing.

Not sure whether it’s worth undertaking a home loan refinance? Use our refinance calculator to figure out how much you could save by getting a refinancing home loan with Tic:Toc.

Refinancing usually happens within a 60 day period from start to finish. There are 5 main steps to refinancing: application, approval, contract, settlement, payment.

When you apply online your application process will take you about 20 mins to complete. Once completed we'll tell you whether or not your refinancing application is approved — or declined. Generally, this is pretty quick, but it will depend on the complexity of your application and the number of applications we are processing at the time. The quickest we've ever fully approved an applicant from the time they submitted their application was 58 minutes. Once you are approved we will send over a contract for you so you can sign.

Next is the final settlement and payment process. This is where the money changes hands. When you are refinancing, the money is transferred between loan providers (your current lender and Tic:Toc) on the settlement date. The settlement date depends on when both banks have everything they need to transfer the loan. This is generally worked out by our solicitor/conveyancer and your current bank’s settlement department. It can take up to 3 weeks.

Your credit score may take a dip in the process, but it can recover and it's normal. A temporary credit hit is likely to be outweighed by the financial gain of a home loan refinance. When you apply for a new loan lenders will check your credit history to see if you are a risky buyer. This is called a ‘hard inquiry’. It shows up on your credit report and too many hits can temporarily cause your credit score to drop. To avoid too many credit inquiries, shop around for the best deals before you apply for a home loan.