Home / Straight Answers / Refinancing later
Straight Answers · Refinancing
Can I refinance my loan later, or am I locked in?
Bayley Clarke · Mortgage broker on the road · Last checked 1 September 2026 · 3 min read
The short answer
I joke about it, but what I tell my clients is this is the most suitable lender for you right now. We're going to date this lender. We're not going to marry them for 30 years.
Things change, your circumstances change, and all of a sudden the loan no longer makes sense. On a variable home loan we can change at any time, because there are no break costs other than your discharge fee, which is standard. My rule of thumb is we date them for a couple of years, I look at your loan every three months, and if a switch can be justified by a financial benefit, we switch.
The one minute version. The rest of this page is the detail underneath it.
Why the loan stops fitting
Maybe your current lender isn't looking after you anymore, and there's a better offer available elsewhere. Maybe another bank valued your property higher and we need to pull money out to renovate or buy the next place, so we move to the bank with the better valuation. Or maybe you've sold and, looking at the market, they're no longer the best fit for what you're doing next.
None of those are failures. They're the normal life of a loan. The lender that was right at settlement is often not the lender that's right three years later, and that's fine.
What it costs to leave a variable loan
On a variable home loan, we can change at any time. There are no break costs other than your discharge fee, which is standard, plus the usual government fees to move the mortgage. That's it. A fixed rate is a different story, because fixed loans carry break costs, which is exactly why fixing is a decision and not a default.
So on variable, the question is never whether you're allowed to move. It's whether moving clears its own costs, and that's a numbers question with its own page below.
The three-month review
Part of the work I do as your broker is looking at your loan every three months. Not to churn you, because the bank claws my commission back if you move inside 12 months, but to hold your lender accountable against the market.
If for any reason in the future that lender no longer makes sense for you, and we can justify a switch through a financial benefit, great, we'll switch you. If we can't, you stay put, and you'll know why.
The honest bit: dating means leaving, and it also means staying
The line cuts both ways. Not being locked in doesn't mean moving every time a competitor advertises a shinier number. Refinancing has costs, and a switch that saves less than it costs is churn, not strategy. Most of my three-month reviews end with 'stay put'.
The point of not being married to a lender is that when the numbers genuinely say go, nothing stops you. That's the freedom. Using it every six months is just paying fees to feel busy.
Want your loan checked against the market, no obligation to move?
A 30 minute call. What you're on, what's out there, and whether a switch clears its own costs. If the answer is stay, I'll tell you to stay, and your file never knows we spoke.
No cost to you. The bank pays me when a loan settles. ยท How I get paid
Next question
My fixed rate is ending in a few months. What should I do to get ready?The one time the calendar forces the review.
Related answers
When is refinancing a bad idea? Is it worth refinancing for a 0.25% rate difference? Should I call my bank's retention team myself?Not your question? Book a call and ask it, or call 0437 189 939.