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My fixed rate is ending in a few months. What should I do to get ready?
Bayley Clarke · Mortgage broker on the road · Last checked 1 September 2026 · 3 min read
The short answer
The three-month window before your fixed rate expires is the time to start looking at your options. By default, if you do nothing, on the day your fixed rate expires you automatically roll to your current lender's revert variable rate. Pretty much whatever rate they decide to put you on that day, and it's often a lot higher than what they're offering new customers.
So, one: understand what your bank is going to offer you when the fixed rate ends. Two: look at what the market is doing, because this is your chance to re-evaluate every bank. Three: get something in place so that the day the fixed rate expires, you either stay put on purpose or you've already been switched to a new lender from the day after.
The 80 second version. The rest of this page is the detail underneath it.
What happens if you do nothing
A fixed rate ends on a date. On that date, by default, you automatically roll onto your current lender's revert variable rate. That's the rate they decide to put you on that day. It's often a lot higher than what the same bank is offering new customers, and a lot of the time it won't suit where you're at.
Nobody rings you to ask. The letter arrives, the repayment changes, and plenty of people don't notice for months. That's the outcome the three-month window is there to prevent.
The three things, three months out
One: understand what your variable rate is going to look like with your current bank. Ask them, in writing, what they'll offer when the fixed period ends, because the revert rate and the rate they'll give you if you push are often two different numbers.
Two: have a look at what the market's doing. Your fixed rate ending is your opportunity to re-evaluate all the different banks and figure out which one is now the most suitable for your home loan. Because again, we date lenders, we don't marry them.
Three: get ready to get something in place, so that as soon as your fixed rate expires you know you're either staying put, or you've been switched over to your new lender from the day after.
Why it all happens in advance
We can do all of that in advance and just hold off until the day the fixed rate expires. A refinance can be approved and sitting ready, timed to settle the day after the fixed period ends, so you never spend a day on the revert rate and never pay break costs for leaving early.
That timing is the whole trick. Start at three months, and the expiry date becomes a switch date instead of a surprise.
The honest bit: staying can be the right answer, rolling never is
Sometimes the review ends with your current bank matching the market and you staying put. That's a good outcome. What's never a good outcome is rolling onto the revert rate by default and finding out three statements later. The difference between the two is a phone call at the three-month mark.
If your fixed rate ends inside the next 90 days and you haven't had that call with anyone, have it this week.
Fixed rate ending in the next few months?
A 30 minute call. What your bank will revert you to, what the market is offering, and a switch lined up for the day after expiry if the numbers say so. If staying is right, I'll say so.
No cost to you. The bank pays me when a loan settles. ยท How I get paid
Next question
Can I refinance my loan later, or am I locked in?The general version of this question.
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