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Your fixed rate is ending: the 90-day plan

Bayley Clarke · Mortgage broker on the road · Last checked 7 September 2026 · 9 min read

The short answer

A fixed rate ends on a date, and if you do nothing, on that date your bank moves you onto whatever variable rate it decides to put you on. Nobody rings to ask.

The three months before that date are the whole game. Start at 90 days and the expiry becomes a switch date you chose. Start at 90 days after and it's three statements of a rate you never agreed to. This page is the plan, in calendar order: what to find out at 90 days, what to ask at 60, what to lodge at 30, and what to check the week it rolls. The mechanics of an actual refinance live on the refinancing guide. This page is the timeline.

What happens if you do nothing

Every fixed loan has an expiry date written into the contract. On that date, by default, the loan rolls onto your lender's revert variable rate. That's the rate the bank decides to put you on that day, and it's often a lot higher than what the same bank is offering a new customer walking in the door. It's rarely the rate you'd have picked, and it's almost never the rate you'd get if you pushed.

The bit that catches people isn't the rate. It's the silence. A letter arrives, the direct debit changes, and plenty of people don't notice for months because the repayment still comes out and life is busy. The three-month window exists to stop exactly that. Everything below is that window, cut into four dates.

One frame before we start. Your fixed rate ending is not a problem to solve. It's the one time the calendar forces a review of your whole loan, and it comes with a free exit: leave on the day after expiry and there are no break costs. That's a door that only opens once every fixed term. The plan is about walking through it on purpose, or staying put on purpose. Rolling by default is the only outcome that's never right.

90 days out: find out where you actually stand

Get the date and the revert rate in writing. Not from memory, not from the app's summary screen. Ring the bank or dig out the loan contract and get the exact expiry date and the exact rate you'll be moved to if nothing changes. Ask for it in writing. The revert rate and the rate they'll give you if you push are often two different numbers, and you want the first one on paper so you can see what the second one is worth.

Work out your balance and your loan to value ratio. Your latest statement has the balance, including the bit that says what's available if you've paid ahead. Then a rough idea of what the place is worth today. Divide one by the other. If you're comfortably under 80%, every option on this page is open to you. If you're over it, or near it, moving lenders gets expensive, because lenders mortgage insurance doesn't transfer and you'd pay it again, so the plan probably narrows to staying and negotiating. Better to know that at 90 days than at 30.

Decide the question you're actually answering. It's not "what's the best rate". It's "what does this loan need to do for my life for the next few years". Is there any chance you'll sell inside the next fixed window? Any lump sums coming, a bonus, an inheritance, a business having a good year? Does your budget survive a repayment rise, not "would you dislike it", would it actually break? Do you need the offset? Those four questions decide fixed, variable or split before anyone quotes you anything, and the answers don't change with the market.

Ninety days out is also the moment to check whether your loan drifted while you weren't looking. A fixed rate is a set-and-forget product, and set-and-forget is where money leaks. Savings sitting in a separate bank earning a little interest while the loan charges you more on the same money is the classic one. Offset or redraw, either is fine. Savings is the only wrong answer, and a lot of fixed loans quietly switched the offset off for the term. Note that for later.

60 days out: ask your own bank first, then price the market

Ask your bank, in writing, for its best variable and its best fixed. This is the reprice step, and it comes before any application, every time. Nothing changes about the loan: same bank, same account, better rate, no cost, nothing on your credit file. The bank would rather hand out a discount than lose the loan, which is the whole reason a retention desk exists. That can be me on your behalf, or you ringing the retention team yourself. Don't ask, don't get. Have a real offer from another lender in front of you when you ring, because a specific number carries more weight than "can you do better".

One thing to know before you take whatever they offer. A retention discount is measured against your current rate, not against the market. It's built to be better than what you're on. It's not built to be the best available, and it usually lands just close enough that moving stops feeling worth the effort. Take the discount either way. Just don't let it be the end of the conversation until you've put it next to a proper comparison.

Compare it against the market. Your fixed rate ending is your chance to re-evaluate every bank, not just the one you're with. We date lenders, we don't marry them, and the lender that was right when you fixed is often not the lender that's right now. The arithmetic for whether a move is worth it is one line: your balance multiplied by the rate difference is roughly the annual saving, and that has to clear the switching budget, which I put at $1,000 to $1,200 per property, well and truly. A quarter of a percent on a small balance is a year and a half of paperwork to get back to zero. The same gap on a big balance is an easy yes. Same headline, different answer, and the only thing that changed was your loan size.

Decide fixed, variable or split. Now the four questions from 90 days out do their job. Fixing buys certainty for the term and nothing else. It's not a bet you're supposed to win: the lender sets fixed pricing with a room full of people whose whole job is predicting funding costs, so fix for the certainty, never for the punt. What it costs is flexibility, capped extra repayments, usually a limited or no offset, and break costs if your plans change mid-term. Variable buys the flexibility back and moves your repayment with the market. A split fixes part and leaves the rest variable, which is where a lot of my clients land, because it stops the decision being all or nothing. Size the variable slice to your offset balance and the fixed slice to how much of your repayment you need held still.

If you're fixing with a new lender, sort the rate lock now. Here's the cheeky bit about fixed rates: with most banks, the fixed rate you're approved at isn't the fixed rate you get. You get whatever the fixed rate is on settlement day. On a refinance that's a few weeks of exposure. A rate lock is a fee so the bank can't move it on you between application and settlement. Some lenders honour the rate from the day of approval for free, and that can beat a lender with a slightly sharper advertised rate and a fee on top. It's one of the things I check before picking a lender for a fixed loan. If you're fixing where the lock is free, don't pay for what you already have.

And the one thing not to do at 60 days: wait for rates to move first. Nobody has a crystal ball, not me, not your bank, not the economists on the news. Waiting for a cut that may or may not come is not a plan, because the expiry date doesn't wait with you. Decide on your life, not on a forecast.

30 days out: lodge it, or accept it in writing

If you're moving, the application goes in now, timed to settle the day after expiry. This is the whole trick, and it's why the plan starts at 90 and not at 30. A refinance can be approved and sitting ready weeks in advance, then held so it settles the day after the fixed term ends. Leave a day early and you pay break costs, which are the lender's loss on the funding they locked in for you, and can be trivial or thousands. Leave a day late and you've spent a day on the revert rate. Settle on the day after and you pay neither. From application to settlement is typically four to six weeks, so 30 days out is already the back end of the window, not the front.

Two things to know about the application itself. First, it's a full assessment all over again. The new bank has never met you. It goes back to the drawing board on income, debts and living costs, then adds a buffer on top of the rate, generally 3%, to prove you could still pay if rates rose. Years of perfect repayments don't enter that test, which is why people who've never missed one get knocked back. The escape hatch is the reduced-buffer refinance path a lot of lenders now run at 1%, if you fit the gates: a clean 12-month history, not increasing the loan, nearly always under 80% of the property's value. Which bank runs which gate is the job, and it's why the same loan gets a yes at one lender and a no at the next.

Second, watch the term. The application form defaults to 30 years. If nobody changes it, five years of progress on the old loan quietly becomes 35 years of repayments across the two. Match the remaining term, shorten it, or reset to 30 and keep paying what you were paying. The longer term isn't what costs money. Paying the longer term's minimum is.

If you're staying, get the new rate confirmed in writing before expiry day. A verbal "we'll look after you" from the retention team is not a rate. Ask for the letter or the email that states the rate, the product, the date it applies from and whether the offset comes back on. If they've matched the market, that's a good outcome and you should feel good about it, not wonder if you missed something. One phone call fixed it. No discharge paperwork, no new accounts, no redirecting your pay.

If you're inside 30 days and haven't had any of this conversation yet, don't panic and don't sign the first thing in front of you. The reprice request still works at any point, and a move can still be lined up to settle a few weeks after expiry. You'll spend a little time on the revert rate, which is exactly the cost the plan was there to avoid, but a few weeks on it beats three years on it.

Expiry day, and the month after

Check the repayment that actually came out. Whether you stayed or moved, open the account the week after expiry and read the number against the letter. If you moved, confirm the old loan is discharged and the new one settled on the date you agreed. If you stayed, confirm the rate in the app matches the rate in the email. Banks make mistakes in your favour about as often as you'd expect.

Decide what to do with the repayment, on purpose. If your new rate is lower than the fixed one was, your minimum may drop. It's worth knowing that minimums often don't move on their own: for most banks you have to ring and ask, because reducing your repayment is changing the terms of the contract, and you may not want it reduced. If you're comfortable paying what you were paying, leave it exactly where it is. Every dollar above the new minimum goes straight at the principal and quietly takes years off the loan. If cash flow is tight, make the call and take the lower minimum. That's what it's for. Either way it's a decision, not a default.

Turn the offset and redraw back on. A lot of fixed loans limit or switch off the offset for the term. Now that the variable portion is live, the savings sitting in a separate account go back against the loan, today, not next month. If you split, check which slice the offset sits on and move the money to it. Extra repayments are usually unlimited again on the variable side, so if a lump sum landed during the fixed term and got stuck behind the cap, this is when it goes in.

Put a note in the diary. If you fixed again, the note goes 90 days before the new expiry, and this whole page runs again. If you went variable, the note says review in three months, because a variable loan can move at any time with no break costs, and the market keeps moving whether you're watching or not. My clients get that review every three months from me. Step one is always a reprice request to the current bank. Most quarters it's step one and nothing else, which is the point.

The questions, one by one

Each of these has its own full answer, in roughly the order they come up between 90 days and expiry. Find where you're at and go down a level.

My fixed rate is ending in a few months. What should I do to get ready?

Start three months out. Do nothing and you roll onto the revert rate by default. Ask your bank in writing, look at the market, and have the switch approved and timed for the day after expiry.

Should I go fixed or variable?

Nobody knows where rates are going, so the real question is what you need the loan to do for your life. Fixing buys certainty, variable buys flexibility, and a split means you don't have to pick one.

Repricing versus refinancing: which one should I do first?

Reprice first. It costs nothing and can be free money on the floor. Refinancing is the full move to another lender, and it only happens if the reprice doesn't get you there and the switch clears its costs.

Should I call my bank's retention team myself?

Yes, why not. Don't ask, don't get. Have a real offer in front of you when you ring, and check what the discount is measured against before you take it.

Is it worth refinancing for a quarter of a percent?

Depends entirely on your balance. The saving needs to be well and truly more than the $1,000 to $1,200 it costs to switch, and the arithmetic is one line.

What is a rate lock, and should I pay for one?

A fee so the bank can't change your fixed rate between application and settlement. Some lenders honour the rate from approval for free; for most, it's pay the fee or leave it to chance.

What does refinancing actually cost?

For most people a discharge fee, small government fees and a few weeks of paperwork. The costs that bite are break costs on a fixed rate, LMI under 20% equity, and quietly resetting the loan to 30 years.

I've never missed a repayment, so why won't the bank refinance me?

Because it's a full assessment all over again, with a buffer of generally 3% on top of the rate. The reduced-buffer paths at 1% are the fix, if you fit the gates.

Do repayments auto-adjust after an RBA cut, and do banks even pass it on?

Often, no. Your minimum only drops when you ring and ask. If you're comfortable paying what you're paying, leave it alone and the difference goes straight at the loan.

Does refinancing put me back to a 30 year loan term?

Not unless you let it. The application defaults to 30, and defaults can be overwritten. Match your remaining term, shorten it, or reset and keep paying the old amount.

Should I wait for rates to drop before I buy?

No one has a crystal ball. The same logic applies to waiting out a fixed-rate expiry: decide on your numbers and your life, not on a forecast.

Can I refinance my loan later, or am I locked in?

We date lenders, we don't marry them. On variable you can move any time with no break costs. A fixed rate is a different story, which is exactly why fixing is a decision and not a default.

The honest part

Three things I'd rather say here than halfway through an application. Staying put can be the right answer. If your bank reprices you to within a whisker of the market when you ask, take it, and put a note in the calendar to ask again. No discharge, no new accounts, and you've lost nothing. Fixing again can be the right answer. If a repayment rise would genuinely break your month, certainty has real value for you, and paying for it is not a mistake, as long as you're confident nothing about the loan needs to change inside the new term. What's never right is rolling by default, and what's rarely right is refinancing for sport: moving every time someone dangles a slightly smaller number means paying the switching costs over and over. Run the one line of arithmetic each time and only move when it clears well.

And the bit about me. I get paid by the bank when a loan settles, and nothing when you reprice, so read this page with that in mind. My first move is still the reprice, because if I can't beat what your bank offers after they've sharpened it, I'll tell you to stay and check again in three months. A broker whose first move on a fixed-rate expiry is always a refinance is working for their commission, not for you.

What to bring, and the question to ask

Three things. Your fixed-rate expiry letter, or the loan contract page that has the date and the revert rate on it. Your latest statement, for the balance and what's available. And a rough idea of what the place is worth today, so we know which side of 80% you're on before anyone quotes anything.

Then the question to ask, whether you're asking me or your own bank, isn't "what's your best fixed rate". It's "what will you move me to on the day my fixed rate ends, what does that cost me against the rest of the market, and what happens to my offset and my extra repayments?" If the answer starts with an application instead of a phone call to your current lender, you're being sold a refinance rather than shown one. And if the answer is a rate with no date attached, you don't have an answer yet.

Fixed rate ending in the next few months?

A 30 minute call. What your bank will revert you to, what the market is offering, fixed against variable against a split on your actual numbers, and a switch lined up to settle the day after expiry if the arithmetic says so. If staying is right, I'll say so.

Book a 30 minute call Call 0437 189 939

No application, no credit check, nothing on your file. Just the numbers.

Common questions when a fixed rate is ending

What happens when my fixed rate ends if I do nothing?+

On the expiry date the loan rolls onto your lender's revert variable rate by default. That's whatever rate the bank decides to put you on that day, and it's often a lot higher than the rate the same bank is offering new customers. Nobody rings to ask. A letter arrives, the repayment changes, and plenty of people don't notice for months.

How far out should I start looking at my options?+

Three months. At 90 days you get the expiry date and revert rate in writing and work out your balance and equity. At 60 you ask your own bank for its best offer and compare it against the market. At 30 the application goes in if you're moving, or the new rate is confirmed in writing if you're staying. A refinance takes four to six weeks from application to settlement, so 30 days out is already the back of the window.

Can I refinance before my fixed rate ends without paying break costs?+

Yes, by timing it. The new loan can be approved in advance and held so it settles the day after the fixed term ends. Leave a day early and the lender charges break costs, which are its loss on the funding it locked in for you. Settle on the day after expiry and there are no break costs and no time on the revert rate.

Should I fix again or go variable when the fixed rate ends?+

There's no universally right answer, because nobody knows where rates are going. Fixing buys certainty and costs flexibility: capped extra repayments, usually a limited offset, and break costs if you sell or refinance inside the term. Variable buys the flexibility back and moves your repayment with the market. A split fixes part of the loan and leaves the rest variable, which is where a lot of people land. Decide on what the loan needs to do for your life, not on a forecast.

Will my bank automatically give me a good rate when the fixed term ends?+

No. The revert rate is the default, and the better rate is the one you get by asking. Ring the bank or have a broker put a pricing request in, with a real offer from another lender in front of you. A retention discount is measured against your current rate, not the market, so take it, then check what it's actually worth against a proper comparison before you settle back in.

Next question

My fixed rate is ending in a few months. What should I do to get ready?

The three-month window in full, from the answer this page was built around.