Your bank is offering new customers up to $5,000. You're getting nothing.

If you've had a home loan for a couple of years and never refinanced, there's a good chance your lender is offering better terms to a brand-new customer than to you.

That's not a guess. It's a business model.

Some lenders right now are offering cashback of up to $5,000 for eligible borrowers who switch their home loan across. Several of those deals have a hard deadline: applications need to be in before August 28, 2026. New customers know about these offers. Existing customers, the ones who've been paying on time and never made a fuss, usually don't.

I'll tell you straight: that's the loyalty tax. And it costs more people more money than they realise.

Why this is happening right now

The RBA held the cash rate at its June meeting. No cut, no hike. The next meeting is in August. In the meantime, lenders are competing hard for new loan books, and cashback offers are one of the sharper tools in their kit. They need new lending volume. They already have yours.

At the same time, cost of living pressure is pushing more people to look hard at what their money is doing. Industry data shows refinancing for debt consolidation climbed roughly 47 percent in early 2026 compared to the same period in 2025. People are rolling credit card balances and personal loans into their home loan to cut their monthly outgoings. Some of them are also picking up a cashback along the way.

The window for those current cashback deals is roughly eight weeks. That's enough time to move, if you start now.

What the loyalty tax actually costs

There's no single number here because the gap between what you're paying and what you could be paying depends on your loan size, your current lender, and what's actually on offer for your situation.

What I will tell you is this: one client came to me earlier this year after sitting on the same loan they'd set up a few years ago. After refinancing, they freed up several hundred dollars a month. That's one client's result, not a quote, not typical. Your situation depends on your loan size, your income, your existing lender's exit costs, and whether you've got other debt in the mix.

But the gap is usually worth finding out about. And it takes about five minutes to start that conversation.

The debt consolidation question

If you've got a credit card balance, a car loan, or a personal loan sitting alongside your mortgage, refinancing opens up a separate question: should you roll it all together?

The argument for it: your home loan rate is lower than what you're paying on a credit card or personal loan. One repayment, lower cost month to month, less mental overhead.

The argument for being careful: you're turning short-term debt into long-term debt. If you consolidate $20,000 of credit card debt into a 30-year home loan and never pay it down faster, you'll pay more in total interest over time even at the lower rate. That's not a reason to say no automatically. It's a reason to look at the full picture before you decide.

A broker who does the actual sums with you rather than just pointing you toward the shiniest product is worth finding before you move. Your full situation needs to be assessed before anything is recommended.

What a broker does that your bank can't

Your bank has one set of products: theirs. They have one goal: keeping you on their book at the best margin they can hold. They are not looking at your loan and asking whether you could be better served somewhere else. That is not how their business works.

I've settled over $110 million in home loans and I have 116 Google reviews from people who came to me after the bank said no, or said yes but not very well. I'm not in a call centre. I pick up my own phone. When you call me, you get me. Not a case number. Not a callback from someone reading a script.

I work across a panel of lenders, which means when one of them has a strong offer right now and another doesn't, I know where to look. I live and work in the New England region. Glen Innes. Inverell. I work online too, so where you are doesn't matter. What matters is whether your loan is working as hard as it should be.

Is August 28 a real deadline?

Yes. Several of the current cashback offers require your application to be submitted by August 28, 2026, with settlement within 120 days of that date.

That's not a pressure tactic. It's a calendar date. You decide what to do with it.

If you're going to move, starting in July gives you comfortable time to get your documents together, compare lenders properly, and not be rushing at the end of August wondering if you've missed it.

What refinancing actually involves

The process is less painful than most people expect. Here's what to know going in.

Your current lender may charge exit fees or break costs if you're on a fixed rate. Get that figure from them before you do anything else. Sometimes it's worth paying. Sometimes it isn't. That depends on what's on offer and how long you've got left on your fixed term.

A new lender will run a credit check. That's normal. The thing that damages your credit score is applying to multiple lenders at once, which is what happens if you shop around yourself. A broker works out which lender fits your situation first, then submits one application. One credit inquiry.

Refinancing resets your loan term if you let it. You don't have to. You can match your remaining term or shorten it. Do it once, do it right.

Whether any cashback is taxable depends on how your loan is structured and what it's secured against. Worth asking your accountant about before you count it as free money.

If you want to know whether any of this is worth it for your situation, start with a conversation. No pressure. Chat soon.