How to refinance your home loan

It’s important to reevaluate your home loan every now and then to not only determine if you’re still getting what you want from your loan, but also to see if you can get a better deal.   

1. What do you want?

It might be you’re looking to access the equity in your home; or maybe you want a loan with an offset account. It could simply be that you want to save some money on your repayments. Whatever your goal is, you should get a clear picture of it in your head so you know what to look out for when looking at other loans.

2. Do your research

Next you should start looking around at the other loans that are available. Find out what they offer and what the fees associated with refinancing your loan would be. It’s important that you get an idea of these before you start applying to refinance. 

3. Choose your loan

Once you’ve done your research, it’s time to decide on your loan.  There isn’t one refinance loan that will meet everyone’s needs, so pick what’s right for you. Having trouble deciding? A good thing to do is call the lenders and chat through your options.

4. Apply for your loan

After choosing which loan you will use to refinance, you need to apply for it. Not much will be different from the last time you applied for a home loan, but there are a few things that could have an impact this time around. These things can include:

• If your credit history has changed.

• If you’ve had any changes to your salary or other income.

• If the amount of debt or other liabilities you have has changed.

For your application you’ll also need to provide the following documentation:

• Proof of identity

• Proof of income

• Details of your current home loan

• Details of any other debt or liabilities that you have (credit cards, car loans, personal loans etc.)

• Details of any assets that you have (savings, shares, property, vehicles etc.)

If you’re applying for a different loan but with the same lender, you may not have to provide all of these things. But it’s a good idea to have everything ready ahead of time, to keep things moving quickly.

5. Break up with your bank

Once you’ve applied, some lenders will require you to tell your current lender that you are planning to refinance, so they can prepare and send off any required information to your new lender. At Qantas Money Home Loans, we’ll take care of this for you.  

6. Pre-approval

The next step for your application will be pre-approving your loan. With a Qantas Money Home Loan application you’ll jump straight to full approval (Step 8) because we assess your application in real-time as you complete it. 

7. Valuation

Again, with other lenders you’ll need to wait for your property to get valued before you receive full approval. At Qantas Money Home Loans once you’ve submitted the property address, we do the valuation online, so it’s quicker and easier.  If we can’t value your property instantly we’ll need to do it the longer way.

8. Full approval

Once your loan has been fully approved, you’ll get sent your new loan documents to sign. 

9. Settlement

Once you’ve sent back all the signed paperwork your new lender will begin to arrange your settlement. This will mean closing off your old loan, establishing your new one and paying any set up or discharge fees that you found out about in Step 2. The registration of the home loan and your property title will also need to be transferred to your new lender (a conveyancer will handle all of this).

10. Celebrate

Your new lender will have given you all of the details of your new loan and your old loan is a thing of the past. 

* You have to be a Qantas Frequent Flyer member to apply with Qantas Money Home Loans. This information has been prepared without considering your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider your circumstances before acting on this information.