A lower rate and a cash incentive can be worth thousands, but leaving has costs. Add them up before you move.
Still fixed? Estimate the break fee first.
A comparison over the new fixed term only, with both rates held for that term. Incentives usually come with a clawback of their own if you leave the new bank within a few years (often three to four), and new lending means a fresh credit assessment, so check you would be approved before giving notice. Not financial advice.
Leaving during a fixed term can cost a break fee if rates have fallen since you fixed. Switching when the term ends avoids it.
A cashback from your current bank usually has to be repaid, in full or in part, if you leave within a few years of getting it.
The new bank assesses you from scratch: income, spending, debts and credit, and may want a valuation. Do not give notice until you are approved.
A lawyer moves the mortgage and your current bank charges to release it. New banks often contribute to legal costs.
The new bank’s incentive will have its own clawback period, often three to four years, which ties you in.
Tell your bank what another lender offers. Many will match a rate or offer something to keep you, with none of the costs of moving.
It depends on the size of the rate gap and loan, the costs of leaving and the new bank’s incentive. On a large loan, a gap of half a point or more often pays for itself within the first year; on a small loan it may not.
When your fixed term ends, so there is no break fee, and after any cashback clawback period has passed. Start talking to lenders a couple of months before.
Usually a few weeks: approval from the new bank, then the lawyers arrange settlement of the new loan and discharge of the old one.
A new application is a credit check, which appears on your credit report. A few checks while shopping around are normal; many in a short time can concern lenders.
Weekly, fortnightly or monthly repayments and the interest over the loan.
An indicative borrowing limit and a readiness check, from your own figures.
Your balance as a price, and homes at it in the suburb you pick.
What a median home costs against local incomes, town by town.
What your KiwiSaver could put toward a deposit.
The steps from saving a deposit to settlement day.
Buying with 5–20% deposit, and what it costs.
What it is, what to bring, and how long it lasts.
What extra repayments or a lump sum save.
A rough cost of breaking a fixed rate early.
Every lender’s advertised rates, side by side.
Advisers and firms near you.
General information, not financial advice.