Your bank almost certainly charges you more than it charges the person who signed up last week. That is not a scandal, it is how the pricing works. New customers are expensive to win, so the sharp rate goes to them. Existing customers are cheap to keep, so nobody rings you to lower yours.
Which means the fastest saving most homeowners will ever make is a phone call they have been putting off.
We ask nearly every client who comes to us for a refinance to make that call first, before we lodge anything. About half the time the bank moves enough that switching stops being worth the paperwork. Here is how to run it.
Start with your statement
Not the rate you remember from settlement. The rate on your last statement, or in the app, this week. If part of your loan is fixed and part is variable, note both, and note when the fixed term ends.
While you are there, write down your balance and a rough idea of what the property is worth now. Those two numbers give you your loan-to-value ratio, the loan as a share of the value. If you bought in Truganina or Tarneit four or five years ago, prices have moved enough that you may have dropped from the 90 per cent bracket into the 80 per cent one, and lenders price those brackets differently. That alone can be the reason you are owed a better rate.
Check the new-customer rate
Go to your own bank's website and look at the rate advertised for a new customer with a loan like yours: same owner-occupied or investment purpose, same principal-and-interest or interest-only repayments, same loan-to-value bracket. That is your first benchmark. The gap between it and your rate is what your loyalty is costing you.
Then look at what a couple of other lenders advertise for the same loan. You are not applying anywhere yet. You want one number you can say out loud on the phone.
If you would rather we did this part, that is exactly what our rate review is for. Four fields, and we come back to you within two business hours with where you sit.
Make the call
Ring the number on your statement and ask for the retention team, or say the words "I am considering refinancing and want to discuss my rate". Every major lender has a team whose whole job is this conversation, and the front-line person will put you through.
Then say something close to this:
"I have been with you since 2021. My rate is 6.54 per cent. You are advertising 5.89 for the same loan to new customers. I would rather stay. What can you do?"
If you genuinely have a written offer from another lender, say so and name the rate. If you do not, do not invent one. Retention teams can check, and the call goes badly from there.
Three things are doing the work in that sentence. You have named your rate, so they cannot start the negotiation from a vague place. You have named their own new-customer rate, which they cannot argue with. And you have said you would rather stay, which is what the retention team is paid to make happen.
Do not accept "we will submit a request and get back to you" as the end. Ask when, and ask for the answer in writing. A pricing request at most lenders comes back inside two business days.
What a fair offer looks like
A good answer puts you at or within about 0.1 of a percentage point of the new-customer rate, effective from the next repayment, with no fee and no change to the rest of your loan. Say yes. Ask for the confirmation email. Then diarise the same call for twelve months' time.
A worked example, with illustrative figures: on a $620,000 loan with 24 years to run, moving from 6.54 to 5.94 per cent lowers the monthly repayment by roughly $230 and saves about $66,000 in interest over the remaining term if nothing else changes. That is one phone call. Nobody's income went up.
When the bank won't move
Sometimes the answer is a token cut, or nothing. That is information. It tells you the bank has decided you will not leave, and the only way to change that decision is to leave.
Before you do, count the cost of moving. A discharge fee from the current lender, government registration fees, and possibly an application or valuation fee at the new one. In Victoria that usually lands somewhere between a few hundred dollars and a bit over a thousand, and if you are on a fixed rate the break cost can be much larger and needs checking before anything else. Then divide the total by your monthly saving. If the costs are paid back inside a year or so, switching stacks up. If it would take three years, it probably does not, and you should take whatever small cut was offered and revisit later.
We wrote up that decision in more detail in when should you refinance, and we are honest in it about the cases where staying put wins.
What we've learned
The retention team's offer is often better on the second call. Not because of any trick, but because the first person you speak to has a limited range and a supervisor has a wider one. If the first offer is poor, say thank you, say you will think about it, and ring back in a week with the same numbers. We have watched clients pick up a further 0.15 of a point that way.
And the offer is nearly always better when you have a real alternative in hand rather than a website screenshot. That is the one place a broker earns their keep in this process: we can put a genuine, assessed offer from another lender in front of your bank, and your bank knows we will lodge it if they do not move.
Next steps
Pull up your statement and find your current rate. Look up what your bank advertises to new customers for the same loan. If the gap is more than about 0.3 of a point, ring the retention team this week and use the words above.
It is not clever, and that is rather the point. The people who end up on the better rate are simply the ones who rang. If you would like a second pair of eyes first, send us your rate and we will tell you plainly whether the call is worth making.
Common questions
Will asking for a rate review hurt my credit score?
No. A rate review with your existing lender is a pricing request, not a credit application. Nothing is recorded on your credit file. A refinance to a new lender does involve an application and an enquiry on your file, which is one reason to try the phone call first.
How often can I ask?
As often as you like, but once a year is the useful rhythm, and straight after a fixed term ends is the most important time. Lenders reprice new-customer offers constantly, so a rate that was fair 18 months ago is often not fair now.
Can a broker do this for me?
Yes. Most lenders have a pricing request process that brokers use daily, and a broker can put your request alongside a genuine comparison from other lenders, which is what usually makes the bank move. There is no fee for our service on a standard home loan.
My bank offered a small cut but not the new-customer rate. Should I take it?
Take it, because it costs nothing and starts immediately. Then work out whether the gap that remains still justifies a switch once the costs of moving are counted. A cut now and a switch later are not mutually exclusive.
General information only, current as at 25 September 2026. It does not take your objectives, financial situation or needs into account. Grants, schemes, rates and lender policies change; check the figures that matter to you before you act, or speak with us. J2C Mortgage Advisory is Credit Representative 577408 of Australian Finance Group Ltd, Australian Credit Licence 389087.
