If you’re reading this article, you’re probably wondering what the difference is between refixing a mortgage, restructuring a mortgage and refinancing a mortgage.
What are these R words and why are they so important? If you can better understand these terms and how they can apply to your mortgage, they can help you save more money on interest and help you pay off your mortgage a lot faster than your 30 or 25-year term.
Watch instead: Refixing, refinancing, and restructuring – what is the difference?
Refixing Your Mortgage
A refix is when you have a home loan that is on a fixed interest rate, meaning that the interest rate stays the same over the period you have fixed it for. At the end of this fixed term, most people refix for one to two years, your interest rate changes to floating, unless you refix it again.
Refixing adds greater certainty to your home loan repayments as you know what you’re paying i.e. principal and interest or interest only, will not fluctuate.
Refinancing Your Mortgage
Refinancing is when you decide to take your entire mortgage to a new bank, which is different from a refix, which keeps your mortgage with the same bank. Refinancing means that you need to do a new home loan application and your lending has to be reassessed and approved by the new bank. If the bank decides to take you on as a new customer, they will pay off your mortgage that you had with the old bank and take on the risk of being your new mortgage lender.
Refinancing can be worthwhile if another bank is offering you a lot more than your current bank such as lower interest rates or large cash contributions towards your mortgage. Refinancing can also be used to shorten your loan term meaning you’re paying less in interest over the lifetime of your mortgage or if your house has gone up in value meaning you have more equity to use for renovations, to put into an investment property etc.
Restructuring Your Mortgage
A restructure is when you change the current structure of your mortgage to a new structure. Restructuring your mortgage can happen when you’re refinancing or refixing your loans. You could split your loan and apply for a revolving credit or an offset loan, you could change one of your loans to interest only etc.
The possibilities are varied and allow you to achieve different things regarding your loan and current situation. Restructuring your loans can be a great way to save on interest by making greater repayments towards your mortgage without having to pay any penalties in doing so.
So that is the difference between a refix, a refinance and a restructure. If you’d like to get your mortgage assessed by one of our mortgage advisors to save money on interest and pay off your mortgage faster than you thought was possible, book a 15-minute chat online with our team today.
Keep in mind this article is providing general information and not individual financial advice.
