Is Your Low Fixed Rate About To Expire? What Can You Do To Minimise The Financial Impact?

Mortgage Brokering

By Reece Droscher

In the current interest rate and inflationary climate Mortgage Brokers are spending a lot of time engaged with their existing clients, discussing what will happen when the current fixed rate on their Home Loan expires. When rates were at their lowest a lot of borrowers, quite smartly, took advantage of this and locked in their rate for anywhere between 1 and 5 years. Most took a fixed rate of 2-3 years at rates as low as 1.79%. As all good things must come to an end, these rates will be coming up to their expiry dates over the next few months, and some borrowers could see their mortgage rates increase by almost 5% when their fixed rate expires.

If you are in this situation there is one important thing you should do to plan for this eventuality and to try and mitigate, as much as possible, the inevitable impact on your cashflow that you will be about to experience.

Talk To A Mortgage Broker And Review Your Loan

It is vitally important to get a real understanding of your options, and discussing your situation with a mortgage broker will be the best course of action to ensuring you get the best deal and minimise the financial impact of a significant increase in your interest rate. We can talk to your current lender to see what they can offer as an incentive to remain with them or see what else is available in the market that may be a better option.

There are a number of lenders offering cash-back incentives to attract new business, some up to $4,000 depending on the loan amount and other factors. They may also be negotiable on the interest rate to ensure they win your business. Your mortgage broker is in the perfect position to help with these negotiations by presenting a case to the lenders, then seeing who is offering the most suitable deal.

Mortgage Brokers can also negotiate with your current lender if you provide them permission to do so. I have personally re-negotiated rates for new clients who were placed on the standard variable rate once their fixed rate expired, and their existing Bank discounted their rate by almost 1.5% to ensure they retained the business. It costs Banks more money to attract a new client than to keep their existing customers, so they are being a lot more aggressive using their business retention teams to offer existing clients better deals.

It is also important to note that a mortgage broker is required to act in the best interest of their client, which is not a requirement of the Banks or other lenders. When you engage a broker to review your loan we are required to provide our clients with the most suitable option to meet their needs, even if the best option is for the client to remain with their current lender and the broker receives no remuneration by recommending this option. This ensures that you are receiving the best advice available at the time of the review.

Every client’s requirements are different, and dealing with a Mortgage Broker will provide you with a much wider range of options than just dealing with your current lender. At SHL Finance we are helping our clients save thousands by reviewing their loans and ensuring they are getting the best deal to meet their needs.

Please call Reece Droscher on 0478 021 757 to arrange a review. www.shlfinance.com.au

By Peter Horton

Ever wondered how many sporting clubs there are in the City of Maroondah.

Football, Cricket, Basketball, Tennis, Netball, Lawn Bowls – the list goes on and on.

And guess what – all clubs are seeking to increase their membership, increase the number of participating players, increase their revenue streams through sponsorship, social activities, membership fees – just to name a few.

Just picture it – dozens of sporting club representatives trying to attract new sponsors, retain existing sponsors and creating benefits to showcase the reasons why companies should become a sponsor.

Maybe it’s time to consider working together – time for non-competing sporting clubs to consider how they can develop alliances that will assist in attracting new members, encourage sponsors to promote their products and services to more than one club and to give people the opportunity to take up a sport that may be more suitable to their skills.

Like many clubs some people decide that after giving it a try a particular sport may not be to their liking and they drop out. Where do they turn to? What other sport can they consider?