THE 4th RATE RISE

I refinanced last November. Since then, there have been 4 rate rises and I’ve got the shits. Is there anything that can be done about it? A question I’m willing to entertain because I’m getting clobbered on interest.

Will your lender listen to you? What is the lending climate? Will they play ball?

What I need to say right at the top is that we’re all different and we’re all in different situations. I can only speak from my own experience so here we go:

This week I tried calling my bank directly. The reason I did this is because my mortgage broker - who did the refinance in the first place - suggested that’s what I do. He suggested I speak with someone, ask them about discharge forms and let them know I’m planning to refinance to a lower rate elsewhere, he even gave me a suggestion for what that lower rate might be. His theory is that they would immediately put me through to “the retention team” and I would be offered a lower rate.

Let me tell you this is not what happened. I spoke with a lovely lady at the call centre who did not blink. She was more than happy to give me the discharge form link - no retention team, no better offer, no begging to stay.

Maybe I had a BIG RED DOT next to my file? Do Not Resuscitate.

Rewind to last year when I refinanced: It was hard and I had to shop around - Big Time. Anyone who works for themselves will empathise with the Tax Return Do-Si-Do. You spend a lot of time trying to minimise tax and that usually has the effect of shrinking your income and so when it comes time to get a mortgage, you’re just not an attractive prospect. You manage to still pay plenty of tax, but no one wants to lend you money.

[side note, how much does money likes money? If you have money they want you to have more, if you have none, they don’t want to lend it to you - the rich get richer and the poor tread water - like putting quarters in a washing machine at the laundromat instead of buying yourself a washing machine]‍ ‍

I got a no from my usual broker, a no from a couple others that came highly recommended and then finally a yes from a very creative finance guy - I’ll give you his number if you’re ever in a pickle. He got us out of a bind but since the RBA is on a tear in 2026, it seems like we are back in the bind.

I know that swapping mortgages after just one year can be a silly move considering exit costs. Technically, I didn’t ask my current lender for a discount, I threatened to leave.

Next week I’m going to phone the call centre again and just ask for a rate reduction. I need to call them anyway, to make sure my offset account is actually offsetting something so I’ll do that at the same time.

And if that doesn’t work? My next step is to complete my 2026 tax returns and see if anything has changed.