Speaker 1: But morning everyone, and welcome back to Sugar Mama's Fireplay.
Speaker 1: I am your host financial planner Canna Campbell, and today
Speaker 1: we're talking about refinancing, the free financing one O one,
Speaker 1: When you need to refinance, why you should be refinancing,
Speaker 1: and how to do it properly to make sure that
Speaker 1: you save tens of thousands of dollars maybe even one
Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of dollars off your mortgage, that money
Speaker 1: that can then be channeled into other areas in your
Speaker 1: financial well being. And of course we are joined by
Speaker 1: mortgage expert John Mikolzzi from Blue Lanton Home Loans. Now,
Speaker 1: as you're aware, we often have Adam in here. We
Speaker 1: have we're mixing things up a little bit with John,
Speaker 1: who has the equal amount of experience. And for the record,
Speaker 1: I have been using Blue Lantern myself for many years.
Speaker 1: I know the team. I've known them for like almost
Speaker 1: close to I think eighteen years, and there is a
Speaker 1: reason why I had them on the show. It is
Speaker 1: because I know how good they are. I know how
Speaker 1: reliable they are, how to apparent they are, how trustworthy
Speaker 1: they are, and of course how good they are at
Speaker 1: actually helping make sure that you get on top of
Speaker 1: your home loan and you actually see it come down
Speaker 1: over time because unlike a lot of mortgage brokers and banks,
Speaker 1: they offer ongoing service which costs you absolutely nothing. And
Speaker 1: just so you know, should you decide you want to
Speaker 1: reach out to John from Blue Lantern, I get absolutely
Speaker 1: zero benefit or incentive to do so whatsoever. The only
Speaker 1: benefit I get is sleeping well at night knowing that
Speaker 1: you are finally in some good hands. And I love
Speaker 1: it when you guys message me to say thank you
Speaker 1: for passing on contact details and I hear about how
Speaker 1: much they've been able to help you save and how
Speaker 1: much time and the relief of your back. So please
Speaker 1: keep those messages that coming in because it really makes
Speaker 1: me feel happy. And of course I will to continue
Speaker 1: on working on finding other great contacts in other areas
Speaker 1: of personal finance to make sure that we are all
Speaker 1: heading in the right direction so you can actually apply
Speaker 1: everything you're learning in your life. All right, Okay, again,
Speaker 1: if a quick reminder, everything in these episodes on Sugar
Speaker 1: Mons fireplay is always general in nature and for educational
Speaker 1: purposes only. But today we want to talk about with
Speaker 1: John refinancing because a lot of people have mortgages, and
Speaker 1: a lot of people want to understand their mortgages and
Speaker 1: save money. So sometimes the best way if you're not
Speaker 1: going to get given a mortgage rate cut and just
Speaker 1: right cut, is to go and find one yourself. And
Speaker 1: that is where refinancing comes in. So that enough to
Speaker 1: hear from me. Let's hear from John. I'm talking about refinancing. John,
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on today.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Ken.
Speaker 1: Can we just get straight into this for the listeners,
Speaker 1: because I know so many people will get overwhelmed with
Speaker 1: the idea of refinancing, not knowing when it's the right time.
Speaker 1: Is it too soon?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 1: Is there going to be damaged to my credit if
Speaker 1: I apply to refinanced it gets knocked back? Can we
Speaker 1: can we just go back to the basics, the one
Speaker 1: I want of refinancing and explain first of all, what
Speaker 1: refinancing your homeone actually means and how it works.
Speaker 2: Okay, So refinancing is when you change your existing mortgage
Speaker 2: from one lender to another. Okay, Obviously it pays only
Speaker 2: to that if you're going if you're going to save money.
Speaker 2: You know, most people come on the property journey, you know,
Speaker 2: they get the property they get the loan and then
Speaker 2: you know, refinance can come after that. The key difference is,
Speaker 2: you know, when you're buying a property, there's a contract
Speaker 2: of sale. Sometimes the price is unknown all the very end.
Speaker 2: The loan amount is unknownt the very end, whereas with
Speaker 2: the refinance, the property is known, the loan amount is known.
Speaker 2: So therefore it's a case of doing the numbers as
Speaker 2: to whether refinancing puts you in a better financial position
Speaker 2: than staying with your current lender.
Speaker 1: When is the right time to consider refinancing, because you know,
Speaker 1: some people may have even taken out of homeland six
Speaker 1: months ago. Is that too soon or do they need
Speaker 1: to be Is there a sweet spot where they're the
Speaker 1: biggest savings of say five years in or is it
Speaker 1: even further like when when do you know it's It's
Speaker 1: a hard one even as a financial plan, I think,
Speaker 1: but when do we need to shop around?
Speaker 2: Okay? So we with our clients, we have an annual
Speaker 2: review process. Okay, so, and that's free.
Speaker 1: That's part of the service, part of the service, And
Speaker 1: that's what I explained at the beginning of this episode.
Speaker 1: People do not understand how valuable that is.
Speaker 2: Yea, so so that's that's part of the service. So
Speaker 2: at least once a year, you know, check in understand
Speaker 2: where your loan is at, questions such as is it
Speaker 2: the right rate? Does it still meet your needs? Okay,
Speaker 2: So it's not all about rate.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just a good point because, like the setup
Speaker 1: of a home loan is really important. And that's why
Speaker 1: I say the right get set up the right way
Speaker 1: the first time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. So things like annual package fees can get
Speaker 2: away from you and you forget about them. But then
Speaker 2: if you understand that there are better options out there,
Speaker 2: it can make a significant difference.
Speaker 1: Definitely, Okay. So what are the key benefits then in refuncing?
Speaker 1: What is the driving motivation for me to pick up
Speaker 1: the phone and call a mortgage broker or call you
Speaker 1: or call my bank?
Speaker 2: The key one is comfort? Okay. So through the process,
Speaker 2: and you may not refinance right, but at least through
Speaker 2: the process you'll understand is it the best rate that
Speaker 2: I can get at the moment? Is it optimal? Does
Speaker 2: the loan still and the banking features still meet my needs? Right?
Speaker 2: And that to have that comfort and to understand where
Speaker 2: you're at is critical, okay, And then only when you
Speaker 2: do that, can you understand if you actually need to refinance? Okay,
Speaker 2: and so on, one flows through to the other.
Speaker 1: It's interesting you say that. The other day someone messaged
Speaker 1: me on Instagram to say that they did your seven
Speaker 1: day mortgage challenge at the beginning of the year, and
Speaker 1: they said they always thought they were being over charged
Speaker 1: for their home loan on the industry they were paying,
Speaker 1: but in doing this particular challenge and making the phone
Speaker 1: calls and doing some research, they actually realize they're at
Speaker 1: a really competitive rate, and all of a sudden they
Speaker 1: felt this sense, as you said, of comfort, knowing actually
Speaker 1: I'm on a great rate, and then of course from
Speaker 1: comfort comes a sense of gratitude as well. So it
Speaker 1: was really interesting hearing that feedback from them, and it
Speaker 1: obviously had a positive impact on how they continue on
Speaker 1: to work with their mortgage and they now know that
Speaker 1: what to look for when it comes to it potentially
Speaker 1: being time below the signs when it's time to refine it. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously you said comfort, but then of course refinancing.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously we're all licensed. We need to make
Speaker 1: sure that we put every single customer or client into
Speaker 1: a better financial position in order to be able to
Speaker 1: justify making tweaks and changes and using various financial products.
Speaker 1: Surely that comes in after comfort actual savings.
Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely. As I said, if you go, if you
Speaker 2: start the process, then the process will tell you whether
Speaker 2: you need to refinance or not, right if you ask
Speaker 2: the questions, if you have a good look at it,
Speaker 2: and there's a balance, right, so you know, you don't
Speaker 2: want a broker constantly recommending refinances for their needs because
Speaker 2: they are you know, clipping the ticket on commission. But
Speaker 2: then you also don't want the other end of the
Speaker 2: spectrum where some brokers are lazy and don't refinance you
Speaker 2: because they're just happy to for the loan to sit
Speaker 2: there and chase new clients. So it's about understanding, you know,
Speaker 2: the broker, what their drivers are, how client focused they are,
Speaker 2: and then going through the process yourself, asking the questions, yourself,
Speaker 2: going through that mortgage health check process, and then determining
Speaker 2: whether you should look at a refinance.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, do you have any examples of you know,
Speaker 1: how much you've been able to help people save by
Speaker 1: refinancing and the impact of having to do a little
Speaker 1: bit of hard work and obviously the data gathering and
Speaker 1: form filling.
Speaker 2: Well, it's it's not that hard work. It's these days
Speaker 2: a lot of the documents are electronic and they can
Speaker 2: just be emailed or uploaded. We've got a portal now
Speaker 2: where everyone gets a personalized portal and they're just uploaded.
Speaker 2: So that's one I think that's one important myth that
Speaker 2: if we can try and get it to that myth today,
Speaker 2: that'd be great because it's I don't believe it's statifical
Speaker 2: in this day and age.
Speaker 1: I have to say, as a long lover and client
Speaker 1: of Blue Lantern, I rarely have to do anything because
Speaker 1: you have so much data on me. It's not like
Speaker 1: I'm you know, that's a great thing about that ongoing services.
Speaker 1: You already have eighty five percent of the stuff for
Speaker 1: me anyway, Yeah, because you've got all my files and
Speaker 1: it's just literally sometimes a two second job.
Speaker 2: That's right to do it. And going back to the
Speaker 2: example that I was going to quote, So I had
Speaker 2: I had clients who I mean these clients very busy
Speaker 2: people and they are they probably will call them unicorns.
Speaker 2: They had a rate with their existing bank of seven
Speaker 2: point seven percent, and.
Speaker 1: I feel sick.
Speaker 2: Well, they because they were using offsets. They thought, oh, well,
Speaker 2: it's not that impactful. They thought they were too busy.
Speaker 2: And I just said, okay, even though you're not my
Speaker 2: client yet, to build a relationship with you, I'm going
Speaker 2: to talk to your existing bank on your behalf and
Speaker 2: get that rate down for you without you having to
Speaker 2: do a thing. And so I got that rate down
Speaker 2: to six point one five.
Speaker 1: I hope they sent you're a really nice bottle of wine.
Speaker 2: Not yet, I'm still waiting.
Speaker 1: But that savings is huge.
Speaker 2: It's massive, and it's massive because they wanted to do
Speaker 2: something else and the actual high rate was stopping them
Speaker 2: doing something else. They wanted to buy a property for
Speaker 2: their daughter. And then by managing that process and it's
Speaker 2: technically not a refinance because they didn't change banks, but
Speaker 2: by going through the process and me helping them, were
Speaker 2: able to drop rate, create borrowing capacity, and then achieve
Speaker 2: their objective of you buying the property for their daughter
Speaker 2: without without too much change to their existing banking structure.
Speaker 1: And I guess that's another benefit of ter refinancing, because
Speaker 1: the bank's numbers on the new figures being lower makes
Speaker 1: your situation look at It is obviously a lot more comfortable.
Speaker 1: That's right, and you can do other things. You can
Speaker 1: look at it, you know exactly, and an investment alone
Speaker 1: attaching to that because you've got your serviceability is now
Speaker 1: so much better. But the significantly lower interest rate like that.
Speaker 2: That's right, that's right. So that's why we started talking
Speaker 2: about the fact that, yes, rate is important, but it's
Speaker 2: not just about the rate. Through the process, you know,
Speaker 2: you can look at things and go, okay, well I've
Speaker 2: retired some debt. Do I recycle that debt? Or do
Speaker 2: I now look at consolidating other debts? So there's a
Speaker 2: there's a bigger picture through the process that can save
Speaker 2: you money in the mortgage its own right, but then
Speaker 2: save you money will make you money outside of the
Speaker 2: mortgage as well.
Speaker 1: Okay, can we go through the process of refinancing because
Speaker 1: obviously you've spoke about and that was a refinancing of
Speaker 1: someone's existing loan facility with their bank, and you went
Speaker 1: to fight the bank on their behalf and obviously did
Speaker 1: an exceptional job. What about you know, someone who's got
Speaker 1: five years into their home loan. Yep, Like, what does
Speaker 1: that process look like? Because a lot of people think
Speaker 1: refinancing is going to be. And I know this perception
Speaker 1: is completely wrong and flawed, but they think it's going
Speaker 1: to be. You know, Oh god, I've got to digging
Speaker 1: through my paperwork and you know it's not. Can we
Speaker 1: talk about how smooth and efficient this is sure, and
Speaker 1: even the time involved taken?
Speaker 2: Okay, So if you are a PAYG employee, if you
Speaker 2: get a pay slip, if you can give me two
Speaker 2: forms of identity, that one I would need a scanned
Speaker 2: copy of the hard copy because banks don't accept digital
Speaker 2: copies yet, but that's easier if I can do that
Speaker 2: on their phone. Yeah, send me a photo of it.
Speaker 2: It's that simple. Two pay slips, loan statements and credit
Speaker 2: card statements, complete, a fact find done, I can refinance you.
Speaker 2: So that that shouldn't take anyone more than an hour.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I actually have all those documents saved on my
Speaker 1: phone already, because there's always situations where someone needs something
Speaker 1: from you.
Speaker 2: All I say is I wish every client was like, I'm.
Speaker 1: Sounding really OCD.
Speaker 2: I realized, no, it's actually a good point. I maybe
Speaker 2: this is a good platform to do it. I try
Speaker 2: when I talk to people, I always try to be
Speaker 2: financed ready, you know, have your identity documents saved somewhere
Speaker 2: where it's safe electronically. Know how to get your pay
Speaker 2: slips bank statements is easy if you if you're set
Speaker 2: up for restatements with your bank, we can send you
Speaker 2: a link at the bank statements come automatically to us.
Speaker 2: So it's not that hard to be finance ready for
Speaker 2: refinance or for any other type of finance for that matter.
Speaker 1: I know for myself, the reason why I have it
Speaker 1: organized like this is I'm time poor, you know, three kids,
Speaker 1: my partner's away, you know, away overseas fifty percent of
Speaker 1: the time. And if I don't do it then and
Speaker 1: there in the minute, it's going to take four or
Speaker 1: five weeks for me to get it back to someone.
Speaker 1: So if I can literally just access it, you know,
Speaker 1: and I literally have a file in my phone in
Speaker 1: my photos and it's named so, and I know that
Speaker 1: in that as a photograph of our Medicare card or
Speaker 1: of private health insurance, my tax phile numbers, my abns,
Speaker 1: like every single document, even the kids immunization statements. Because
Speaker 1: there's always a situation where you go, you know what,
Speaker 1: I can tick this off my list of things to
Speaker 1: do immediately on the spot and it's done, and it
Speaker 1: just it saves me so much space in my brain.
Speaker 1: And you know, I have someone who I have ADHD,
Speaker 1: so I can very easily get distracted and I can
Speaker 1: have over a thousand excuses to procrastinate. But just having
Speaker 1: this is just it's been really helpful in making me
Speaker 1: stay on top of the family finances whilst juggling a
Speaker 1: lot of different balls in the air. So it's a simple,
Speaker 1: easy hack. Use your phone obviously, break shure, it's protected
Speaker 1: and safe and secure. But you know, again, it means
Speaker 1: that you know you're going to start saving money sooner.
Speaker 2: Exactly exactly, And I think you and I I'll do
Speaker 2: a higher standard. I think your listeners, my clients would
Speaker 2: expect that we would be organized. Yeah, because we're not organized, Well,
Speaker 2: how can we help them be organized?
Speaker 1: So okay, you made me feel safe. Thank you for
Speaker 1: being a socity about But you know, these simple things
Speaker 1: that do make life run smoothly, and it takes seconds
Speaker 1: to set up, and once you've set it up on
Speaker 1: the go, Like the other day, I literally uploaded Apples
Speaker 1: immunization certificate into my phone. You know, I was like, great,
Speaker 1: is now there? All right? So so moving on with
Speaker 1: this process. So you know that data, you know identification process,
Speaker 1: Then what comes that? Do I need to give you
Speaker 1: a budget? Do I need to you know, give you
Speaker 1: get someone to get access to the home to value it?
Speaker 1: Like where how does it go from there to I
Speaker 1: want from start to end the whole process.
Speaker 2: So once once I have that financial information including your
Speaker 2: fact fine, so that's where you would have to share
Speaker 2: with me living expenses because that's an important part of
Speaker 2: borrowing capacity. Once I assess, then if there is benefit
Speaker 2: in doing the refinance, I will put three lenders to you.
Speaker 2: Because the important thing to note is broke as a
Speaker 2: hell to a higher standard. Then if you go to
Speaker 2: a bank, a banker I needs to talk about their products.
Speaker 2: We have to provide you three options.
Speaker 1: Really I didn't know that, Yes we do.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's interesting, Yes, very interesting. So when it comes
Speaker 2: to time saving, I'll talk about that later on. So
Speaker 2: then the way I do it is I work with
Speaker 2: the clients to help them understand why a certain lender
Speaker 2: is the best option, and then the house needs to
Speaker 2: be valued. Property needs to be valued. A lot of
Speaker 2: valuations these days are electronic, so you don't even have
Speaker 2: to have a valuer come around and inspect the property.
Speaker 2: It's done via data, so if you're lucky enough that
Speaker 2: you don't need that, you won't even have to worry
Speaker 2: about that, and then the loan would be submitted, assessed,
Speaker 2: should be approved. The only manual part of it is
Speaker 2: actually leaving your current bank in that all banks have
Speaker 2: a manual discharge form you have to sign where you
Speaker 2: have to print it out, wet sign it and scan it. Okay,
Speaker 2: so if you need help with printing, I'll help you
Speaker 2: with that as well. But once you get me the
Speaker 2: hard copy or the scanned copy, then I'll do that
Speaker 2: on your behalf as well.
Speaker 1: And just for the record, you guys work with people
Speaker 1: across the country, yes, and occasionally ever seas as well.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it doesn't matter you don't think, well, we're
Speaker 1: not based in Sydney, John can't help us. That's not
Speaker 1: the case at all. In fact, everything is done pretty
Speaker 1: much online anyway.
Speaker 2: Most things are electronic and digital. And also we will
Speaker 2: try and make the process as easy as possible for you.
Speaker 2: Believe me, if we could avoid you signing a bas
Speaker 2: of paper, we would, But you know, some institutions need
Speaker 2: certain pieces of paper signed, but it's getting rare these days.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, and as all this is, the whole
Speaker 1: thing is about efficiency. Yes, can we talk about the
Speaker 1: cost it does it cost to engage with a mortgage broker?
Speaker 1: How do they get paid? How do you get paid?
Speaker 1: Like a hat so that people can understand, like it's
Speaker 1: the transparency here.
Speaker 2: Well, our firm we do not charge any fees. So
Speaker 2: we have a simple business model whereby if you like
Speaker 2: what we do and we're successful and in getting a
Speaker 2: loan for you, we get paid by the lender and
Speaker 2: that is at no cost to you. And in fact,
Speaker 2: we would back ourselves that in most cases you actually
Speaker 2: end up with a better outcome than if you did
Speaker 2: it yourself going to a lender.
Speaker 1: Wow, I like the set of that. Then can you
Speaker 1: talk me through some common mistakes people make and pitfalls?
Speaker 1: Like where things have you've seen people go wrong?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Well not with us, I don't usually the previous
Speaker 2: broker that we're taking over it. No, I'm sure wonderful shop.
Speaker 1: I mean I've seen I you know, from my financial
Speaker 1: planning practice, I've seen all sorts of doozies that I've
Speaker 1: had to get you guys to help clean up with
Speaker 1: other what other brokers had messed up.
Speaker 2: So firstly, the thing is to understand that there are
Speaker 2: costs of things, right, so there are. There shouldn't be
Speaker 2: any hidden costs. They should be outlined to you, which
Speaker 2: is part of our job. Okay, So the costs are.
Speaker 2: There will be discharge free from your current bank, then
Speaker 2: there will be some minor government charges for changing the
Speaker 2: mortgage holder, and then there may be an application fee
Speaker 2: from the incoming lender. So what need what needs to
Speaker 2: be clearly demonstrated to anyone is that even with those costs,
Speaker 2: the benefit of refinancing is over and above those costs. Okay.
Speaker 2: So that's the first mistake people make is people don't
Speaker 2: factor in those costs. Second, and then therefore they've changed
Speaker 2: for no apparent benefit or the cost outweighs the benefit.
Speaker 2: The big one is people that restart their loan term.
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm glad that you mentioned this, because this is
Speaker 1: where people end up just chasing their tail. They just
Speaker 1: refinance to another thirty year term. And of course there
Speaker 1: are situations where you have no choice but to make
Speaker 1: to get the load approved, you need to sign a
Speaker 1: new thirty year term. But don't make don't stick to that,
Speaker 1: try and maintain those repayments or increase those repayments.
Speaker 2: So there is So this is really important, right because
Speaker 2: and let me explain it to people. So if you have,
Speaker 2: if you're currently twenty eight years into your loan term,
Speaker 2: to reset it to thirty is actually like having a
Speaker 2: thirty two year loan. That's what you're doing. You're starting,
Speaker 2: You're you're not in. You're not starting any gown backwards. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: So that's the first issue. The set second issue is
Speaker 2: that all that interest you've paid in the first two years,
Speaker 2: you're paying again. So if you don't manage that, if
Speaker 2: you just let that loan run its full thirty year term,
Speaker 2: you will pay on an eight hundred fifty thousand dollar alone,
Speaker 2: you will pay an extra eighty thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: Wow, that is a pretty serious pitfall.
Speaker 2: If you ask me, yes, and now I understand your
Speaker 2: listeners are would be had all different loan sizes, and
Speaker 2: if they're saying, well, at eight hundred and fifty thousand alone,
Speaker 2: I would never get an eight hundred five thousand alone. Well,
Speaker 2: let's look at a five hundred thousand doll alone on
Speaker 2: a five hundred thousand alone, restarting the term. The extra
Speaker 2: interest you're paying is forty seven thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: Okay, well you heard here first, and this has been
Speaker 1: beautifully explained by Johnson. Thank you. What about knowing whether
Speaker 1: you're on the right home loan, you know, when it
Speaker 1: comes to refinancing, how do you feel in your gut
Speaker 1: that this is actually the right move. You've got to
Speaker 1: regret because some people are quite emotionally tied to their banks.
Speaker 2: Don't My simple answer is, and I suppose it's easy
Speaker 2: for me, except the every day, don't be emotionally tied
Speaker 2: to it. It's it's the mortgage is the vehicle to
Speaker 2: your dreams. It's not the dream, right. And so I've
Speaker 2: had people say, you know, I'm a X bank person
Speaker 2: or I'm a X bank person, and I just go,
Speaker 2: what do you what are you doing? Do you really
Speaker 2: think that bank is sitting there going, yeah, well, we
Speaker 2: love you person, we're thinking about you. They're not going
Speaker 2: to assure you.
Speaker 1: And you've got to be streets mut well, yeah.
Speaker 2: Whatever term people want to use, but I would I
Speaker 2: would take gut out of it. And it's it's a
Speaker 2: it's a financial equation. It's as simple as that.
Speaker 1: I think sometimes people think, oh, you know, but I
Speaker 1: got all my direct debits set up, I'm going to
Speaker 1: change banks, I'm going to have to get a new
Speaker 1: ATM card, you know, update all my details and suscriptions.
Speaker 1: And it's actually that mindset is completely wrong. If he's
Speaker 1: just that mindset is costing you a huge man money.
Speaker 2: The best way you can help people is by giving
Speaker 2: me examples. Okay, so I've quoted this example before and
Speaker 2: it's a very good example in that I had a
Speaker 2: client who came off a fixed period. They got a
Speaker 2: decent offer of a rate from their current lender, and
Speaker 2: this is this is one of my clients. So I
Speaker 2: do refinance my own clients if the situation is right,
Speaker 2: but it's always on the basis of I'll put the
Speaker 2: numbers to the client and then we make the decision together.
Speaker 2: I never forced them to do anything. I just make
Speaker 2: them understand it and so improve the rate slightly. The
Speaker 2: big kicker was no annual package fee, multiple offset accounts,
Speaker 2: and by putting all that together, the refinance is going
Speaker 2: to save them. Forecast somewhere in the vicinity between forty
Speaker 2: five to one hundred thousand dollars over the life of
Speaker 2: the loan, right And so so when people say to me, oh,
Speaker 2: I don't want to change my direct debits, you know
Speaker 2: it's too hard. Just so, well, the value, the gift
Speaker 2: positive reinforcement of doing it is these savings in front
Speaker 2: of you, right, So then by putting the numbers in
Speaker 2: front of people, then that should be be a motivator.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and as someone who's recently refinanced, is actually really
Speaker 1: not that hard. You just look at your direct debits
Speaker 1: and a lot of it's done not even with a
Speaker 1: phone call, it's done online. And if you miss one,
Speaker 1: you always get a notification this is dis bounced or
Speaker 1: this didn't go through all this is outstanding. You then know, okay,
Speaker 1: miss that one. I can go and update my new details.
Speaker 1: Now it really doesn't we're making it out to be
Speaker 1: a bigger job than what it is in our heads.
Speaker 2: And not to steal your thunder, but I've had clients
Speaker 2: who when they've gone through the process, they've gone to
Speaker 2: off save money because I had on all these direct
Speaker 2: debits that I didn't know what I was paying for,
Speaker 2: and I've just canceled them and now I've saved more money.
Speaker 1: So well telling them to reply that to about frayments. Okay,
Speaker 1: And finally, you know, like what do you think of
Speaker 1: people trying to do it themselves? Think do people actually
Speaker 1: try and do their own lending? Like, I mean, how
Speaker 1: someone's got way more time than they have they to
Speaker 1: go and try and do that homely, But to people
Speaker 1: actually have a go at doing this themselves.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah they do so. So currently seventy percent of
Speaker 2: loans in Australia are managed by a mortgage broker. So
Speaker 2: therefore three out of every ten people are still doing
Speaker 2: it themselves. And that's okay, that's that's their choice. Okay.
Speaker 2: So but again I can't stress enough that if you
Speaker 2: do it yourself, then you are going to a lender
Speaker 2: and their only obligation is to their organization where they
Speaker 2: just have to explain their products and services, whereas brokers
Speaker 2: are held to a higher standard and we have to
Speaker 2: find the best deal and give you three options.
Speaker 1: Okay, simple as that.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Two, we do the work for you right and work,
Speaker 2: I mean that important part of doing the mortgage health
Speaker 2: check first, right, that way, then you get you should
Speaker 2: get a better understanding. Or if you're go and do
Speaker 2: it refinance, why okay, some other things as well. People
Speaker 2: need to know. So if you want to shop the market,
Speaker 2: you want to go to three lenders, well that's three
Speaker 2: times the work for you. Whereas you're dealing with one broker, it's.
Speaker 1: They're doing it on your bar. If you're like a
Speaker 1: private you are like a personal shopper.
Speaker 2: That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1: And the personal shopper that does you're shopping every single
Speaker 1: year for you.
Speaker 2: That's right, that's right, checks that the goods are still
Speaker 2: working for you. Yeah, if that makes sense. There's another
Speaker 2: important aspect to you that people often don't understand that
Speaker 2: everyone in Australia who has saw credit, has a credit file,
Speaker 2: has a credit score, has a credit report, and if
Speaker 2: you go and apply with three different lenders, that harms
Speaker 2: your credit score because it looks like you are getting
Speaker 2: declined for loans and then your credit score will diminish.
Speaker 2: Whereas as brokers, we can do the assessment without before
Speaker 2: we even apply to a bank. We can tell you
Speaker 2: the answer even before we apply. So that's a critical
Speaker 2: something critical that people aren't aware of. And people do
Speaker 2: it themselves and apply for credit too much. Sometimes I
Speaker 2: have to look at their credit file and it is.
Speaker 2: There's no better word than a train wreck. And then
Speaker 2: getting finance and really good deals is very difficult because
Speaker 2: they've wrecked their own credit file.
Speaker 1: Oh god, that's definitely a pitfull a mistake. All right, Look,
Speaker 1: everything you've shared has been so incredibly insightful, and I
Speaker 1: feel like I have learned so much as well and
Speaker 1: myself and I feel motivated to obviously keep working on
Speaker 1: my mortgage and make sure that if we have a
Speaker 1: refinance again, if we do it in the right way,
Speaker 1: into our financial advantage. And I love what you guys
Speaker 1: do and the guidance and the education that you give
Speaker 1: all of your customers and clients, including my own. As
Speaker 1: we wrap up this episode, can you just share with
Speaker 1: us one final piece of advice to someone who is
Speaker 1: thinking about it might be time to look at refinancing.
Speaker 1: What is the one piece of valuable advice in part
Speaker 1: right now, do.
Speaker 2: A mortgage health check, check your own mortgage and then
Speaker 2: understand whether it's it's still meeting your.
Speaker 1: Needs, and if you aren't quite sure, reach out.
Speaker 2: Reach out so you know, a problem shared is a
Speaker 2: problem halved. And also you know, well we will look
Speaker 2: at it dispassionately and from a from a numbers perspective
Speaker 2: and put those numbers in front of you so that
Speaker 2: you can make an informed decision as to whether whether
Speaker 2: it's worth refinancing or not.
Speaker 1: And again coming back to that comfort knowing you know
Speaker 1: you've had someone look at it and it's okay or
Speaker 1: it's not, and what to do about it, and when
Speaker 1: to do something about it, and if that means coming
Speaker 1: back to you in six months time or getting stuck
Speaker 1: into it straight away and getting it fixed immediately. These
Speaker 1: are these are a really important building box that are
Speaker 1: going to get you back on track in your whole
Speaker 1: entire financial well being.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's it's a good point. So I have
Speaker 2: a client who they're coming off the fixed period. They
Speaker 2: can't refinance yet because he's just changed jobs. And so
Speaker 2: what what I've done is get the best possible rate
Speaker 2: from his current lender, which could be better. But then
Speaker 2: we've diarised that once he has enough enough over time
Speaker 2: on his pace slips, we'll come back to it and
Speaker 2: then and then look at the refinance refinance again. So
Speaker 2: I think we've talked about this before. That's we're getting
Speaker 2: into the into the realm of I'm almost like his
Speaker 2: sort of personal fitness trainer where instead of just him
Speaker 2: relying on himself doing the push ups, I'm there pushing
Speaker 2: in a lot.
Speaker 1: Bortgage reduction coach.
Speaker 2: I'd like to think. So, I'd like to think, so, look.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming in today and imparting
Speaker 1: all this wisdom and this important information for people to
Speaker 1: see the value of refinancing and asking for a better deal,
Speaker 1: getting a better deal, making sure you are not being
Speaker 1: ripped off, to be perfectly honest, and you're actually using
Speaker 1: your money wisely and getting ahead. You know, everyone is
Speaker 1: worthy and entitled to financial harmony in their lives, and
Speaker 1: the mortgage is one of the biggest stresses on most
Speaker 1: Australian households right now, but it's one where we can
Speaker 1: actually do a lot of very easy things and a
Speaker 1: lot of different things to have a huge impact in
Speaker 1: making headwinds and making a reduction that stress and getting
Speaker 1: that feeling of progress again and being back in the
Speaker 1: driving seat. So, you know, John, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for coming. You know, I greatly appreciated. Now for every
Speaker 1: of you want who's listening thinks you know what, I
Speaker 1: need to give John a call. He needs to have
Speaker 1: a look at what we're doing and where we're going
Speaker 1: wrong and what we could be doing better. I will
Speaker 1: link in the podcast notes his email address and his
Speaker 1: contact number, so by all means, pick up the phone,
Speaker 1: give him a call, have a chat, because he can
Speaker 1: speak to you about doing a health check of your
Speaker 1: mortgage for you, of course for free. In the meantime, everyone,
Speaker 1: I'm wishing you a fabulous week. I hope that that
Speaker 1: financial fire burns bright within and of course we will
Speaker 1: connect again next Monday morning on shore my Mama's five
Speaker 1: Chaponel