May 20, 2025 • 5 mins
With interest rates coming down, how do you ask your lender for a better rate?
Join Sean Aylmer & Michael Thompson as they answer questions on business, investing, economics, politics and more.
If you have your own question for Ask Fear & Greed, get in touch via our website, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook!
Find out more: https://fearandgreed.com.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to ask if you're in Greed, where we answer
questions about business, investing, economics, politics, and more. I'm Sean
Aylmer and hello. Michael Thompson, Hello, Sean.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Strange things are happening here.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
It is. It's the other way around Normally, Michael asked
the question and I give the answer. But Michael with
the wonderful Kenneth Campbell on their podcast how do they
afford that? There? He's responding because that podcast itself often
talks about this exact question, So I think he's much
better place than I am to provide a response. The
(00:34):
question is given the cut and interest rates yesterday, how
do we get a better mortgage rate? What's the process? Oh?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Great question, Thank you Sean. And yes, look Canna Campbell
would definitely be the better person to answer this, But
without cannor in the studio, I guess it's fallen to
me because we actually we did talk about this recently
on how do they afford that? Because there is a
process that you can go through, and sure it would
be good if you were just automatically receiving that new
lower rate and that you're at kind of the lowest
(01:07):
possible rate for any kind of given bank, but in
many cases customers are paying essentially a loyalty tax that
if you have been with your bank for a long time,
that even if your interest rate does come down, you
are still going to be paying higher than perhaps new
customers that are coming into the bank in the first place.
And so really, and that's because people are not staying
(01:27):
on top of it, that you're not checking in every
kind of six months to see what new customers are
paying and potentially whether you can get a better deal.
So there are a few steps that we talk about
as to what you would do in this scenario, and
it starts with research, which sounds incredibly dull to me,
well to me at least, maybe I'm a little bit
biased on this, or maybe that's why I pay the
(01:48):
loyalty tax because got this allergic reaction to that kind
of research. But it is about you start with your
interest rate. Check to see what you are actually paying.
Because if you went out onto the street and ask
ten people, I reckon about eight out of ten wouldn't
actually know exactly what interest rate they are paying. Yeah,
(02:09):
And so once you know that, then there are a
few other things that you can do. You can go
to the website for your bank and see what they
are offering to new customers, and so you just check
with check the new customer rate. Then go to the rivals.
Go to the other whether it's big four banks or
non bank lenders. Go to a comparison website like MOSO
or Finder. There's a bunch of them out there, and
(02:29):
go in there and you can just and it is
very very easy to see what the other rates are.
And you're just taking notes, write down all of these
things as you're going check the fine print on those.
So if you're seeing a fantastically low rate for another place,
check it. It could well be an introductory rate that's
only got a very short honeymoon period where it's kind
of three months or six months, in which case, okay.
(02:52):
The other things you need to put together before you
make your call to your bank. How long you've been
with your bank, So if you've been there ten years,
fifteen years, twenty years, whatever it is, because that kind
of thing matters, if you've been a long standing customer,
how much you've actually paid off your home loan as well,
any black marks against your name, so that you're aware
of them and you can prepare to counter those whether
(03:13):
you've missed repayments where they've had to chase you up
because you've been late on previous occasions, and if you haven't,
make sure you mentioned that as well. And also importantly
to have the valuation of your house there, of property,
whatever it is, and there's a website that kind of
talks about a lot on the house dot com dot
au where you can just go and it will give
you an up to date valuation of your property. All
(03:34):
of these bits and pieces. You take all of those in,
then you call up your lender and you work through
those things one after the other. You establish how long
you've been there, what you're paying, how much you've paid off,
how much you own in the property, what it's worth now.
Why you deserve a rate cut and you don't settle
is the other piece of advice is that when they
will likely offer you are reduction in your rate, particularly
(03:58):
if you're able to point to competitors who are offering
a better rate, or just even that they are offering
new customers at the same bank a lower rate. But
don't settle. Take a day, take a couple of days
to think about it and potentially shop around, and then
go to and if all of that's too hard. If
it is, if you're one of those people that doesn't
(04:19):
like these kind of conversations, go to all mortgage broker yep,
who are able to help you with this kind of thing.
And in the end, chances are just by making that
call you can save yourself a whole lot of money.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, my two cents worth on this. And this is
a personal view. Is I mean I have a fixed rate,
I go fifty to fifty fixed floating Yeah, fixed part
comes off in about six weeks, So I need to
do all that and then go to my banker and say, hey,
what can you do here? Because when my fixed rate
comes off and basically double my floating rate mortgage and
(04:51):
it's really important to have all that information at hand
to get the best deal. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
And the thing is that you end up paying this
loyalty tax because you are happy just to sit there
and just let it all work through the system on
its own. And unfortunately you are not guaranteed to get
the best rate unless you actually ask for it.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
What a great answer, Michael, I think my job has
become redundant. You can do the ask fear and greeds
from here, on in Well, it.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Was very comprehensive aka wordy. I like to take a
lot of story.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Good Thank you Michael, Thank you Sean. Remember if you've
got something you'd like to know, then send through your
question on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, or at Fearing Greed dot
com dot au. I'm Sean Almer and this is ask
Fear and Greed
Welcome to ask if you're in Greed, where we answer
questions about business, investing, economics, politics, and more. I'm Sean
Aylmer and hello. Michael Thompson, Hello, Sean.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Strange things are happening here.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
It is. It's the other way around Normally, Michael asked
the question and I give the answer. But Michael with
the wonderful Kenneth Campbell on their podcast how do they
afford that? There? He's responding because that podcast itself often
talks about this exact question, So I think he's much
better place than I am to provide a response. The
(00:34):
question is given the cut and interest rates yesterday, how
do we get a better mortgage rate? What's the process? Oh?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Great question, Thank you Sean. And yes, look Canna Campbell
would definitely be the better person to answer this, But
without cannor in the studio, I guess it's fallen to
me because we actually we did talk about this recently
on how do they afford that? Because there is a
process that you can go through, and sure it would
be good if you were just automatically receiving that new
lower rate and that you're at kind of the lowest
(01:07):
possible rate for any kind of given bank, but in
many cases customers are paying essentially a loyalty tax that
if you have been with your bank for a long time,
that even if your interest rate does come down, you
are still going to be paying higher than perhaps new
customers that are coming into the bank in the first place.
And so really, and that's because people are not staying
(01:27):
on top of it, that you're not checking in every
kind of six months to see what new customers are
paying and potentially whether you can get a better deal.
So there are a few steps that we talk about
as to what you would do in this scenario, and
it starts with research, which sounds incredibly dull to me,
well to me at least, maybe I'm a little bit
biased on this, or maybe that's why I pay the
(01:48):
loyalty tax because got this allergic reaction to that kind
of research. But it is about you start with your
interest rate. Check to see what you are actually paying.
Because if you went out onto the street and ask
ten people, I reckon about eight out of ten wouldn't
actually know exactly what interest rate they are paying. Yeah,
(02:09):
And so once you know that, then there are a
few other things that you can do. You can go
to the website for your bank and see what they
are offering to new customers, and so you just check
with check the new customer rate. Then go to the rivals.
Go to the other whether it's big four banks or
non bank lenders. Go to a comparison website like MOSO
or Finder. There's a bunch of them out there, and
(02:29):
go in there and you can just and it is
very very easy to see what the other rates are.
And you're just taking notes, write down all of these
things as you're going check the fine print on those.
So if you're seeing a fantastically low rate for another place,
check it. It could well be an introductory rate that's
only got a very short honeymoon period where it's kind
of three months or six months, in which case, okay.
(02:52):
The other things you need to put together before you
make your call to your bank. How long you've been
with your bank, So if you've been there ten years,
fifteen years, twenty years, whatever it is, because that kind
of thing matters, if you've been a long standing customer,
how much you've actually paid off your home loan as well,
any black marks against your name, so that you're aware
of them and you can prepare to counter those whether
(03:13):
you've missed repayments where they've had to chase you up
because you've been late on previous occasions, and if you haven't,
make sure you mentioned that as well. And also importantly
to have the valuation of your house there, of property,
whatever it is, and there's a website that kind of
talks about a lot on the house dot com dot
au where you can just go and it will give
you an up to date valuation of your property. All
(03:34):
of these bits and pieces. You take all of those in,
then you call up your lender and you work through
those things one after the other. You establish how long
you've been there, what you're paying, how much you've paid off,
how much you own in the property, what it's worth now.
Why you deserve a rate cut and you don't settle
is the other piece of advice is that when they
will likely offer you are reduction in your rate, particularly
(03:58):
if you're able to point to competitors who are offering
a better rate, or just even that they are offering
new customers at the same bank a lower rate. But
don't settle. Take a day, take a couple of days
to think about it and potentially shop around, and then
go to and if all of that's too hard. If
it is, if you're one of those people that doesn't
(04:19):
like these kind of conversations, go to all mortgage broker yep,
who are able to help you with this kind of thing.
And in the end, chances are just by making that
call you can save yourself a whole lot of money.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, my two cents worth on this. And this is
a personal view. Is I mean I have a fixed rate,
I go fifty to fifty fixed floating Yeah, fixed part
comes off in about six weeks, So I need to
do all that and then go to my banker and say, hey,
what can you do here? Because when my fixed rate
comes off and basically double my floating rate mortgage and
(04:51):
it's really important to have all that information at hand
to get the best deal. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
And the thing is that you end up paying this
loyalty tax because you are happy just to sit there
and just let it all work through the system on
its own. And unfortunately you are not guaranteed to get
the best rate unless you actually ask for it.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
What a great answer, Michael, I think my job has
become redundant. You can do the ask fear and greeds
from here, on in Well, it.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Was very comprehensive aka wordy. I like to take a
lot of story.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Good Thank you Michael, Thank you Sean. Remember if you've
got something you'd like to know, then send through your
question on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, or at Fearing Greed dot
com dot au. I'm Sean Almer and this is ask
Fear and Greed
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.