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BLOG: Learn to prioritise your lenders

08 MAR 2018 By Phillip Tarrant 4 min read Finance

If you’re looking to shift your loans to a three-year fixed rate, knowing which of your loans to move is just a matter of prioritisation.

PHIL BLOG

If we shifted everything or most of the loans in our portfolio to a fixed position with the current three-year fixed rates we can get with the five different lenders we use, we’d take about $25,000, but are we going to do that all in one hit? No we’re not. It's very dangerous to shift everything at one point in time to fixed so that at three years’ period of time, if everything changes and reprices, then you can find yourself in a lot of trouble.

Diversification and timing of when your mortgages go from fixed to variable or when they renew, point number one. Point number two, have a whole bunch of different lenders so you’re not reliant on any particular actions or behaviours of a lender.

So, it’s about prioritisation. We look at where you’re going to get the biggest impact quickly with the least amount of work, right? That’s how I see the world. That’s what we should be concentrating on.

There’s another lender here, it’s Macquarie. We have five loans with those guys. We have some reasonable pricing with them, we’ve worked out if we do the same rating we’re going to save ourselves $800. Right now, there are other priorities ahead of it and same with our mortgage with CBA. There are some savings there, but it’s not as considerable as these other two. That’s what we’ll get sorted.

 
 

This is one of the key benefits I believe (among many others) of using a mortgage broker. You can pick up the phone and speak to the person that makes decisions, not a call centre – I don’t have the appetite for it. That’s cool. A lot of our readers, if you don’t use a broker, that's cool. Deal directly with your bank or your lender. A lot of people like to manage their finances that way and that’s really good.

By the way, 54 per cent of all new loans now are done by a broker so more home owners or investors use a broker who don’t use a broker, which is good. And it’s grown from 36 per cent 10 years ago, so obviously what brokers are doing is beneficial for borrowers and as you can tell I’m pro-broker. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t have a broker because I wouldn’t have the time, effort and bandwidth.

But when you see mortgage brokers in the marketplace, they’re a call to action, taught marketing speak, we say: “Come and get a home loan health check,” right. All we’re talking about right here is a home loan health check.

Everyone with a home loan should be checking to see whether or not it’s still the most appropriate home loan for them at any given time. My language there is quite deliberate, the most appropriate and that means that every single person has got different circumstances and blah, blah, blah. But you’ve got to stress test your mortgages.

And take responsibility for your mortgages. Your lender’s not going to call up and say: “Hi, Mr Phillip. Look, I just looked at your loan and yeah, I think we’re charging you too much. We’re going to take a percentage point off.” That just doesn’t happen right?

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RELATED TERMS

Broker
A broker is a real estate agent that is licensed and has completed additional training, working independently, and can hire other agents to start their brokerage firm.
Mortgage
Mortgages are loans that are used to buy homes and other real estate where the property itself serves as collateral for the loan.
Phillip Tarrant

Phillip Tarrant

AUTHOR

Phillip Tarrant is one of Australia’s leading property commentators, with more than a decade at the forefront of conversations shaping the nation’s property investment market.

As the long-time host of the Smart Property Investment Show and a regular commentator across property, finance and business, Phillip has interviewed thousands of investors, economists, advisers, brokers, agents and industry leaders, giving him a unique perspective on the trends, policies and market forces influencing Australian property.

Beyond property commentary in the media, Phillip is an active property investor himself, with first-hand experience building and managing a diversified property portfolio across multiple markets and cycles. His insights combines this practical investor perspective with deep exposure to the broader property and financial services ecosystem.

Phillip is also CEO and co-founder of Managed, an Australian property payments and technology platform transforming the way property managers, landlords and tenants manage rental payments and property transactions.

Through his writing, podcasts and industry engagements, Phillip focuses on cutting through market noise, challenging conventional thinking and helping investors make more informed, strategic decisions. His commentary regularly explores property markets, lending, taxation, regulation, investment strategy and the changing dynamics of Australia’s housing sector.

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