When the email arrives
Your lender has to tell you when your home loan interest rate changes. Usually it's an email or a letter with three things in it:
- the new interest rate
- the date it starts
- often, your new minimum repayment
It's easy to read, sigh, and archive. Then a year later nobody remembers what the rate was, when it moved, or what it has added up to.
Forward it to NestWise
Every NestWise member has a private forwarding address. You'll find it at the top of your NestWise inbox.
- Forward the lender's email to that address, the same way you'd forward anything.
- It arrives sorted as a loan rate change. If it doesn't, tap Loan rate change yourself.
- Open it. NestWise takes you to the loan it's about, with the new rate, start date and new repayment filled in from the email.
- Check and save. Nothing changes on your loan until you do. The old rate goes into your rate history.
If you have more than one loan, NestWise matches the email to the loan from that lender. You can switch loans before saving.
What you see afterwards
Your loan card keeps the whole story:
- Every rate change on file, newest first, beside the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cash rate moves over the same time. Lenders set their own rates and dates, so the two won't always match.
- What the last three years of changes have added: about how much more (or less) interest you've been charged so far, and about how much a year from now while the rate stays where it is. It's worked out on what you owe today, after your offset, so it's an estimate.
- Your repayment: if the email gave a new one, your bills and cashflow use it straight away. If it didn't, NestWise estimates it and you choose whether to use that until the exact figure arrives.
After a rise: worth a look
Lenders often keep their sharpest rates for new customers. So after a rise, NestWise suggests two things you can do:
- Ask your lender for a rate review. A short call. See how to ask for a rate review.
- Talk to a mortgage broker, who can compare lenders for you. Brokers are usually paid by the lender you choose rather than by you.
Switching lenders can have costs, such as discharge and settlement fees, and break costs on a fixed rate. Compare those before deciding.
If it's not for you right now, hide the suggestion. It stays hidden until your rate next changes.
Got a letter instead?
Open your loan under Housing, tap Rate changed? and photograph the letter. It's read the same way, and the picture isn't kept.