Sydney family slashes monthly loan payments by $4000, but there's a catch

Tim and Katie Manners saved $4000 a month by refinancing.

A Sydney family "struggling" with combined loan repayments of $6500 (NZ$6800) a month managed to slash that by nearly $4000 (NZ$4145) by consolidating their debts and refinancing.

Tim and Katie Manners recently refinanced their home in The Oaks, near Camden in Sydney's southwest.

Manners, who works in sales, had recently re-entered the workforce but the family had racked up debt while he was off due to a bad neck injury.

"We were basically struggling to get money together every week," the 37-year-old said.

"We didn't want to live week to week any more. We looked at refinancing with Macquarie but it was all too difficult and they weren't very helpful."

Manners "did a bit of searching" and got in touch with online mortgage platform Lendi, which helped them roll together their mortgage, car and personal loans.

They refinanced from a 4.76 per cent principal and interest loan with Macquarie Bank to a 3.69 per cent principal and interest loan with Connective.

The loan term was also extended slightly from 27 to 30 years.

"Our outgoings were close to $6500 [NZ$6800] a month, $7500 (NZ$7800) with all our bills as well," Manners said.

"Now we're at $1217 per month for our home loan and about $1500 a month in bills. We've shaved about $4000 (NZ$4145) by consolidating our debts."

With a mortgage, car loan, two personal loans and three credit cards, the family was "over-committed and we knew that".

Manners said it happened gradually.

"All of a sudden you go, where have we gotten ourselves? It was quite scary just not being able to afford everything every week," he said.

The couple, who have a toddler and a new baby, say the $4000 (NZ$4145) monthly savings make a world of difference.

"For us it's huge," Manners said.

"There's light at the end of the tunnel now. We can obviously pay off our loans much faster."

Steve Mickenbecker, group executive of financial services at Canstar, said borrowers had to be extremely careful when consolidating loans like the Manners.

"They've taken loans that are four and five years and put them over 25 years," he said.

"You're putting short-term debt into a long-term bucket and the repayments are almost disappearing. That's all very well, it helps them get their head above water, but it's going to cost them a lot more interest if they let it run over the long term."

Mickenbecker said it was "not a bad strategy provided they have a lot of discipline" to make extra loan repayments to get the debt down as quickly as possible.

"The absolute worst thing people can do, and most do, in a few years they'll say get another personal loan and pile more debt into the bucket," he said.

"That's the trap most people fall into."

According to a recent Pollfish survey commissioned by Lendi, nearly 60 per cent of borrowers say refinancing is easier than it used to be with the rise in online lenders.

"In the last six to eight months, we've seen customers coming to us with a very open mind as to which brand their loan is with," Lendi co-founder David Hyman said in a statement.

"With more breadth of options and choice at their fingertips, consumers have had to question if the major lenders were really working in their best interests."

Hyman said the goal was "to help customers find a better outcome for their circumstances, regardless of lender brand, and customers are embracing that".