The Front Page: What to consider before refixing your mortgage

Refixing a mortgage will be a painful experience in the current market. Photo / 123rf

Getting your mortgage strategy wrong could end up costing you thousands of unnecessary dollars every year.

Jose George, the general manager of financial and consumer research organisation Canstar, has crunched the numbers and says the first step is simply shopping around.

“Most of us are sort of reluctant when it comes to switching banks or moving to another provider, and that means you’re sometimes foregoing thousands of dollars, which could be a boost in tight situations as we have right now,” George tells The Front Page podcast.

“I would always suggest, even if you’re keen to stay with your current provider, that there’s no harm in looking to negotiate a deal because banks realise that a customer in hand is much better than them leaving.”

George says that the other step you need to take is to ensure you enquire about cashbacks, given that banks don’t always advertise these openly.

“We’re seeing cashback offers capped at up to 1 per cent and that’s pretty significant,” he says.

“Very often we see most lenders tend to keep it somewhat under the radar, so we’re encouraging people, especially in these tough times, to make sure you call out and ask for cashback offers. Even if they’re not obvious on the bank’s website, make sure you ask. And if you’re not comfortable asking, work through a mortgage broker or an intermediary to be able to get that.”

Both of these simple steps could already play a significant role in saving you a large sum of money at a time when those mortgage rates are really biting into disposable income - but the big question hanging over most lenders is whether they should go fixed, floating or mixed.

George has also run the numbers on this and offers his view on which way you should go.

• So should you go fixed or floating in the current market?
• Is it worth gambling against interest rates dropping soon?
• Will house prices go up or down?
• Why has investment activity cooled in the housing market?
• And is our economy at risk due to the high house prices and high interest rates?

Listen to the full episode of The Front Page podcast for a full discussion.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. It is presented by Damien Venuto, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in business reporting who joined the Herald in 2017.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.