How to ask your bank for a lower home loan rate

Before you call

Gather five things:

1. Your current rate and loan balance. Find them on your latest statement or in your online banking.
2. Your loan type. Owner-occupier or investor, principal and interest or interest only, variable or fixed, and whether you use an offset.
3. Your property value. A rough current estimate. If your balance is well under 80% of the value, you usually qualify for a lender's better rates.
4. A target rate. As at 2 Nov 2026, the middle advertised standard variable owner-occupier rate in RateSonar's data is 6.74%, and half the loans sit between 6.39% and 7.45%. If your rate is above 7.45%, you are in the more expensive quarter of the market. The lowest advertised rate is 5.69% (Aaa Financial Corporation Portfolio Loan, for borrowers borrowing up to 90% of the property value).
5. A fallback. One or two lenders you would move to. Open compare rates and put your lender next to them.

What to open on RateSonar

• Home loan rates: find loans like yours, lowest first, and write down lender, product, advertised rate, comparison rate and the recorded date.
• Your lender's page: every lender has a page at /bank/<name>/ (for example Westpac, NAB or ANZ). It shows the products and rates it advertises to new customers. If your loan is on an older product, compare your rate with the lender's current one.
• Rate changes: shows who moved. In the 3 Oct 2026 to 1 Nov 2026 window, 97 lenders changed a home loan rate (930 rises, 19 cuts). If other lenders cut and yours did not, that is worth saying.
• Rate history: shows how a lender's advertised rate has moved since June 2026, which helps if you want to say "your advertised rate has fallen but mine has not".

The script

Say it plainly. You do not need to bluff or complain.

Then stop talking and let them answer. Useful follow-ups:

• "What is the lowest rate you can offer me for a loan of this size and this property value?"
• "Does that rate apply to my existing loan, or do I need to apply for a new product?"
• "Is there any fee to change the rate or product?"
• "Will you confirm the new rate and the date it starts in writing?"
• "Can you also check whether my offset is linked, and waive the annual package fee?"

If they say yes

Ask for the new rate and its start date by email or in your online banking messages. Check the next statement shows it. Put a reminder in your diary for twelve months: discounts and market rates both change. Check that any offset account is still linked to the loan, because Moneysmart notes an ASIC review found some offsets were not linked properly.

If they offer a little

A small cut is a start. Ask whether it is the best available, and ask what a switch to a different product with the same lender would give. Say you will compare it with the other offers you have. Then compare: a quarter of a percentage point off the middle rate on a $600,000, 30-year loan is worth about $99 a month ($1,190 a year), by RateSonar's calculation, with the rate held constant.

If they say no

You have two options.

• Refinance. Follow the refinancing steps and the checklist. Count the costs first, including any break fee on a fixed loan and any lenders mortgage insurance. Moneysmart warns that costs can outweigh the savings from a lower rate.
• Wait and ask again. If the gap is small or your equity is thin, ask again in three to six months, or after the next RBA decision.

Things not to do

• Do not quote an advertised rate for a different kind of loan (for example an investor rate against an owner-occupier loan).
• Do not ignore the conditions: a rate that needs a 40% deposit is not a fair comparison for a 90% loan.
• Do not agree to a lower rate in exchange for a longer term without checking the interest over the life of the loan. Moneysmart says to keep a new loan term no longer than your remaining term.
• Do not sign a new product without reading the fees.