What happens when your fixed rate expires

What usually happens

According to Moneysmart, when the fixed period ends your loan will usually move to the lender's variable interest rate, called the revert rate. Your repayments are then recalculated at the new rate and your loan terms. Moneysmart notes that fixed loans can have fewer features, such as offset accounts and extra repayments, so ask whether the loan gains them when it reverts.

The RBA looked at borrowers whose fixed rates had expired in its March 2023 Bulletin. It found most had rolled onto a variable rate rather than re-fixing, and that, to that point, they had rolled onto a rate similar to the one faced by existing variable-rate borrowers. It also noted that many were likely to have reduced that initial variable rate afterwards by negotiating or refinancing, especially higher credit quality borrowers.

Your options

1. Do nothing. The loan reverts to the lender's variable rate. This is the easiest option and often not the cheapest.
2. Negotiate. Ask the lender to lower the revert rate or move you to a better product. Use the call script.
3. Fix again. Ask for the current fixed rates for the term you want. Compare them with the market, below.
4. Split. Fix part of the loan and leave the rest variable. See fixed vs variable.
5. Refinance. Move to another lender. After the fixed term ends, the break cost no longer applies, which is often the cheapest time to leave. Work through the refinancing checklist.

Compare your revert rate with the market

Ask your lender for the revert rate and when it starts. Then compare it with the advertised rates on RateSonar. As at 2 Nov 2026, for standard owner-occupier loans from lenders anyone can join:

• lowest variable: 5.69% (Aaa Financial Corporation Portfolio Loan, for borrowers borrowing up to 90% of the property value)
• middle variable: 6.74%
• half of the variable loans sit between 6.39% and 7.45%
• lowest fixed: 1 year 6.19%, 2 years 6.19%, 3 years 6.24%, 5 years 6.49%

See home loan rates and filter to your type of loan. If your revert rate is above the middle, you have good reason to ask for more. At the middle rate on a $600,000 loan over 30 years, a quarter of a percentage point is worth about $99 a month, by RateSonar's arithmetic.

The timeline

• 3 to 4 months before: find your end date and revert rate. Check any break cost if you want to leave early.
• 2 to 3 months before: research. Use compare rates and the rate changes page.
• 6 to 8 weeks before: ask your lender for a better rate or product. If you plan to refinance, apply, because settlement takes time.
• Before the end date: decide and confirm in writing. Check the lender will do what it said, and whether a new fixed rate is locked on the day you accept or the day it starts.

These timings are a sensible plan, not a rule. Lenders usually contact customers before the end date, but check your own loan documents and do not wait to be told.

Check these things when it ends

• The new repayment amount and its start date
• Whether your offset or redraw now works
• Whether the revert rate has a discount, and how long it lasts
• Whether your lender is likely to change rates after an RBA decision. The cash rate target is 4.60%, in place since 30 Sep 2026. Read why home loan rates move.