‘Tis The Season To Save On Your Home Loan

If you’ve visited a shopping centre recently, you’ll know Santa Claus is well and truly coming to town. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but one that can quickly turn stressful, particularly when it comes to money. By the time you add up presents, the Christmas feast and a few weeks’ break with the kids, your bank account can end up feeling less Ho Ho Ho and more no, no, no. For me, it’s the time of year where I start to think about how our household budget has fared over the past 12 months, and work out how I can find some extra cash to fund my Christmas lights obsession. One way to save money is through refinancing. When you refinance your home loan, you pay off your existing mortgage by taking out a new loan.

Swap the 12 days of Christmas for 12 months of saving

Take my friends, John and Kim. With a hefty Sydney mortgage of $750,000, they were wondering how on earth they were going to pay for Christmas. Kim came across UNO and decided it was worth a no-obligation enquiry just to see if there were better home loan options out there.

Put your bank on the naughty list

John and Kim have always been pretty good at making sure they get the best mortgage solution for their needs. They call up their bank each year and ask for a review of their loan rates. Their bank sometimes knocks a few points off the interest rate and they walk away feeling pretty jolly. But working with a UNO home loan adviser enabled them to access and compare the rates being offered by multiple banks and lenders – rates they might not otherwise have seen. Plus, because UNO’s advisers don’t earn commission the way traditional brokers do, they felt confident the advice they were receiving was transparent. By refinancing their rate down by 57 basis points (i.e. switching to a lower rate) on their principal and interest loan, Kim and John have reduced their monthly repayments by $236. Plus, they have saved $70,800 over the 25-year term of their loan.*

Consider the three wise benefits of refinancing

UNO has calculated that the average Sydneysider can save $3,408 a year through refinancing. For Melburnians, it’s $2,532.** Lenders often work to targets and are super hungry to do deals and settle them before the end of the quarter (end of December). Just as the three wise men gave gifts at Christmas time, refinancing can bring you three key benefits:

  1. It can lower your repayments and the interest dueA lower interest rate, fewer fees and additional benefits such as an offset account, can all help to fill your wallet, just like your belly, come Christmas night.
    • It can help you pay off your mortgage faster * You may be earning a higher income than you were when you first applied for your home loan. You can use this to your advantage and refinance to a lower term, helping you to own your home – and deck the halls – sooner.
  1. It can help you to unlock the equity in your homeRefinancing can help you get a line of credit based on the value of your house and the amount already paid on your home loan. You can then use the equity to renovate your home, pay off high-interest consumer debt or cover essential big-ticket purchases – like that new pool from Santa.

Watch out for Scrooge

There is one main trap you want to avoid if you are refinancing. If you have 24 years left on your mortgage and refinance and take it back up to a 30-year loan and only pay the minimum, you’ll extend the life of the loan and could end up paying more. So consider sticking to the same loan period and taking out the new loan for a 24 year term. Your bank may also charge fees for discharging your mortgage with them, so factor this into your calculations before you switch lenders. Play around with the UNO refinancing calculator to see how much you can save, and have yourself a merry little Christmas. If you are considering refinancing, take these steps:

  • Find out more about refinancing with UNO
  • Search for refinance deals that match your situation
  • Speak to a UNO adviser using live chat. *This calculation assumes the interest rate and monthly repayments remain the same for the life of the loan. **This saving is based on the median Sydney house price of $995,804 and a median Melbourne house price of $740,000, at an 80% LVR, assuming an original interest rate of 4.5% and a refinanced rate of 3.89%. Book a call in with UNO
5 stars for our service reviews from clients

Book Call Now

UNO home loans

Try Plans, by UNO
Mortgage calculators completely reimagined
Get Started
Considering a purchase or refinance?

Try Plans by UNO

Mortgage calculators completely reimagined
Get Started
☎️ 🚫 No cold call promise

Related Articles

TESTIMONIALS

What our customers are saying

Matt Carter
May 21, 2025
5 stars for our service reviews from clients
Paul from Uno has been amazing. Made it so easy! Highly recommend and made the finance process much more enjoyable experience for us.
Read more
Timothy Semsarian
May 17, 2025
5 stars for our service reviews from clients
UNO went above and beyond to help my wife and I with our home loan and settlement. Couldn’t recommend them enough - Jake Wood was an absolute legend! Kept us informed during the whole process and was very thorough with his work, even with a very tight timeframe. Thank you again for all your help, and looking forward to continue using your services!
Read more
Patti Jo Mogensen
May 16, 2025
5 stars for our service reviews from clients
100% Rockstar. We found Paul and Uno Home Loans from recommendations from people who had used his services. We know understand why he comes so highly recommended. We definitely put Paul and his team under pressure due to an oversight our end which meant that he had to don his superman cape and work miracles for us. We didn't appreciate the very very short window we created for ourselves (think less than two weeks for settlement). Paul was able to wave his magic wand, come up with multiple solutions to our situation and make it all happen seamlessly. It goes without saying then, without reservation that we recommend Paul and his team as our trusted mortgage advisor! Thanks again Paul. *****The limoncello is on route we promise :)
Read more
Lani Wards
May 13, 2025
5 stars for our service reviews from clients
Paul Davey worked very hard to get us the mortgage we required for our investment property. He is knowledgeable and approachable. Thanks Paul!
Read more
Michael Badham
May 13, 2025
5 stars for our service reviews from clients
Our entire process with Uno went very well. We had a unique set of requirements for our loan and our super friendly broker Mike Parsons managed to secure us the perfect outcome. Mike also worked above and beyond our expectations to make sure the whole process of completing the documentation of switching banks went smoothly.
Read more
Vanessa Koster
May 13, 2025
5 stars for our service reviews from clients
The service recieved from Paul was fantastic. He made the whole process stress free & easy. We started the process from NZ & Paul had everything ready for approval as soon as we landed in Aus. I would highly recommend Paul if you require a mortgage. You won't be dissapointed.
Read more
Peta Hemmings
May 13, 2025
5 stars for our service reviews from clients
Paul has been amazing throughout our entire home loan process, we have recommended him to many of our family and friends. He has been extremely helpful and professional right from the beginning.
Read more
Ryan Whittle
May 12, 2025
5 stars for our service reviews from clients
Highly recommended, Paul and his team made the process very streamlined delivering the best possible results.
Read more
Tiana Perez
May 10, 2025
5 stars for our service reviews from clients
Paul and Dalby were incredible to deal with, from the first interaction with Paul a few months prior, to getting approval to purchase, through to the last minute helping us with the final settlement details. Their communication was second to none and they truly went the extra mile. Paul managed to get us more borrowing power than dealing with the bank directly. I couldn't recommend Paul and his team enough. Paul and Dalby, thank you so much for putting hours and hours of work into our application. We really appreciate it!
Read more
Nicholas Violaris
April 14, 2025
5 stars for our service reviews from clients
Can not recommend UNO Home Loans enough, Scott Wilkinson and his team have helped us get a home loan in no time and they have been a breeze to deal with, great job guys, looking forward to working together more in the future
Read more
Lahnie Cooper
March 26, 2025
5 stars for our service reviews from clients
Jake Wood was a pleasure to work with and made this process extremely easy for me! I highly recommend Jake and the team at Uno.
Read more
Daniel Demosthenous
March 18, 2025
5 stars for our service reviews from clients
The team at UNO were absolutely fantastic at helping me set up and organise my new property purchase, Andrew answered all my questions promptly and went over and beyond to reassure me at any stage with his abundance of knowledge of the matter, also a big thank you to Dalby and Jena for helping with the process as well.
Read more