Changing Lenders

29 March 2017
Often clients come to us asking to refinance them from their existing lenders.  While there can be good reasons for changing, caution needs to be taken to ensure you are indeed getting a benefit in changing.  Here are some examples of how changing can provide an advantage .
 
1) Your existing lender is unable to comply with your request eg an increase in  lending, change the terms of the loan or take loan repayment holidays etc. There may be good reasons why the lender is unable to assist but often we find the reason why lenders are unable to help relates to their policy.  If the pros in changing outweigh the cons then we believe that it is the client that needs to control their own financial destiny and as such would recommend changing.  
 
2) There is a better deal with another lender.  Most people generally think that their lender is not offering them the best deal but if pushed their existing lender may price the loan to compete with the other offers out there.  If they don’t and the savings are significant then a change to another lender again may be warranted.
 
3) Relationships have broken down between client and their banker.  Before changing though you could explore other options such as  being assigned to another banker or working through the  issues with the banker in question – often relationships worked through sticky issues end up being the strongest ones.  
 
4) Different loans products.  While it’s good to challenge your thinking and question if a certain product could provide a benefit to you it should be done with caution & research.  An example of this can be seen in the Revolving credit which came on to the market in the 1980s.  Some Debt reduction agencies decided to market this as the best way to pay off your mortgage in the shortest period of time.  People paid thousands to set themselves up on this product only to find that it did not suit them and in fact made things a lot worse.  Then to add insult to injury they found their existing bank could have offered the exact same product if they’d only asked.  We recommend going with a lender that has a range of products so if the one that you are wanting to try out doesn’t work for you, you can revert to another type.  
 
There is always a disadvantage in changing and that is the inconvenience of doing so, but there isn’t always an advantage in changing.  We recommend annual reviews with an independent financial adviser such as a mortgage broker as being the best way to keep up to date with different products, lenders and offers.  A mortgage broker is able to point out the pros and cons of the options and together advise you if changing lenders is going to be worthwhile to you and if not avoid what could be quite a costly mistake.  
 

Published In Whakatane Beacon

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Trish Marsden - who has written 5 posts

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