The Home Loan Health Check: score your loan out of 10.
Loans are built to be forgotten, and lenders price that forgetting. Seven quick questions across the things that decide whether your loan is still working, with your score, flags and next steps on screen immediately.
2 minutes. 6 areas. One real score.
No sign-up. No email wall.
About the loan·Context
First, which of these describe your situation?
Tick everything that's true. This doesn't move the score; it shapes the next steps.
The basics·Rate
Do you know your current interest rate?
Not what it was at settlement, but what it is today.
The basics·Review
When was the loan last reviewed or repriced?
A review means someone compared it or pushed the lender for a sharper rate, not just a statement arriving.
How it's built·Structure
Which of these is your loan actually using?
Tick everything that applies.
How it's built·Fit
Since the loan was set up, how much has life changed?
Income, family, plans: the loan was built for a version of you.
The position·Equity
Do you know your equity position, roughly what share of the property you own?
The position·Attention
In the last two years, which of these have happened?
Tick everything that's true.
Your loan's shape, live
0 of 7 answeredYour score builds here.
Tap an answer on any question to begin.
Each scored answer pulls the shape outward. The dashed ring is the strong mark.
Callum on what a health check actually finds.
Why loans drift, what we look at when we review one, and what usually turns out to be costing the most.
What your score means, band by band.
The check scores 6 areas out of 10 each and averages them, so every area carries the same 16.7% of the result. Four bands come out of that average, and each one has a different first move.
| Score | Band | Do this first |
|---|---|---|
| 8.5 to 10 | Dialled in | Diarise the next review and pre-position for the next property |
| 6.5 to 8.5 | Mostly working | Find the one idle lever and switch it on |
| 4 to 6.5 | Drifting | Make the repricing call this week, before anything else |
| 0 to 4 | On autopilot | Find out your actual rate today, then compare it |
The same bands the tool applies. The score is a prompt built on general markers of loan health, not an assessment of your loan: it knows nothing about your rate, balance or circumstances.
What the tool tells you at each band, in full:
Dialled in. The loan is being managed the way brokers manage them: sharp rate, working structure, annual attention. The remaining wins are opportunistic: cashbacks, split tweaks, and the next property's pre-positioning.
Mostly working. The bones are good, but at least one lever (rate, structure or attention) is idle. Idle levers on a mortgage are measured in thousands per year.
Drifting. This is where most loans live: set up properly once, then left alone while the lender quietly repriced the loyalty. The flags this check raises are usually fixable inside a fortnight, often without refinancing.
On autopilot. No judgement: loans are built to be forgotten. But on a typical balance, the gap between an autopilot loan and a managed one is serious money. Start with the first flag this check raises.
The 6 areas, and why each one is scored.
These are not arbitrary. They are the six things a broker checks when a client asks whether their loan is still any good, in the order the answers usually matter.
| Area | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Rate | 16.7% | The price you pay for the same debt everyone else has. Loyalty is priced, and the gap between your rate and a new customer's rate is pure margin. |
| Review | 16.7% | Whether anyone has tested the rate against the market in the last year. Loans drift because nobody makes the call, not because lenders raise rates on you deliberately. |
| Structure | 16.7% | Offset, splits, extra and fortnightly repayments. Levers that save money without refinancing, and the ones most commonly paid for and never used. |
| Fit | 16.7% | Whether the loan still matches the life it was built for. Income, family and plans move; loans do not move by themselves. |
| Equity | 16.7% | Your share of the property. It sets your LVR band, decides whether LMI ever applies again, and determines what the next move can be funded with. |
| Attention | 16.7% | Whether anyone is actually managing the loan: a repricing call, a market comparison and a feature check-up each year. |
Areas and weights read directly from the model the tool scores with. Each area contributes equally to the average.
Equal weighting is a deliberate simplification and it is worth saying so. In a real review, rate and structure usually carry the most dollars on a large balance, while equity carries the most opportunity if you are thinking about a second property. The tool weights them evenly because it cannot see your balance; a broker weights them by what your file actually shows.
What an annual review actually involves.
Most people picture a refinance. In practice a review is four steps, and three of them happen without your loan moving anywhere.
- Find your actual rate. Not the rate at settlement, the rate on this month's statement. Note the loan type, the balance, whether any part is fixed and when that fixed term ends.
- Compare it against what the market and your own lender offer new customers. The second half of that sentence is the leverage. Lenders routinely advertise sharper rates to new borrowers than the ones they charge existing ones, and that gap is the argument.
- Make the repricing call. Ask the retention team to match a specific offer. Naming a competitor, a rate and a lender works far better than asking whether anything can be done. Most reviews end here.
- Refinance only if the gap survives. If the repricing lands close to market, staying is cheaper than switching once costs are counted. If it does not, or if you need a feature your lender does not offer, then refinancing is the answer, and it is worth doing properly rather than chasing a cashback.
Two dates are worth carrying in a calendar rather than a memory: the anniversary of your last review, and the day any fixed term ends. Fixed loans roll to a revert rate that is rarely the lender's best, and the two months before expiry is when you have the most options and the most leverage. Our note on why annual checks are worth the hour is the longer version of this argument.
Where a low score usually turns into money.
A low score is not a judgement, it is a list of levers nobody has pulled. The three that recover the most, in the order we usually reach for them:
The rate. The largest single number, and the one that needs no paperwork if repricing works. Put your balance and your current rate into the repayments calculator, then run it again half a percentage point lower to see what the call is worth per month and over the remaining term.
The structure. An offset you are paying a package fee for and not using, a redraw balance sitting idle, monthly repayments where fortnightly would add a thirteenth payment a year. None of these require changing lender, and the repayments calculator prices all three.
The equity. If the property has risen or the balance has fallen enough to put you under 80% LVR, you have moved into a better pricing band and out of lenders mortgage insurance territory for good. Usable equity is also what funds a renovation or a deposit on the next place, and how much you can borrow against it is a serviceability question the borrowing power estimator answers. If the next property is the actual plan, how investors structure it matters more than the rate does.
If you run a business as well as a mortgage, the commercial equivalent of this page is the business borrowing health check, and the rest of the tools sit together on the calculators and checks hub.
Frequently asked questions.
What is a home loan health check?
A structured review of whether your loan is still working: is the rate sharp, is the structure (offset, splits, repayments) being used, does the loan still fit your life, and is anyone paying attention to it. This tool scores those markers in two minutes; a broker review then does the real comparison across 35+ lenders.
How often should I review my home loan?
Annually. That doesn't mean refinancing annually. Most reviews end in a repricing call to your existing lender rather than a switch. What matters is that someone makes that call; loans drift precisely because nobody does.
Is the check personal or credit advice?
No. It weighs six general markers of loan health and returns general observations. It doesn't know your rate, balance or circumstances. It's built to start the right conversation; the review with a broker is where your actual loan gets assessed.
What happens if my loan scores badly?
Usually good news, oddly: a low score means idle levers, and idle levers mean recoverable money. The most common fixes (a repricing call, activating an offset, cutting unused card limits) don't even require refinancing.
What is a good home loan health check score?
Anything at 8.5 or above is dialled in: the rate has been tested recently, the structure is being used, and someone is managing the loan. Between 6.5 and 8.5 the bones are good and one lever is idle. Between 4 and 6.5 is where most loans sit. Below 4 the loan is running on autopilot. The score is a prompt, not a verdict, because it deliberately knows nothing about your actual rate or balance.
Does a home loan health check affect my credit score?
No. Nothing here touches your credit file: there is no credit enquiry, no identity check and no data leaves your browser. A credit enquiry is only recorded when a lender formally assesses an application, which is a later and separate step, and part of a broker's job is making sure you do not scatter enquiries across several lenders while shopping.
Should I refinance or just ask my lender for a better rate?
Ask first, in most cases. A repricing request to your existing lender costs nothing, takes days rather than weeks, and often lands within striking distance of the market. It works best when you can name a specific competing offer, which is the part a broker supplies. Refinancing wins when the gap survives the repricing call, when you need a feature or a structure your lender does not offer, or when your equity has moved you into a better LVR band that your lender will not honour.
What does refinancing cost?
Less than most people expect on a standard loan, but it is not nothing. Realistically $800 to $1,300 all in. Expect a discharge fee from the outgoing lender, mortgage registration and release fees payable to the state titles office, possible application or valuation fees at the new lender, and break costs if you are exiting a fixed rate, which can be substantial and are the one item worth pricing before you decide anything. Many lenders waive or absorb parts of this to win the loan. The rule of thumb we use: if the switch does not pay for itself well inside a year, it is not a switch, it is a repricing conversation.
Your broker for life.
A score is a start. Savings are the point.
Bring your result to a review. Either we find a sharper loan across 35+ lenders, or we make your lender price-match.
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