Short fixed terms mean New Zealand borrowers face a rate decision every one to two years. Most of them make it inside their banking app. Here is how advisers get in front of it.
New Zealand runs on short fixed terms. Six months, one year, two years — sometimes split across several tranches on the same loan. The practical result is that a borrower makes a rate decision far more often than in most comparable markets, and each of those decisions is a moment when the relationship is either reinforced or quietly transferred back to the bank.
How refixing works
As a fixed term approaches expiry, the lender presents the borrower with current rates for available terms. Selecting one is usually a few taps in internet banking. There is no new application, no legal work and no cost. The default is frictionless, which is exactly why the incumbent lender wins most refixes without competing for them.
Why advisers lose the refix
- Loans are often split into tranches with different expiry dates, so there is no single obvious date to diarise
- The bank contacts the client first, inside a channel the client already uses daily
- Internal refixes typically pay the adviser nothing, so the incentive to track them is weak
- By the time a refinance is worth discussing, the client has already locked in for another year
The third point deserves attention. It is true that an internal refix rarely pays. But the adviser who runs the refix conversation is the adviser who is still there when the client's circumstances change — a top-up, an investment property, a structure review, or a genuine case for moving lenders. Losing the refix does not just lose a rate conversation; it loses the position.
"You do not have to win every refix. You do have to be in the conversation before the client taps confirm."
What to track across a book
- Every tranche expiry, not just the loan's headline maturity date
- The client's current rate against comparable pricing today
- Whether the file is still inside the lender's clawback window
- Equity and property value changes that open up structure or top-up conversations
- Time since the last contact — the strongest single predictor of attrition
Turning it into a process
The obstacle is operational. Tranche dates live inside individual files, spreadsheets go stale, and calendar reminders have no idea what current rates are. A monitoring layer solves it by continuously reading the settled book, flagging expiries three months out, comparing each rate against live pricing, and producing a ranked list of who to contact and why.
That is what Kayotte is built for. It sits alongside the systems you already use, watches the book, and surfaces the refix and refinance windows with the rationale attached — so the conversation and the compliance record are the same piece of work.
Rates, terms and clawback periods vary by lender. This article is general information, not financial advice.