Adjusting your home loan to ensure it still meets your needs is an important part of managing your finances. Most specialists recommend an annual review. In many cases your existing home loan set up can simply be optimised to get the right result. However, sometimes the best solution is to take out a completely new home loan and use it to immediately repay your current one. This is known as refinancing. Your new home loan might be with your current lender or a new one; it just depends on who offers the best deal for your needs. The best deal might involve a lower interest rate, a different repayment term or a loan structure that your current lender can’t offer. The gain just needs to outweigh the costs involved in refinancing. These might include an early repayment penalty if your current loan is on a fixed rate, repaying a loyalty incentive you accepted that’s still binding, lawyer’s fees and a new property valuation.