How Long Does It Take to Refinance a Home Loan in Australia? (2026): Stage by Stage, and What Slows It Down
Most lenders’ pages put an Australian home loan refinance at two to six weeks from application to settlement; fast paths fund in days. The step the new lender does not control, and the one lenders’ own pages most often name as the hold up, is discharging your old loan: the lenders you leave say they need 10 to 21 business days. Ahmed Lotfi, a former banker, runs that timeline for you; each lender states its own times.
- Whole process: NAB says a few weeks; CommBank several weeks for a standard refinance (two to four weeks in its 2023 FASTRefi guide); ME Bank 4 to 6 weeks; HSBC a few days to 6 weeks or more.
- Fast paths: Westpac says you could get approval within days and settle within a week with Priority Refinance; CommBank says FASTRefi can fund within days of the signed documents. Eligible loans only.
- The discharge sets the pace, on the outgoing lenders’ own pages: NAB and ANZ at least 10 business days to process and CommBank up to 14; ING at least 15 and Bendigo Bank up to 15 business days of notice; Macquarie up to 21 days; HSBC at least 21 and ME Bank up to 21 business days. The ACCC recommended a 10 business day limit in December 2020; nothing read shows it adopted.
- Settlement day: an exchange of funds and title between the two lenders on PEXA; NAB says there is not a great deal for you to do.
- Afterwards: CommBank says the first repayment date is in the new contract; Macquarie and ME Bank say the old account closes within 48 hours to 5 business days.
Want to know which settlement date is realistic for your file? Ahmed, a former banker, maps the stages before anything is lodged.
Tell him who holds your loan, whether any of it is fixed and when you would like the switch done. He sets each stage against the time that lender states and gets the discharge authority moving early.
Map my refinance timelineHow long does it take to refinance a home loan in Australia? The refinance home loan time frame lenders publish
No regulator publishes an average processing time for an Australian refinance; each lender publishes a range for its own process. NAB’s switching home loans page: usually a few weeks, with two to four weeks for approval and one to two weeks to settle and switch. CommBank’s article on switching when self employed: typically several weeks from receiving all the signed loan documents, where its FASTRefi guide (fact sheet 006-092, coded 28 February 2023) gave between two and four weeks to settle and fund. ME Bank’s guide of 4 July 2025: typically 4 to 6 weeks, provided paperwork is in order and the current loan is up to date. Pepper Money’s application process page, reviewed 7 October 2025: up to six weeks, which it gives as the typical timeframe for a home purchase. HSBC’s how long page: a few days to 6 weeks or more. ANZ’s how to refinance page: it might only take a few weeks. Between two and six weeks on the pages that give numbers, and most attach the same conditions: documents in on time, the old loan up to date, the discharge submitted early.
Refinance timeline stage by stage
| Stage | Who does it | Days stated | What slows it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Application and documentsYou, with your broker | You, with your broker | 10 to 20 minutes; Pepper Money estimate 1 to 3 business days | A missing payslip, or a statement on the loan you are leaving |
| Assessment and conditional approvalThe new lender | The new lender | Within 1 business day (Westpac could); 2 to 4 weeks (NAB) | Requests for more documents; errors in the application (HSBC) |
| ValuationThe new lender orders it | The new lender orders it | Instant to beyond 10 business days (Macquarie) | A walk through visit, 3 to 10 working days; rural properties (Macquarie) |
| Formal approval and loan documentsThe new lender issues them; you sign | The new lender issues them; you sign | 3 to 7 business days after valuation (Pepper Money) | State identification rules before registration (Macquarie) |
| Discharge of the old mortgageYou sign; the lender you leave processes it | You sign; the lender you leave processes it | 10 to 21 business days; detail in the table below | An incomplete or unsigned form; pen signatures only (Macquarie); the borrower must request it (ME Bank) |
| Booking to settlement dayBoth lenders and their solicitors | Both lenders and their solicitors | Lead time, not the exchange itself: 2 to 4 weeks (ubank) | The old lender sets the date (AMP Bank); a late discharge authority (ubank); a conveyancer not ready (Macquarie) |
| After settlementBoth lenders; the land registry | Both lenders; the land registry | 48 hours (Macquarie) to 5 business days (ME Bank) to close | Title amendments up to 10 business days (Macquarie); a shortfall from uncancelled direct debits or a late redraw (fast refinance guides) |
Quoted from each lender’s page read on 17 October 2026; a lender’s figure for one stage says nothing about another lender. Macquarie’s page says 21 days and does not say whether they are business days.
What slows a refinance down: the lender you are leaving
The stage no new lender controls is the discharge: the discharge authority form tells your current lender to release its mortgage, and that lender processes it at its own pace. AMP Bank’s FAQ says the settlement process is set by your current lender.
| Lender you are leaving | What its own page states | Source |
|---|---|---|
| NAB | At least 10 business days to process a discharge form; allow that before the proposed settlement date | Mortgage discharge checklist; form coded 2024 |
| ANZ | A minimum of 10 business days with all supporting documents in; a valuation of a retained or new security adds a minimum of 7 business days | Discharge and Variation Authority form, December 2022 |
| CommBank | Up to 14 business days to process once the signed request is received | Online discharge form |
| ING | Return the form at least 15 business days before any planned settlement date | Request to discharge page |
| Bendigo Bank | Processed usually between 2 to 7 business days; up to 15 business days notice for all discharge settlements | Closing your home loan page; form coded August 2026 |
| Macquarie | A discharge typically takes up to 21 days to be finalised; its solicitor is instructed within 3 business days; pen signatures only | Discharging your home loan page |
| HSBC | Could take a minimum of 21 business days to finalise and process the discharge once the signed request is in | Mortgage discharge page |
| ME Bank | Up to 21 business days from receiving the correctly completed form; the borrower on title must call for the form | Discharge page |
Pages print no date unless one is shown; forms carry their printed code.
Suncorp Bank’s guide to FASTRefi, dated October 2026, says that from 7 October 2026 Suncorp Bank is no longer accepting applications for home lending products.
Westpac’s pages print no discharge processing time, so none is given for it. In December 2020 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s home loan price inquiry final report recommended a maximum of 10 business days for every lender to complete the discharge, from the day the form is submitted to the day the old lender is ready to begin settlement, and reported that lenders were not required to discharge within any particular time. Nothing read for this guide shows the recommendation adopted. The payout figure comes near the end: HSBC’s discharge page says a few days before the agreed date on a variable loan and a day before on a fixed loan, CommBank’s online discharge form says it tells the borrower the figure within 7 business days of receiving the signed form, and Bendigo Bank’s form says a fixed rate break cost cannot be confirmed until two days before settlement; what drives it is in our guide to home loan break costs.
How long does refinance settlement take, and what happens on settlement day when refinancing?
NAB’s guide to refinance settlement calls settlement day the day your new home loan is used to pay off your existing home loan, and says the new lender typically does the leg work: paying out and discharging the old loan, registering a new mortgage over the property, and telling you when the first repayment is due. HSBC says the new lender opens a case on PEXA, the digital settlement platform used by the majority of Australian financial institutions, invites the old lender, and the parties agree a date. The lenders that put a figure on the stage: Pepper Money estimates its settlement step at 2 to 5 weeks; ubank approximately 2 to 4 weeks from formal approval; AMP Bank usually around 2 to 3 weeks, set by the current lender, though it can take longer; Up up to 4 to 6 weeks from the time you notify your old lender. No lender or PEXA page read for this guide gives a figure for the exchange itself, so none is printed here. Before the day, NAB may ask for a certificate of currency showing the property is insured and may cancel redraw from the business day before settlement; ANZ’s form asks for no withdrawals from the loan being paid out in the three days before. On the day, NAB says, there is not a great deal for you to do. After the exchange, NAB says it debits the amount paid to your previous lender, and any applicable fees, from the new loan account, and pays any shortfall or surplus as you instruct.
How quickly can you refinance a home loan? The fast paths
The shortest published times belong to two banks’ fast refinance programs for eligible loans from selected lenders. Westpac’s refinance page says you could get approval within days and settle within a week with Priority Refinance; its Priority Refinance guide says that once approved, the new loan is accessible in days of returning signed loan documents rather than weeks, the discharge authority goes back with those documents rather than to the old lender, and settlement can still take a few weeks for the old lender to complete. CommBank’s refinance page says a refinance using FASTRefi can occur within days of CommBank receiving the signed loan and FASTRefi documents; its guide says FASTRefi borrows a buffer to cover the estimated payout, refunds any surplus, and is not available for fixed rate loans with more than 30 days to run. Both guides warn the same way: cancel the direct debits on the old loan, do not redraw from it, keep repaying until told it is closed, and disclose every loan linked to it. On assessment, AMP Bank says approval is possible within 60 minutes through its digital process, and Athena says a decision in seconds, then conditional approval, a valuation and identity checks that could take a few days. On any path the discharge sets the settlement date, and the switching costs are in our guide to the cost of refinancing.
How long does it take to refinance with the same lender?
No lender page read for this guide prints a time for refinancing with the lender you already have, which Moneysmart calls refinancing internally and notes can carry a switching fee. What the pages do show is which stages belong to a switch between lenders: the discharge authority and the settlement between two banks; the pages read do not describe an internal switch. How many times can you refinance? ME Bank’s guide says there is no set rule on when or how often to refinance; each switch runs the stages above. Moneysmart’s first step is to ask your current lender for a better deal; put that offer beside a switch and its switching costs, as our guide to refinancing with the same bank or switching does.
How long after settlement do you start paying, and what closes afterwards?
Your first repayment date is in the new contract: CommBank’s guide to refinancing says the contract should specify when repayments start, and NAB’s key steps guide says to check the date and have any new offset accounts and direct debits ready. Keep paying the old loan until settlement is complete; Bendigo Bank’s form asks for it. The old account closes once the funds land: Macquarie’s discharge page says within 48 hours, and ME Bank’s discharge page up to 5 business days. On title, Macquarie says amendments may take up to 10 business days; in Western Australia, Landgate publishes under 4 days for an electronically lodged discharge that needs manual examination, against 33 business days on paper.
What you can do this week to keep the timeline short
In the lenders’ own words:
- Have every document ready. HSBC says to keep the application error free and have all documentation ready; Macquarie’s application page says the faster you return documents, the faster it can process; Pepper Money asks for a payslip dated within the last four weeks.
- Send the discharge authority early and correctly. NAB’s checklist asks for the accurately completed, signed form as soon as you know you intend to discharge; HSBC and Bendigo Bank say incomplete forms delay settlement. Under Westpac’s Priority Refinance the form goes back with the loan documents instead.
- Protect the payout figure, and apply once. HSBC says to ask for the payout statement early and redraw before it is struck; ANZ’s form asks for no withdrawals in the three days before settlement; ME Bank says too many applications can damage your credit score.
Already waiting on a lender? A former banker reads where the file sits and what it is waiting on.
Bring the date you applied, the last message from either bank and the discharge form if it has gone in. Ahmed tells you which stage you are at and who has to move next.
Find out where my refinance is up toHow Everstone runs it. Ahmed Lotfi, a former banker, sets the new lender’s stated approval and settlement times beside the discharge time of the lender you are leaving before you apply, prepares the discharge authority the way that lender requires, and follows the settlement booking with both sides until the date is agreed. The wider picture is in our guide to refinancing a home loan in Australia; to start, book a time with Ahmed, in your own time zone.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to refinance a home loan in Australia?
Most lenders put it at a few weeks on their own pages: NAB says two to four weeks for approval and one to two to settle, CommBank several weeks for a standard refinance (two to four weeks in its 2023 FASTRefi guide), ME Bank 4 to 6 weeks, HSBC a few days to 6 weeks or more. Fast refinance paths fund in days.
How long does refinance settlement take?
The settlement itself is a digital exchange on PEXA between the two lenders; no lender or PEXA page read for this guide gives a figure for the event. For the stage, Pepper Money estimates its settlement step at 2 to 5 weeks and ubank approximately 2 to 4 weeks from formal approval. The lead time is the discharge: the lenders you leave say they need 10 to 21 business days.
What happens on settlement day when refinancing?
NAB describes it as the day your new home loan is used to pay off your existing one: the new lender pays out and discharges the old loan, registers its mortgage on your title and tells you when the first repayment is due. NAB says there is not a great deal for you to do.
How long does it take to refinance with the same lender?
No lender page read for this guide prints a time for an internal refinance. The two longest published stages, the discharge and the settlement between two lenders, belong to a switch of lender; the pages read do not describe an internal switch. Moneysmart notes a switching fee can apply.
How quickly can you refinance a home loan?
Westpac says you could get approval within days and settle within a week with Priority Refinance; CommBank says FASTRefi can fund within days of receiving the signed documents. Both are for eligible loans from selected lenders, and the discharge of your old loan still sets the settlement date.
How long after settlement do you start paying the new loan?
The date is in your new contract: CommBank says the contract should specify when repayments start, and NAB says the new lender tells you the date, amount and frequency. Keep paying the old loan until settlement is complete, as Bendigo Bank asks.
Sources
Page, printed date if any, and the figure taken from it.
- NAB, switching home loans page: a few weeks; two to four for approval, one to two to settle, read 17 October 2026
- NAB, guide to refinance settlement: settlement day and after, read 17 October 2026
- NAB, how to refinance key steps page: check when the first repayment is due, read 17 October 2026
- NAB, mortgage discharge checklist and form coded 2024: at least 10 business days to process, read 17 October 2026
- ANZ, how to refinance page: it might only take a few weeks, read 17 October 2026
- ANZ, Discharge and Variation Authority form, December 2022: a minimum of 10 business days; a valuation adds a minimum of 7, read 17 October 2026
- CommBank, refinancing page: FASTRefi within days of receiving the signed documents, read 17 October 2026
- CommBank, FASTRefi guide, fact sheet 006-092, coded 28 February 2023: the standard refinance option generally may take between two and four weeks to settle and fund; FASTRefi is a title insurer’s trademark, not CommBank’s; its host served an expired certificate on 17 October 2026, so it is cited, not linked.
- CommBank, switching home loans when self employed article: typically several weeks from receiving the signed loan documents, read 17 October 2026
- CommBank, how to refinance your home loan article, March 2017: the contract should specify when repayments start, read 17 October 2026
- CommBank, online discharge form: up to 14 business days to process; the payout figure within 7 business days of the signed form, read 17 October 2026 for the pre-publication review
- Westpac, refinance page: you could get conditional approval within 1 business day; approval within days and settlement within a week with Priority Refinance, read 17 October 2026
- Westpac, Priority Refinance guide, May 2023, and 2021 guide: once approved, the new loan in days of returning signed documents; the old lender can take a few weeks, read 17 October 2026
- Pepper Money, application process page, reviewed 7 October 2025: stage estimates of 1 to 3, 2 to 5 and 3 to 7 business days, settlement 2 to 5 weeks, up to six weeks as the typical timeframe for a purchase, read 17 October 2026
- Athena, refinancing FAQ page: 6 weeks on average from quote to settlement; a decision in seconds, then checks of a few days, read 17 October 2026
- ubank, help page: up to 5 business days for approval, then approximately 2 to 4 weeks to settlement, read 17 October 2026
- HSBC, how long does it take to refinance page: a few days to 6 weeks or more, read 17 October 2026
- HSBC, mortgage discharge page: could take a minimum of 21 business days; the payout figure a few days before (variable) or a day before (fixed), read 17 October 2026
- AMP Bank, refinancing FAQ page: settlement set by your current lender, usually around 2 to 3 weeks, though it can take longer; approval possible within 60 minutes, read 17 October 2026
- ME Bank, step by step guide, 4 July 2025: typically 4 to 6 weeks; no set rule on when or how often to refinance; too many applications can damage your credit score, read 17 October 2026
- ME Bank, discharge page: up to 21 business days from the correctly completed form; up to 5 business days to close the account, read 17 October 2026
- Macquarie, application process page: valuations instant to beyond 10 business days; a walk through valuation 3 to 10 working days, read 17 October 2026
- Macquarie, discharge page: a discharge typically up to 21 days; the account closes within 48 hours; title amendments up to 10 business days, read 17 October 2026
- Up, settlement page: up to 4 to 6 weeks from the time you notify your old lender, read 17 October 2026
- ING, request to discharge page: the form at least 15 business days before any planned settlement date, read 17 October 2026
- Bendigo Bank, closing your home loan page: processed usually between 2 to 7 business days; up to 15 business days notice, read 17 October 2026
- Bendigo Bank, loan discharge authority form coded OA195, August 2026: keep paying until settlement; a fixed rate break cost cannot be confirmed until two days before, read 17 October 2026
- Suncorp Bank, guide to FASTRefi, October 2026: from 7 October 2026 Suncorp Bank will no longer be accepting applications for home lending products, read 17 October 2026
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, home loan price inquiry final report, 5 December 2020: recommendation 3, a maximum of 10 business days to complete the discharge; not shown adopted by anything read, read 17 October 2026
- Moneysmart (ASIC), switching home loans page, updated 29 July 2026: ask your lender for a better deal; a switching fee for refinancing internally; no timeframe given, read 17 October 2026
- PEXA, property settlement page: used by the majority of Australian financial institutions; no figure for a refinance settlement, read 17 October 2026
- Landgate (Western Australia), lodgement turnaround times page: electronic discharge with manual examination under 4 days, paper 33 business days, read 17 October 2026
Lender names identify the lenders whose own pages, forms and guides are quoted, each about its own process on the date shown; no interest rate, fee or dollar figure from any lender is used. Everstone Finance is not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting on behalf of any lender named here.