Loan increase | Westpac

Home loan increase

Fund your next renovation or purchase by borrowing from the equity in your property with a home loan increase (also known as a home loan top up).

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What are the benefits of a home loan increase?

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Consolidate debts at a lower rate

A home loan increase could help you combine debts such as credit cards or personal loans into your home loan at a lower rate, with only one regular repayment to manage.

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Use your equity to free up funds

Put the useable equity in your property towards renovating your home, putting a deposit down on an investment property or any project you have planned.

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Combine or split your repayments

You could either combine your new loan with your existing home loan repayments or keep it separate on a different loan term. Flexibility to manage your finances how you want to.

How much equity do you have in your home?

If you’ve had your home loan a while and are up-to-date on your repayments, you may have usable equity to help with a loan increase. Use our equity calculator to check.

Calculate equity

What do I need to do before I apply for a loan increase?

Check your product type

Home loan increases are available with variable home loans, but not bridging loans or loans in the name of a trustee (e.g. loans to self-managed super funds). For an increase on a fixed rate loan, we will open a separate loan account.

Estimate useable equity

You can estimate this with our equity calculator. Please note, you may be required pay to lenders mortgage insurance if your loan to value ratio (LVR) is greater than 80%.

Get income documents ready

You will need to provide income documents, such as payslips, when you apply. This will help us check you can afford increased repayments.

Consider repayment history

We take repayment history into account with a loan increase, so make sure your loan accounts are in order before applying.

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An extra loan to make sustainable upgrades to your home

You could make energy-efficient and climate-resilient upgrades to your home, with our Sustainable Upgrades home and investment loan on a cool 4.49% p.a. variable rate (4.49% p.a comparison rate^[#]).

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What else do I need to know?

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You will need equity in your home

Equity is the difference between your loan balance and the market value of your property – if the market value of your property increased since you purchased your home, or you are ahead with your repayments, you may have useable equity to put towards a loan increase. You can estimate your useable equity with our home equity calculator.

Investors are eligible for loan increases

You could increase the size of your loan if you’re a property investor, but you need to be careful about tax. We recommend you get professional tax advice before you apply for an increase on an investment home loan.^[#]

Here’s how home loan increases work

A home loan top up or increase is a way to borrow extra money against your current home. If you have equity in your home and the ability to make extra repayments, you may increase your existing home loan limit to allow you to pay for renovation, a car, a holiday, school fees, extra cash etc.

You can use home equity to create a separate loan

If you don’t want to use your equity to increase your current home loan balance, you can instead use your equity to set up a new, supplementary loan account.

This option may allow you to choose different features to those on your current home loan. You might decide on a new repayment frequency, a new type of interest rate (such as fixed rate) and a new loan term.

You may be able to use a loan increase to consolidate debts

Once your loan increase is approved, the lender will use the loan increase amount to pay off the debts you want to consolidate – whether it’s within the same bank or with some other financial institution.

For example, say you have a credit card debt and a car loan with separate lenders, as well as a personal loan and home loan with Westpac. When you apply to consolidate debts with a home loan increase, Westpac will clear all the debt accounts for you and add the total amount you still owe on those debts onto your home loan balance.

You may be able to use a loan increase to fund renovation

It probably comes a close second to the great Australian dream of home ownership when it comes to national obsessions – renovation.

You might be renovating to expand as your needs change, fixing up an older property or simply want to upcycle your home to increase its value. Whatever your plan, one thing is unavoidable – renovations cost money.

But this is where home equity may be able to help. If you’ve owned your property for a while, you may find that you have some equity in your home. If this is the case, a home loan increase may allow you to leverage the equity you have in your property to fund renovations.

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