Fixed doesn’t mean you can’t refinance, it means you need a current payout figure before comparing anything. A break cost (also called an early-repayment or economic cost) can apply when you exit a fixed-rate loan before the fixed period ends, and the amount depends on live wholesale rate movements, calculated differently by every lender.
Why the cost genuinely can’t be estimated generically
Fixed-rate lenders commit to funding your loan at a fixed rate for the fixed period. If you exit early and wholesale rates have fallen since you fixed, the lender can be left funding that gap at a loss, which the break cost is designed to recover. If wholesale rates have risen instead, the break cost may be minimal or zero. Because it depends on live rate movements and each lender’s own formula, it can genuinely change week to week, and no generic calculator can reliably estimate it. This site deliberately doesn’t try.
What to actually do
- Ask your current lender for a current payout figure that includes any break cost, in writing
- Confirm whether a break cost genuinely applies to your specific situation, it isn’t automatic in every case
- Check whether the figure moves materially from week to week before you rely on it
- Factor the potential cost into any decision to refinance out of a fixed loan early, enter the actual quote into the Refinance Workbench
Also enter your fixed expiry date
If your fixed rate is close to expiring anyway, the timing context matters, the Refinance Workbench uses your fixed expiry date alongside any break-cost quote so the comparison reflects whether waiting for the fixed period to end changes the economics.
What to prepare
- A written current payout/break-cost quote from your existing lender
- Your fixed-rate expiry date
- Details of your current split(s), balances and remaining terms
Next step: enter your actual quote into the Refinance Workbench to see the real switching-cost and break-even picture, then talk with KartikKumar about timing.