Guide · refinancing

How to get a mortgage payout or discharge figure

A payout figure is the exact amount needed to discharge a loan on a nominated date. Request it from your lender by lodging a discharge authority, available on their website or by phone. Allow a few business days for a major bank. It is not your loan balance: it adds accrued interest and discharge fees, and on a fixed loan, break costs.

The number you have is not the number you need

The balance in internet banking is what you owe today. The payout figure is what it costs to be finished with the loan on a particular day, and the two are different in four ways:

What changes it	Effect
Interest to the settlement date	Added. The figure is quoted to a date, and moving the date moves the number.
Break costs on a fixed rate	Added, and potentially the largest item. Calculated on rate movement since the loan was fixed; can be nil or very large.
Discharge and settlement fees	Added. Small, but they are there and they are not in your balance.
Offset or redraw balances	Subtracted, if they are being applied at settlement.

Requesting it

1
Find your lender's discharge authority form.Most have it on their website under "discharge" or "paying out your loan", and many accept it through internet banking. Some still require a signed PDF returned by email.
2
Nominate a settlement date.The figure is calculated to a date. Choose the date you are actually targeting; if it moves, you will need an updated figure, which is routine but takes another day or two.
3
Name your solicitor or conveyancer and the incoming lender.This lets the lender deal with them directly for the settlement booking, which is the part that otherwise causes a week of messages going in circles.
4
Ask, in the same request, for an indicative break cost if your loan is fixed.Get it in writing. On a fixed loan this is frequently the number that decides whether the whole exercise is worth doing.
5
Send the figure to your solicitor and the incoming lender the moment it arrives.Nothing can be booked without it. Files stall here more often than anywhere else.

Timing, honestly

A major Australian bank will usually produce a payout figure within a few business days of a properly completed discharge authority, and the discharge itself can take a week or two after that. Non-banks and private lenders vary widely, in both directions. Nobody else can speed this up on your behalf, because only the borrower — or someone you have authorised in writing — can make the request.

The practical consequence is simple: request it first, before you finalise anything else. Where a settlement has a fixed date, the payout figure is the single most common reason it does not happen on time, and it is entirely avoidable.

And if the date is going to be missed regardless, missing it is not the same as losing the contract. Default interest starts running from that date under the contract, and the other side can then serve a notice to complete, which sets a fresh deadline and makes it essential. What happens if you cannot settle on time sets out the order those steps come in, and what becomes of the deposit.

When you do not need one

If a new lender is going behind your existing one rather than replacing it — a second mortgage or a caveat — no payout figure is needed, because your first loan is not being discharged. What is needed instead is your most recent mortgage statement, showing the balance and the lender. That takes seconds to download and is one of only three documents required for conditional approval here.

The option almost nobody mentions: a transfer instead of a discharge

A refinance is usually described as one loan being paid out and another being written. There is a second route, and in New South Wales it is a statutory right rather than a favour: instead of discharging the mortgage, you can require your lender to transfer it to the incoming lender you nominate.

Section 94 of the Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW) puts it plainly. Where a mortgagor is entitled to redeem, the mortgagor has power to require the mortgagee, "instead of discharging, and on the terms on which the mortgagee would be bound to discharge, to transfer the mortgage to any third person as the mortgagor directs" — and the mortgagee "shall by virtue of this Act be bound to transfer accordingly."

Two things in that section worth knowing

Your loan contract cannot take it away. Section 94(3) says the section applies to mortgages made before or after it commenced, and has effect "notwithstanding any stipulation to the contrary". A clause in the mortgage saying otherwise does not override it. Section 94(4) confirms it reaches mortgages under the Real Property Act 1900, which is to say ordinary Torrens-title mortgages.

But it ends once the lender has taken possession. Section 94(2): the section "does not apply in the case of a mortgagee being or having been in possession." Note the tense — having been. This is one more reason that the window before a lender acts is worth more than the window after it, and it is the same point the rest of this site keeps making about moving early.

Whether a transfer is actually better than a discharge on your file is a question for your solicitor, not for a lender's website — it depends on the incoming lender's requirements and on how your own documents are drawn, and we have deliberately not guessed at the duty or fee consequences here. What is worth knowing is that the choice exists, that it is yours to direct, and that almost nobody is told about it. Ask the question before you lodge the discharge authority, because the discharge authority asks for the other thing.

Section 94 is the New South Wales provision; the other states have their own mortgage legislation and the detail differs. General information about what the section says, not legal advice on your own mortgage.

If the number was not the whole problem

People request a payout figure for one of two reasons: they are refinancing, or they are selling. If it is the first, and the refinance is happening because the existing facility has become the problem rather than because a better rate appeared, the shape of the replacement matters more than its price.

If you are reading this because money is tight, it may be that what you actually need is fast business finance — and HomeSec can lend with very few qualification criteria. All you need is sufficient equity in real estate and a business purpose: no financials, no valuation, no credit score threshold, funded in as little as 24 hours from a clean, complete scenario. Best of all, the first six months can come with no requirement to make any payment.

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Questions people ask alongside this one

What is a mortgage payout figure?

The exact amount required to discharge a loan and release the security on a stated date. It is not the balance shown in internet banking. It adds interest accrued to the payout date, any break costs on a fixed rate, discharge and settlement fees, and it subtracts anything sitting in an offset or redraw that will be applied. It is normally quoted as valid to a particular date, because interest keeps accruing after it.

How is it different from my loan balance?

The balance is what you owe at a point in time. The payout is what it costs to be finished — balance plus accrued interest to the settlement date, plus the fees of discharging, minus offsets applied. On a fixed-rate loan the difference can be large, because break costs are calculated on the rate movement since the loan was fixed and are not shown anywhere in your online banking.

How do I request one?

Through your lender: a discharge authority form, usually available from their website or through internet banking, or by phoning them. You need to nominate the settlement date you want it calculated to. Most lenders will only take the request from the borrower or from a solicitor or broker you have authorised, which is why nobody else can do this step for you.

How long does it take?

Commonly a few business days for a major Australian bank once a properly completed discharge authority is lodged; some quote longer, and the discharge process itself — as opposed to the figure — can take a week or two. Smaller lenders and non-banks vary. Request it the day you start thinking about a refinance, not the week before settlement.

Do I need one to take a second mortgage or a caveat?

You do not need a payout figure, because the first loan is not being paid out. What a second mortgagee needs is your most recent mortgage statement, which shows the balance and the lender. A payout figure is only required where the existing loan is actually being discharged.

What are break costs, and can I find out before I commit?

On a fixed-rate loan, a charge reflecting the lender's loss if wholesale rates have moved against them since your rate was fixed. They can be very large or nil depending on where rates have gone. Your lender can quote an indicative break cost before you commit to anything — ask for it in writing, because it is often the number that decides whether a refinance makes sense at all.

Who needs the payout figure — me, my broker or my solicitor?

Whoever is running settlement needs it, which is normally your solicitor or conveyancer, but you are the one who can request it. The practical answer is to request it yourself and send it straight to your solicitor and to the incoming lender at the same time.

Can I make my lender transfer the mortgage instead of discharging it?

In New South Wales, yes. Section 94 of the Conveyancing Act 1919 gives a mortgagor who is entitled to redeem the power to require the mortgagee, instead of discharging, to transfer the mortgage to a third person the mortgagor nominates — and says the mortgagee is bound to transfer accordingly. It applies to mortgages under the Real Property Act 1900 and has effect notwithstanding any stipulation to the contrary, so the loan contract cannot sign it away. It stops applying once the mortgagee is or has been in possession. Whether a transfer suits your file is a question for your solicitor.

My lender is a private lender rather than a bank. Does this still work?

The same idea, but the process is less standardised and the timing much more variable. Ask in writing, ask for a figure valid to a nominated date, and ask specifically what fees are included. Some private facilities carry minimum interest periods or exit fees that only appear when a payout figure is issued.

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Reviewed by Catriona Anderson, General Manager