Why doesn't my adviser get me a better rate than going to the bank directly?

This comes up a lot, and it's a fair question. If you're working with an adviser, shouldn't they be able to unlock something the bank won't give you off the street? The answer is a little more nuanced than people expect.

How adviser rates actually work

Banks set their advertised rates — what you see on their website. Behind that sits a discretionary discount, which is what most borrowers actually end up on. Advisers have access to those discounted rates, and in most cases we can get you below the advertised rate without you having to negotiate anything yourself.

What advisers don't have is a separate, exclusive rate tier that sits below what the bank offers its own customers. We're working with the same discretionary pricing the bank uses — we just know how to push for it, and we do it across multiple lenders at once rather than just your current bank.

Here's the thing most people don't realise

In a lot of cases, your bank has already applied a discounted rate to your existing lending. You can usually see it in your banking app or online portal right now. That number on your screen isn't the advertised rate — it's already been adjusted.

So when people come to me expecting a dramatically lower rate, sometimes the honest answer is: your bank has already done the work. What we can do is confirm that rate is actually competitive, check whether another lender would do better, and make sure your overall structure is working as hard as it should be.

Where the real value lies

This is the part that often gets overlooked. The rate is one number. Your structure is everything else — and everything else tends to matter more over the life of a loan.

When I work with a client, I'm looking at how your lending is split, what terms make sense given your income and spending patterns, whether your fixed and floating mix gives you flexibility, and what your next refix should look like before it sneaks up on you. That's personalised advice, and it's specific to your situation — not a generic rate comparison you could pull from any website.

We also know which lenders are actively competing for new business at any given time. Banks move their appetite throughout the year, and the right lender for you today might not be the same one in six months. That context takes time to build and it's hard to get sitting across from one bank alone.

The honest answer

Advisers can usually get you to the same discounted rate your bank would offer — sometimes better, depending on the lender and your situation. What we can't do is manufacture a rate that doesn't exist. Anyone promising dramatically lower rates than the market should be a flag, not a selling point.

But a rate is just a starting point. The structure of your lending, the advice around it, and having someone in your corner who understands your full picture — that's where the genuine value is. Not just at settlement, but every time a fixed term rolls around.