I recently had a mortgage broker reach out to me with serious concerns about their client.
Here’s the pattern they had witnessed:
2021: Refinanced client’s personal debts into home loan. New balance: $450,000.
2024: Refinanced client’s personal debts into home loan again. New balance: $550,000.
October 2025: Client has more personal debt that needs ‘fixing,’ likely another refinance to ease cashflow.
That’s $100,000 of additional debt in just three years. And the cycle was about to repeat itself.
The broker was concerned. And rightly so.
But here’s the real problem: the client couldn’t see there was a personal financial problem. Every time debt appeared, the broker ‘fixed’ it. Refinance. Problem solved. Move on.
Except it wasn’t solved. It was just moved. Delayed. Made bigger.
This broker was facing a dilemma that many of you will recognise.
They wanted to have a difficult conversation with their client: to say “we have a problem” and “this can’t continue.” But they were worried about two possible outcomes:
- The client wouldn’t realise they had a problem because the broker had consistently solved every challenge without them feeling any real pain.
- The client wouldn’t listen and would simply go to another broker to ‘fix’ their new problem.
Either way, the client loses. They stay stuck in a cycle that’s pushing them further away from mortgage freedom and deeper into long-term debt.
And here’s what makes this worse: every month this pattern continues, the client falls further behind. They’re not just treading water, they’re sinking. Slowly. Consistently. Without even realising it.
This isn’t a refinance problem. This is a behaviour problem. And behaviour only changes when the client wants it to change, not when their broker keeps putting band-aids on bullet wounds.
Let me be clear: there’s nothing wrong with refinancing debt into your home loan – for the right reasons.
Consolidating high-interest debt to create breathing room and set up a proper debt reduction strategy? Absolutely. That’s smart finance positioning.
But consistently refinancing consumer debt into your home loan over years, increasing your balance detrimentally each time? That’s not a finance solution. That’s a budget solution. A behaviour adjustment solution.
The broker in this story could have simply refinanced their client again. They could have written the loan, collected their commission, and moved on. And no one would have blamed them because it’s what most brokers do every day.
But they didn’t.
They stopped. Paused. And considered their next steps cautiously with heart and integrity.
They questioned whether refinancing this client again – with known spending behaviour challenges – was the right thing to do.
It wasn’t.
From a position of integrity, empathy, and wanting to do the right thing, this broker did something different. They had a firm but necessary conversation with their client and set up an appointment with us.
If you are a broker that is blindly refinancing your clients, please stop.
You have a duty and a diligence to help your clients succeed. To become mortgage-free later in life. To thrive – not just survive.
Whatever you do, please don’t just write the loan because you can.
When you see patterns like this – repeated refinances, growing balances, unchanged spending behaviour – that’s your signal to pause.
Your client doesn’t need another refinance. They need a budget. They need accountability. They need someone to help them address the root cause, not just the symptom.
That’s where we come in.
We work alongside brokers to provide the cashflow coaching and behaviour change support that turns a refinance into a real solution – not just a temporary fix.
We help your clients:
- Gain clarity on their actual spending and cashflow
- Build sustainable systems to manage money with confidence
- Address the behaviour patterns driving repeat debt cycles
- Create genuine savings and debt reduction strategies
- Stay accountable to the plan long-term
When you refer clients to us, you’re not just offloading a problem. You’re providing them with the missing piece that makes your refinance strategy actually work.
Here’s what we’re asking you to do:
- Recognise the pattern. If you’re refinancing the same client’s consumer debt every 2-3 years, there’s a deeper issue that needs addressing.
- Have the conversation. It won’t be comfortable. But it’s necessary. Your client needs to hear that this cycle can’t continue.
- Refer them to us. Let us handle the budget and behaviour side so you can focus on the finance side. Together, we set them up for real, lasting success.
The broker in this story did the right thing. They chose integrity over easy commission. They chose their client’s long-term success over short-term convenience.
You can do the same.
If you have clients stuck in this cycle, or clients who need budget support to make their refinance strategy actually work – please reach out to us. We’ll work collaboratively with you to ensure your clients get the holistic support they need.
Are you a mortgage or finance broker?
Let’s work together to break the cycle.
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Andrew & Alyssa Mates, Your Budget Mates.
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