Discharging your home loan

A discharge occurs when the lender is removed from the title of the property secured against your home loan.

Your home loan accounts will be closed as part of the discharge process.

There are three main reasons to discharge your home loan:

1. Selling your property (sale)
2. Repaying your home loan in full (payout)
3. Refinancing your home loan with another lender (refinance).

To merge multiple home loan accounts without discharging, see Consolidating your home loan accounts.

If you have more than one property securing your home loan and you want to release or sell one (i.e. leaving at least one of your loan accounts open) you will need to request a partial discharge.

You’ll need to complete the Discharge Authority form and email it to clientservices@mortgageinfo.com.au. All parties to the loan must sign the form using 'pen to paper' (electronic signatures won't be accepted).

One discharge authority form should be used for multiple home loan accounts of the same facility. 

An incorrectly completed form may result in delays. We may need to contact you to verify the details of your request.
 

Arranging a Section 27 (Early deposit release)

If you’re selling a property in Victoria and want to arrange a Section 27 (S27), your representative can email the request with the completed Discharge Authority form.

We’ll send the required information to your representative. This is applicable to Victorian property settlements only, and only where early release of deposit funds has been requested.

1. Macquarie representative appointed

We’ll instruct our solicitor, LegalStream, to act on our behalf within 3 business days of finalising your request.
 

2. Preparing for your home loan discharge 

Schedule a discharge date and confirm your payout figure. This step varies depending on whether you are selling your home, repaying your home loan in full, or refinancing to another lender:

• Sale or refinance: Your representative will need to book the discharge with LegalStream via PEXA or alternatively, contact LegalStream directly on 02 9223 7919. We’ll send your payout figure to LegalStream to pass on to your representative. See Calculating your home loan payout figure for more information on payout figures.
• Payout: If you’re repaying your home loan in full with no sale or refinance, LegalStream will be in contact with you. They’ll provide you with a payout figure and payment instructions to be made on the day of the discharge. See Calculating your home loan payout figure for more information on payout figures.

Prepare your offset accounts. See What happens to offset accounts when you discharge a home loan.

Prepare for account restrictions. These are generally applied 2 days (for home loans with BSB starting 182) and 4 days (BSB starting 183) prior to discharge date. See When will restrictions be applied before my home loan discharges?

3. Home loan discharge day

An exchange of funds and title takes place. Title amendments are submitted which may take up to 10 business days to be finalised. 
 

4. Close your home loan accounts

Your loan account will be closed when funds have been received which may take up to 48 hours. You won’t be able to access your accounts online once closed so you’ll need to download any previous statements you need before this occurs.
 

5. Your final statement will be sent to you

For home loans with a BSB starting 182, your final statement will be sent via your preferred method of either email or post. If via email, your final statement will be sent to you within 2 business days.

For home loans with a BSB starting 183, your final statement will be posted to you. Please allow two to six weeks to be received.

Once received, please retain for your records as you will not have access to your accounts online. 

Sale: Please contact your representative to check the status.

Payout: Please contact our solicitor, LegalStream on 02 9223 7919.

Refinance: Please contact the lender you are refinancing to (they will schedule the discharge with LegalStream when they’re ready).

For home loans with a BSB starting 182, up to four business days prior to your discharge date, any offset account/s will usually be converted to a transaction account, and you’ll no longer receive any offset interest benefits. You’ll still be able to access your account online, and your account number and any debit card/s will remain the same.

If you want to use the money in your offset to reduce your payout figure, you’ll need to transfer the funds into your home loan.

After your offset is converted to a transaction account, to avoid withholding tax,  you’ll need to add a tax file number (TFN) or exemption via Macquarie Online or the Macquarie Mobile Banking app. Visit Add tax file number or tax exemption to my accounts.

 If you’d like to convert your transaction account back to an offset and link to another home loan, please contact us via live chat.

For home loans with a BSB starting 183, up to four business days prior to settlement, we’ll restrict access to the funds available in the account so we can calculate your payout figure. Any available funds in your offset account will be used to reduce your payout figure. When your home loan is discharged, your offset account will be closed.

If you don’t want to use the money in your offset to reduce your payout figure, you’ll need to transfer these out before restrictions are applied.

Account restrictions will be placed on your account as we prepare for your home loan  discharge date. If you need access to your available redraw, please withdraw any funds required before the restrictions are applied.

For home loans with a BSB starting 182, restrictions will be applied generally two business days prior to the discharge date. You’ll be unable to access any available funds in your loan account and we’ll stop debiting any loan repayments.

For home loans with a BSB starting 183, restrictions will be applied to your loan and any offset accounts four business days prior to the discharge date. You’ll be unable to access available funds and we’ll stop debiting any loan repayments.

The Macquarie home loan discharge fee covers the cost of preparation of the discharge and attending settlement. This fee is incorporated in your final payout figure, see Calculating your home loan payout figure.

There may also be third party costs associated with a discharge which may be payable by you, such as a mortgage discharge registration fee, or settlement costs. 

A discharge typically takes up to 21 days to be finalised. Please indicate your proposed settlement date on the discharge form.

If you need to postpone or cancel your home loan discharge your representative will need to contact LegalStream. If postponing, a new payout figure may need to be calculated. You’ll have to meet any contractual repayment obligations which fall due during this time.