How WeMoney helped Malcolm cut his car loan rate and keep rebuilding his credit

Malcolm's story at a glance

• Member: Malcolm, 39 (VIC), a business analyst who lives with his wife, two cats and a dog
• Before WeMoney: a car loan at about 10 to 11% costing him roughly $230 a fortnight, and a credit card he keeps deliberately to build repayment history
• What he refinanced: the car loan, through a lender matched in WeMoney
• How WeMoney helped: prompted him with where his rates could come down, gave him an estimate before he handed over full details, and matched him with a lender
• His experience: a callback the next day and the refinance done inside about 24 hours, which he did not expect
• After: about 6% and $150 a fortnight, and a credit score he says has started moving in the right direction
• Next: a house with a garage, and a project car back in it

Before WeMoney

Malcolm is 39, a business analyst, and lives south of Melbourne with his wife and three pets. He and his wife both have stable jobs, they save for holidays, and money day to day is not the problem.

Debt is a different subject.

"It still gives me anxiety hearing about debt."

His credit score had been damaged by family circumstances, and repairing it had become the main financial project in the house. That creates an awkward loop: to rebuild a credit history you need credit, so he was carrying a car loan and a credit card partly to demonstrate consistent repayments.

The car loan was sitting at about 10 to 11% and taking roughly $230 a fortnight. He had asked a lender once whether he could do better, been told that was the best available, and left it there.

"I kind of just believed them that that was the best."

How he found us

An ad came past on Instagram. What made Malcolm stop was not the offer, it was the testimonials, both in the ad and then on the website. He read a few. The one that stuck was someone saying they could start buying car parts again.

He had used a different budgeting app before and found it inconsistent, and it never told him anything he could act on. What he wanted was not another balance display.

"It wasn't really giving me any additional advice on how to reduce like loan percent."

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How WeMoney helped

The feature Malcolm actually used was the nudge. WeMoney kept showing him where his rates could come down, and he says that prompt is what broke the complacency.

"Loyalty with some companies isn't really a big thing. Shopping around seems to be more of a benefit."

He was also tracking his credit score in the app, which was the goal he had set himself in the first place.

When an email showed him a cheaper rate than the one he was paying, he went through the application. The part that surprised him was getting a real estimate up front, without first handing over every document.

"I didn't realise that I can get like an estimation straight away."

He was matched with OurMoneyMarket, got a call scheduled for the next day, confirmed the amount, sent identification, and the refinance was done. By his account the whole change took about 24 hours, where his previous experience of lenders was a week or two of paperwork. That timing is Malcolm's individual experience rather than a standard approval time. The lender remained responsible for the credit decision, the contract and settlement.

Malcolm has one reservation he raised without prompting: as with any app holding financial data, privacy is something he still keeps an eye on. He also finds the app busy to look at and would like a cleaner layout.

After WeMoney

The car loan moved from about 10 to 11% to about 6%, and the repayment from roughly $230 a fortnight to $150. He says his credit score has started increasing since the change, and the difference each fortnight has gone into savings and absorbed rising fuel and living costs.

The bigger shift is how he thinks about the debt itself.

"Before you think of debt and you're stuck with a loan and you're stuck there to pay it off. Now it's more of, there's actually avenues you can do with debt."

He has already recommended it to someone else who mentioned refinancing. Asked to sum up the process in one sentence, he said: "Quick and convenient."

Next is a house with a garage, in Victoria or back in Queensland, and a project car in it.

Check what your rate could be

If you have a loan you have not looked at since you took it out, it is worth checking what else is available. Connecting your accounts in WeMoney can show your loans, cards and repayments together, and you can then review refinance options you may be eligible for and compare the rate, term, fees, repayment and total amount repayable against what you have now.

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Malcolm's rates, repayment and timing are his individual experience. Refinancing extends or changes a loan term and a lower periodic repayment does not automatically mean a lower total cost. Eligibility and outcomes vary by member and lender.

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