Don't miss your home loan reprice deadline
Short answer: In Singapore, a bank home loan's fixed or promotional rate usually lasts for the first two or three years. When it ends, the loan rolls onto a higher ongoing rate unless it is repriced with the same bank or refinanced to a different bank. Comparing packages usually starts three to six months before the lock-in expiry date, so the new rate can begin when the old one ends.
Most home loans in Singapore start with an attractive rate for the first two or three years. What far fewer people plan for is the day that period ends. When a fixed or promotional rate expires, the loan typically rolls onto a higher ongoing rate unless you act. The cost of missing that moment is real money, often a noticeably bigger monthly payment, and it's avoidable with nothing more than a date in your calendar. Here's how the timing works.
Repricing vs refinancing, in one minute
When your rate is about to reset, you generally have two moves. Repricing means switching to a new package with your existing bank. It's quicker and the fees are small, usually just an administrative charge. Refinancing means moving the loan to a different bank, which can secure a better rate or different structure but takes longer and carries legal and valuation costs. Which one makes sense depends on the rates on offer, the fees, and your own situation. There's no single right answer, and that's a conversation for you and a mortgage specialist, not something to decide from a blog post.
The timing is the whole game
The part that's purely mechanical, and entirely in your control, is when you start. Banks generally let you lock in a new package a few months before your current rate resets, and the practical advice you'll hear repeatedly is to begin comparing roughly three to six months ahead of your lock-in expiry. Leave it to the last week and you may roll onto the higher rate for a month or two before any change takes effect. Start early and you can line up the switch so the new rate begins the moment the old one ends, with no expensive gap in between.
The one number to know: your lock-in (or rate-reset) date. Everything else, repricing or refinancing, which bank, what rate, follows from giving yourself enough runway before it.
Why this date is so easy to lose
You signed the loan years ago. The expiry sits in a PDF you opened once. There's no app pinging you as it approaches, because the outcome of doing nothing, rolling onto a higher rate, is perfectly fine for the bank. So the deadline quietly arrives, and many people only notice when the monthly payment jumps. The fix is simply to surface that date somewhere you'll actually see it, well before it lands.
How Merlio helps
Merlio tracks your mortgage alongside the rest of your net worth, and it holds the details that matter here: your outstanding balance, your rate, and your rate-lock expiry. With the expiry recorded, the loan flags when the reset is approaching, so the date stops living in a forgotten PDF and starts living next to the number it affects. There's also a two-phase mortgage calculator for sketching what a new rate would do to your payment before you commit to anything. Merlio doesn't recommend a bank or a package, that's the specialist's job, it just makes sure you see the deadline in time to act on it.
Common questions
What is the difference between repricing and refinancing a home loan in Singapore?
Repricing means switching to a new package with your existing bank, usually for a small administrative fee. Refinancing means moving the loan to a different bank, which takes longer and involves legal and valuation costs. Which one suits a borrower depends on the rates and fees on offer at the time.
What happens when my home loan lock-in period ends and I do nothing?
The loan usually rolls onto the bank's higher ongoing rate, and the monthly payment can rise. It stays on that rate until the loan is repriced or refinanced.
How long does it take to refinance a home loan in Singapore?
Refinancing to a different bank often takes six to ten weeks once legal and valuation work is included. Repricing with the same bank is usually quicker. Timelines vary, so the bank can confirm its own process.
Do HDB loans have a lock-in period or a repricing date?
No. An HDB concessionary loan has no lock-in period, and its rate is pegged at 0.1 percentage point above the CPF Ordinary Account interest rate, reviewed every quarter. Lock-in expiry and repricing deadlines apply to bank home loans.
Where can I find my home loan lock-in expiry date?
The lock-in period and the rate that applies after it are set out in the bank's letter of offer for the loan. The bank can also confirm the exact date the rate resets.
This is general information and a calculator, not financial advice. Loan packages and rates vary, and the right choice depends on your circumstances. Compare current offers and consider speaking to a mortgage specialist before deciding.