What to do if you're struggling to make your mortgage repayments as interest rates rise

After 12 interest rate rises since last May, home owners who have a mortgage are facing a steep rise in repayments. "Before you're at the point where you can't make your repayments, and even if you're at the point where you think you might need to be asking for financial hardship assistance, you want to be considering your refinance option," says April Blair, a senior ombudsman focused on financial difficulty at the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. "Financial counsellors will deal with dedicated teams at most of the major lenders … if there's any obstacle, they can always advocate on someone's behalf if that's what's required," Mr Thompson says. Former senior banking regulator speaks out Photo shows a man in glasses sitting in front of a bookshelf The scrapping of the interest rate floor five years ago has led to "bad outcomes" for many Australians who secured ultra-cheap home loans during the pandemic and are now facing a fall over the mortgage cliff, says a former head of credit risk at the nation's financial regulator. "It's a personal choice, and you should get information and advice as to whether you want to apply for financial hardship or not," Ms Blair says.