What you need to refinance a car loan

The refinance checklist

• NZ driver licence: photos of the front and back.
• Proof of income: recent payslips, or three months of bank statements.
• The basics of the loan you're replacing: balance, repayment amount, and who the loan is with. A recent statement or a screenshot of your lender's app is enough.
• Visa documents: only if you're not an NZ citizen or permanent resident.
• Your mobile: for verification during the application.

That's the lot. Nothing needs to be certified, posted, or printed. Photos and screenshots from your phone are fine. Here's why each item is on the list.

None of it is bureaucracy for its own sake. Each item answers a question a lender is required to settle before refinancing anything: who you are, what you earn, what the loan being replaced looks like, and whether the new repayment genuinely fits your situation. Arrive with the answers ready and the process is as short as it claims to be.

Your driver licence

The licence does two jobs: it confirms who you are (lenders are required to verify identity before offering credit) and it confirms you're licensed to drive the car the loan is secured against. Front and back matter because the back carries the version number used in verification. Take the photos in good light with the whole card in frame, and you'll only take them once.

Proof of income

Lenders need to see what actually comes in, not what an application form says. Recent payslips are the simplest evidence if you're employed; three months of bank statements work for everyone else and are usually downloadable as a PDF from your banking app in under a minute. This feeds the affordability assessment NZ lenders must run under the CCCFA, checking the new repayment fits your real income and expenses. If your income is variable or self-employed, here's how lenders look at it.

Your current loan's basics

Three facts (what you owe, what you pay, and who you pay it to) are the heart of a refinance assessment. They're what the comparison is made against: a new offer only matters if it beats these numbers, which is the same arithmetic the savings calculator runs as an illustration. You don't need the original contract; a recent statement or an app screenshot carries all three. If a lender later needs the exact payout figure, your current lender must provide it on request.

Visa documents, if they apply

If you're in NZ on a visa, lenders will want to see it. Visa type and duration are part of how they assess an application. It doesn't rule you out: parts of the panel weigh employment and income more heavily than time remaining on a visa. Refinancing on a work visa covers what carries those applications.

Your mobile

Verification codes go to your phone during the application. It's how the process confirms it's really you without paperwork. Nothing to prepare here beyond having it within reach.

How the two-minute flow uses all this

The application asks for your details and the loan basics first, verifies your mobile, then takes the licence photos and income documents. From there the initial assessment runs on a soft check, the kind that doesn't appear on your credit file, and your file is weighed against a panel of NZ lenders. Having the documents ready before you start is the whole trick to the two minutes: the flow is short, and hunting for a payslip mid-way is the only thing that makes it long.

What happens after you submit

1. Assessment. Your application goes to the lender panel; most decisions come back within 24 hours.
2. The offer, or the honest no. If an offer comes back, you see it next to your current loan and decide with no obligation. Whether one comes back, and what it looks like, depends on your file and each lender's assessment. If nothing beats staying put, keeping your loan is the right answer.
3. A hard check only if you proceed. Choosing to go ahead with a lender means a full application and a credit enquiry. You'll know before that step. Then the new lender settles the old loan directly, and the switch is done. The full sequence is in how refinancing works in NZ, start to finish.

At every step the exit is open. There's no fee for applying, no fee for being assessed, and no obligation attached to seeing an offer. Leverage is paid by the lender only when a loan settles, and that doesn't change the terms you're offered. The worst case of the whole exercise is a clear answer and an untouched credit file.

Leverage Finance is a lead-generation referral service, not a lender. All lending decisions, rates, and terms are determined by the lender assessing your application. Nothing on this page is financial advice. It's general information about how refinancing works.