Frequently asked questions

Brokers are paid commission by the lender that funds the loan, not by the client. The standard residential structure is an upfront commission at settlement (around 0.55-0.7% of the loan, varies by lender) and a smaller trail commission paid monthly for the life of the loan (around 0.15-0.2% of the outstanding balance).

Commission is disclosed in writing on the Credit Proposal we give you before you sign anything. The amount the broker is paid is the same regardless of which lender you choose, within the AFG panel — by aggregator policy this prevents commission steering.

Not for standard residential home loans. Some specialist scenarios (commercial finance, niche structures) attract a broker fee — if that's the case, it's disclosed in the Credit Proposal before you sign, never after.

A bank can only offer its own products. A broker submits to one of many lenders on a panel — in our case, the AFG residential panel of around 60 active home-loan lenders covering majors, regional banks, customer-owned banks, non-banks, and specialist lenders.

Practically, that means the spread you see on the calculator — same borrower, 20-40% range between highest and lowest borrowable across the panel — is what gets compressed when you only consider one bank. The broker's job is to find the lender whose policy actually fits your situation, not the lender whose marketing says it might.

Yes — Esteb and Co is authorised under AFG's Australian Credit Licence (ACL #389087). AFG is one of Australia's largest mortgage aggregators. We can submit your file to any lender on AFG's residential panel, which covers all four major banks, the major regional banks, customer-owned banks (credit unions and mutuals), non-bank lenders, and specialist lenders.

For the small handful of lenders not on AFG's panel (some niche operators), we'll tell you upfront if your file would suit one of them — that's a referral, not a deal we can submit ourselves.

Three reasons:

1. Bank calculators use a single conservative assessment rate, roughly the bank's standard variable rate plus a 3% buffer. Our calculator uses each lender's actual assessment rate — which varies from around 8.0% to 9.0%+ depending on whether the lender is APRA-regulated (3% buffer mandatory) or non-bank (2-2.75% buffer typical).

2. Bank calculators apply the bank's own DTI cap, usually 6× to 7× of household gross income. Across the panel the cap ranges from 6.0× to 8.0×; some specialist lenders go higher case-by-case.

3. Bank calculators simplify income and liability shading. Our calculator applies each lender's published rules per income type (PAYG, casual, contract, self-employed), liability type (credit card limit, personal loan, HECS, BNPL), and household composition (HEM benchmark).

AFG releases a new lender-information matrix every 2-3 months, not weekly or in real time. Our panel data refreshes when AFG publishes a new matrix.

The result page on every calculator shows the panel data refresh date so you know how fresh the figures are. Lender rates and policies do move between refreshes — for deal-binding numbers we run the actual lender's own servicing calculator on every file at deal stage.

No. The calculator is a comparison tool — it does not run a credit enquiry. A credit enquiry only happens later, with the specific lender, after you've signed the Credit Proposal authorising it. You'll know in advance and consent in writing.

HEM (Household Expenditure Measure) is a published benchmark of typical household living expenses produced by the Melbourne Institute. Lenders use it as a floor against which they assess your declared monthly living expenses.

The lender takes the higher of (your declared expenses) and (HEM for your household composition and gross income bracket). Understating your expenses doesn't help — the lender will still substitute the HEM floor.

Debt-to-income ratio — your total debt divided by your gross household income. Most lenders cap residential home loans at 6.0× to 8.0× DTI. Some specialist lenders consider higher case-by-case.

Even if your servicing supports more (income minus liabilities minus expenses comfortably covers a larger loan), the DTI cap often becomes the binding constraint — which is why the calculator surfaces "dominant constraint" per lender so you can see whether servicing or DTI is the ceiling.

APRA (the bank regulator) requires APRA-regulated lenders to assess borrowers against the higher of (the customer rate plus a 3% buffer) and a floor rate. This is a stress test — lenders want to confirm you could still service the loan if rates rose 3% from where they are today.

Non-bank lenders aren't bound by APRA's exact 3% buffer requirement, but most apply 2-2.75% as a self-imposed standard. That's why non-banks often show higher borrowing capacity for the same borrower — the buffer is smaller.

Often, yes. A handful of lenders accept BAS-derived income (typically the most recent 6 months of BAS) as evidence, without requiring two full years of tax returns. Some specialist lenders accept low-doc applications with as little as 12 months of ABN trading history.

The trade-off is usually a marginally higher rate or LVR cap compared to a full-doc application. Whether that's worth it depends on your timing — if you can wait six months for full financials, full-doc usually wins.

A decline is information, not an end. The reason matters: income/serviceability declines often resolve at a different lender (different DTI cap, different shading rules); credit-file declines depend on what's on the file and how recent; property-type declines (for example, an apartment under a certain size) shift to lenders with different property-acceptance lists.

We'll tell you honestly whether the panel is realistic for your situation, what evidence would change the picture, and whether a 3-6 month pause to clean up the file is the better play.

Typical residential timeline:

Pre-approval — 3-7 business days from documents-complete to lender conditional approval, depending on the lender's current SLA. Some lenders are faster (24-48 hours when servicing is straightforward); some are slower in peak periods.

Pre-approval to unconditional — once you find a property: a few business days to a couple of weeks, dominated by valuation turnaround and any final conditions.

Unconditional to settlement — set by your contract date, typically 30-45 days from contract.

Principal-and-interest (P&I) — each repayment pays a portion of the loan principal plus interest. The loan balance reduces over the term.

Interest-only (IO) — repayments cover interest only for an agreed period (usually 1-5 years), then the loan reverts to P&I over the remaining term. The loan balance doesn't reduce during the IO period.

IO is most often used by investors (interest is tax-deductible on investment loans, principal is not, so deferring principal can be deliberate). For owner-occupiers, IO is occasionally used during a known cash-flow constrained period; rarely as a long-term structure.

No. The calculator's purpose is to show you which lender is the best fit for your situation — you don't need to bring a lender preference. The output ranks the panel by maximum borrowable for your inputs, with each lender's dominant constraint and key policy notes alongside.