Lender directory

Roughly 25% of all Australian home loans. The 1-in-4 question deconstructed: where the market share actually comes from (proprietary channel, FHB-segment dominance, transactional-account stickiness flywheel), and where the scale doesn't translate (self-employed, SMSF, rate-driven refis).

The Big 4 with the strongest off-policy BDM path — files that auto-decline at CBA / NAB / ANZ get a human underwriter look at Westpac. Four real edge-case files worked through (short-ABN self-employed, returning expat, paid default with 18 months clean, multi-entity trust) — what auto-declines elsewhere vs what the BDM channel actually picks up.

The bank without branches — $140bn book in eight years through brokers only. Sharpest non-Big-4 rate at 5.84%, 2-day conditional turnaround, 6.5× DTI cap, and a quiet back-book reprice posture the Big 4 don't match. Strategic profile for the four borrower segments Macquarie genuinely beats the majors on — and the seven hard exclusions that decline cleanly.

The Dutch-parented branch-free challenger whose 5.89% rate holds flat all the way to 80% LVR — every Big 4 steps rates aggressively below that band. One of only two panel lenders accepting self-employed at prime with a single tax return. Three policy levers most rate-comparison tables don't surface, plus the four borrower profiles ING declines cleanly.

The only major lender whose branches partly belong to the towns they sit in — 305 Community Bank franchises, $330m+ returned to local communities since 2000. The structural difference that lets Bendigo settle regional-postcode contracts the Big 4 cut at 70% LVR. By-the-numbers profile of the community-bank model + the four borrower profiles where it doesn't apply.

CBA-owned but priced independently. Five real Q1 2026 cases — anonymised borrowers, rates, LVRs, approval timelines — show where Bankwest wins (98% LVR with gift funds, medical professional LMI waivers, CBA-group internal refis) and where it declines cleanly (1-year self-employed, alt-doc, near-prime).

Two product families behaving like two lenders inside one bank. The Choice vs Tailored fork: Choice for self-employed / alt-doc / complex-income files; Tailored for clean PAYG with the fastest Big 4 turnaround (7 days). Which fork your file takes — and why most files only fit one of the two.

Sharpest Big 4 variable rate (5.78% sub-60% LVR OO) — and the harshest deductions chain. The borrowable waterfall: gross income through bonus shading, rental shading, HEM-higher, liability servicing, 3% buffer and DTI cap on one hypothetical file. ~$89k borrowable gap vs panel median, even with the rate advantage.

The Queensland bank, ANZ-owned since 2024, kept its own brand, products and broker-channel pricing. Three-tier product ladder (Back to Basics → Home Package Plus → Investor Variable) plus the regional-postcode access advantage: 85% LVR on QLD postcodes the Big 4 cap at 70%. Three real borrower vignettes show where Suncorp lands.

Post-Hayne, AMP isn't competing on rate or shelf width — it lends four narrow doors better than anyone on the panel: Master Limit / Professional Package, SMSF residential, complex trust structures, and the connected-wealth customer. The "wealth platform with a bank attached" frame is the buying argument; the four trade-offs are honest about what you give up.

Australia's oldest non-bank lender (since 1952). Five distinct specialist shapes — alt-doc residential, lease-doc commercial, investor SMA, SMSF residential, near-prime — each with its own pricing band and borrower. Find your shape first, then the rate question makes sense. Three generations of underwriting institutional memory on cases the Big 4 won't touch.

Not a destination lender — stage two of a three-stage credit rehabilitation pathway. Specialist tier today → near-prime refi at month 12-24 → graduate to prime at month 30-36. The dollar value isn't the rate; it's borrowing now vs waiting 30 months in rent, with ~$287k of net position gap. The structural plan, the exit criteria, and where Pepper doesn't fit.

Customer-owned since 1875 (151 years). Profit flows to members as cheaper rates, not out as shareholder dividends — a structural NIM gap of 0.10-0.25% versus the Big 4. On a $600k loan over 5 years the "mutual dividend" is worth $3-7.5k of interest avoided, before any rate-shopping. The mutual-vs-shareholder structural difference, quantified.

Tasmania-HQ customer-owned bank with a genuinely unusual pricing curve: the same variable rate at 60% LVR as at 95% LVR. Where every other lender steps the rate up at LVR brackets, MyState's curve is flat. The structural advantage for high-LVR FHBs and mixed-LVR investor portfolios (LVR-cliff insurance) — and the trade-offs you accept for it.

One of four Westpac sister brands sharing one credit team and four rate cards. The structural insight is the pickoff — on a $850k refinance the right brand on the day saves $1,700/year vs the wrong one. The 4-brand pricing matrix and where St.George specifically wins (fastest broker turnaround at 8 days, NSW-aligned, equity-release flexibility).

The only Westpac sister brand writing investor lending above 90% LVR — 95% LVR investor with mortgage insurance. Single-door deep dive on what that enables (buy-now vs wait-18-months math = ~$73k net favouring buy-now in a typical Melbourne market). Plus the lowest average rate of the four Westpac brands and 200-strong product range.

The South-Australia-aligned Westpac brand. Compact reference card: SA branch density, SA valuer-panel familiarity, FHOG / HomeStart-aware processing. Honest decision tree for routing — when Bank SA is the right Westpac brand for the file, and when one of the other three sister brands lands the better deal.

The only panel lender that publishes an exclusion list — seven industries it refuses to lend to (fossil fuels, gambling, tobacco, weapons manufacturers, intensive animal farming, live animal export, native forest logging). For borrowers outside those industries: the Clean Energy Home Loan offers 1% off variable for 5 years on properties with eligible green features. $32,500 saved over the discount window on a $650k loan.

The only Australian panel lender writing investor lending above 95% LVR — 97% LVR investor with mortgage insurance. Single-door deep dive on what 2% LVR extension unlocks for a portfolio investor: at 97% vs 90% LVR, ~$2.8M portfolio value differential over 10 years. The LMI uplift math + the 26-day broker turnaround trade-off.

Post-March-2023 merger with Greater Bank, Newcastle Greater Mutual Group is Australia's #2 customer-owned bank with ~$20bn assets — second only to Heritage/People's Choice. What the merger changed, what stayed Hunter Valley-anchored, and where the post-merger product breadth (full construction + bridging suite) lands.

Publishes 5.54% variable — materially under the next-cheapest panel lender. The structural reasons the rate gap exists (concentrated regional QLD member base, conservative book composition, low capital cost), the 30-year savings line on a $650k loan (~$95k of interest avoided vs panel-median), and the trade-offs (15-18 day turnaround, narrower product breadth).

Third specialist non-bank on the panel, alongside Pepper and La Trobe — but with a distinct sweet spot. In the 80% LVR alt-doc lane Resimac prices 0.50-1.00% under Pepper and La Trobe on identical SE files. Three-way non-bank comparison table + the dollar-gap math: $3,250-$6,500/year saved vs Pepper on a $650k file. Where Resimac wins, where the other two non-banks do.

Two brands, one parent group — P&N Bank (WA origin, ex-Police & Nurses) and BCU (NSW Mid North Coast, ex-Bananacoast). Same back-end credit team, two distinct rate cards. The dual-brand ledger laid out side-by-side, the 7-file rate-card pickoff (BCU wins 4, P&N wins 3 this week), and three routing rules for when each brand naturally fits the file.