Mortgage Eligibility Calculator

Eligibility isn't one test — it's four

Borrowers usually think of approval as a single hurdle. Credit teams don't. Your file is assessed on serviceability (can you afford the repayment at roughly 3% above the actual rate), security and LVR (is the deposit and the property acceptable), credit history (defaults, arrears, enquiries and repayment conduct), and income type (how much of what you earn a lender will actually count). Fail any one and the file stops, which is why a strong income with a thin deposit is declined just as often as the reverse.

Why we show a range, not a number

Two lenders assessing identical payslips routinely land more than $150,000 apart. The differences come from living-expense floors, how overtime and casual income is shaded, HECS treatment, how credit card limits are loaded, and each lender's assessment buffer. The conservative end of the range reflects strict major-bank policy; the generous end reflects lenders that treat your income type more favourably. Your real number sits somewhere in between and depends on which lender the file goes to.

What your credit score actually does in Australia

Australian lenders don't price your interest rate off your score the way US lenders do. Your score influences which lender will say yes, not what you pay. A score above roughly 620 is unremarkable to a mainstream bank. Between 510 and 620 you're usually still assessable, but recent repayment conduct — the last 24 months of on-time payments now visible under comprehensive credit reporting — carries more weight than the number. Below that, and especially with a default or judgment listed, you move into non-bank and specialist territory where the reason behind the listing matters far more than the score.

The deposit trap most buyers hit

Your deposit isn't your savings. Stamp duty, conveyancing, building and pest, searches and lender fees come out first, and only what's left counts towards the deposit. On an $800,000 purchase in Victoria for a non-first-home buyer that's more than $43,000 gone before the deposit exists — which is why so many buyers find their LVR is higher, and their LMI premium larger, than they expected.

If the answer is "not yet"

An unlikely result is fixable, and usually faster than people assume. Closing or reducing credit card limits lifts capacity immediately. Clearing a small personal loan often adds more capacity than the debt costs to repay. Waiting until you're past probation, or gathering a second year of self-employed returns, can move you from specialist to prime pricing. We'd rather tell you the two changes that get you approved in three months than lodge an application that gets declined and leaves an enquiry on your file.