Home Loan FAQs

On some of our loan options, we offer finance up to 95% of the purchase price, meaning you can start to look at buying a house once you've saved at least 5% of the purchase price. The deposit amount needed may also depend on the property and area you’re looking at purchasing.

Remember, you’ll also need funds to be able to cover any loan fees, stamp duty and other government charges. These can’t be added to your home loan balance.

This is a calculation based on your total income, expenses, current credit exposure and your credit history. You can estimate your borrowing capacity in under 5 minutes using our home loan calculator - it’s quick, easy and won’t impact your credit score.

Different lenders charge different upfront and ongoing monthly fees, which should be factored in when saving your deposit. Some of these can be added to your loan balance, while others will need to be paid upfront – fees include establishments or application fees, and risk or mortgage insurance fees. Other smaller fees will be added to your balance each month.

You can view a summary of our home loan fees.

You’ll also need to pay solicitor fees along with local and state government taxes and levies. These can’t be added to your house loan balance and are usually paid upon settlement.

Life isn’t always smooth sailing. That’s why we have home loans you could still apply for, even if you’ve previously had a credit default. Whether it’s a recent default, bankruptcy, or debt agreement, then we still might be able to help.  

When we evaluate your credit history, we focus on why the defaults happened rather than the fact you defaulted. We also look at your current income, ability to repay the loan, your deposit, and the location of the property you’re looking to purchase. 

Learn more about home loans for credit impaired borrowers.

Real life happens and that shouldn’t hold you back from achieving your financial goals. 

While every situation is different, we do have home loan options for borrowers who’ve been previously bankrupt or are currently under a Part IX or X debt agreement. Talk to one of our lending specialists on 137 377 about your situation and we’ll see how we can help.

You can consolidate a number of debts into your home loan – so long as the consolidation puts you in a better financial position. We can look to consolidate different types of debt into your new home loan, including credit cards, personal loans, car loans, private finance, tax and other personal or business debts. Before you get carried away consolidating all outstanding debts into your loan, check the features and limits of the loan product you’re looking at – as some competitive interest rate products may have limits on the number of debts that can be consolidated.

To apply for a home loan, you’ll need to provide documents to verify your identity, employment, and financial position. 

To prove your identity:

• Australian passport

or

• International passport showing a valid Australian permanent residency visa

To prove your deposit, you’ll need to provide the following (depending on where the funds originated from):

• 3 months’ bank statements demonstrating genuine savings 
• Share certificate or dividend statement for any public listed company
• Gift letters for non-repayable gifts from family
• Contract of sale or settlement statement for proceeds of a sale of another property

To prove your income:

For PAYG applicants you’ll need two recent payslips plus one of the following: 

• Most recent group certificate  
• Most recent notice of assessment  
• Current letter of employment 
• Bank statements - to confirm your last 3 months of salary 

For Self-Employed applicants, the required documents vary depending on how long you’ve been self-employed.

At least 6 months:

You’ll need to be able to show at least 6 months of GST and ABN registration and provide declaration of financial position, as well as one of the following: 6 months’ business bank statements, or 6 months’ BAS or Pepper Money accountant’s letter (not accepted if ABN registered for < 12 months, on loan sizes > $1.5m or on Plus).

Over 2 years:

Last 2 years’ tax returns and notices of assessments, or

Last 2 years’ financial statements executed by a registered tax agent or accountant

There are two types of income documentation options available for self-employed borrowers; full documentation (Full Doc) or alternative documentation (Alt Doc). 

It could be helpful to provide all the financial documents and income evidence that you have available to help qualify for a full doc home loan. This could put you in a better position to borrow more and potentially secure a more favourable interest rate.

Here are some of the requirements needed to apply for a home loan if you’re self-employed:

For Full Doc:

• Last two years tax returns and notice of assessments or
• Last two years’ financial statements executed by a registered accountant or tax agent

For Alt Doc:

1. Evidence of ABN registration for 6 months
2. Evidence of GST registration for 6 months
3. Declaration of financial position plus one of the following: 6 months business bank statements (inclusive of the last 1 month), or 6 months business activity statements (BAS) or Pepper Money accountant's letter (Accountant's letter not accepted if ABN registered for < 12 months).

If you're self-employed and are looking at applying for a home loan, it can be challenging due to the lack of a fixed income that many lenders require as part of the process. However, non-bank lenders like us at Pepper Money may still be able to help you with our flexible approach to self-employed home loan options.

All lenders look at your finances, business turnover, and credit history to determine your ability to repay the loan. Providing evidence of income is important and typically includes bank statements, ABN and GST registration that will be reviewed to assess your ability to manage the loan. 

Committing to a larger deposit could also increase your chances of securing a self-employed home loan and reduce interest charges. 

Yes. We understand that different people have different ways of making ends meet. That’s why we consider alternative sources of income in our home loan applications. Find out more about home loans for non-standard income borrowers. 

Some of the alternate income sources we accept are: 

• Carer’s allowance 
• Disability support 
• Long term pensions (war/widow's pension) 
• Family tax benefits (Part A and B) 
• Worker's compensation 
• Centrelink income  
• Child support  
• Income protection payments  
• Bonus/ Commission/ Overtime 
• Rental income (up to 80%)  
• Parental leave pay  
• Car allowance/ Company vehicle 

While we can submit the First Home Owners Grant (FHOG) on your behalf, we generally cannot use it as a deposit towards your home purchase as the funds are often not available on the settlement date. For any questions related to your specific situation please give us a call on 137 377

A few things in life are certain – and one of them is taxes. While stamp duty varies in each state or territory, it generally needs to be paid upfront and can’t be added to your loan balance. 

However, there are different schemes and grants in each state to support first home buyers – so it’s worthwhile checking if you qualify for any support: First Home Owner Grant

To get an estimate of how much stamp duty you might need to pay in each state in Australia, try our Stamp Duty Calculator.

Lender’s Mortgage Insurance is a one-off fee that you’ll need to pay as a borrower to a third-party (a separate insurance company working with the lender). This is to protect the lender against the potential loss that may be incurred if you're unable to repay your home loan. This is generally charged upfront when you’re looking to borrow more than 80% of the value of the property (meaning you have an LVR over 80% - or a deposit of less than 20%).  If you refinance later the fee may be refundable in certain circumstances.

We currently offer loans to Australian citizens, permanent residents, and New Zealand citizens with a Special Category Visa, living in Australia. We’ll ask to see a copy of your Australian passport or international passport with a relevant valid visa as part of the application process. 

If you want to include your partner’s income in your application, you’ll need to apply as joint applicants. This will allow you to include the total income of both applicants. A word of warning, that we’ll also assess the total liabilities held for both applicants.  

No. Unfortunately, we don't currently accept guarantors when applying for a home loan with us. We do, however accept up to 100% gifted deposits on some of our home loan options.

A home loan is a finance option that you use to help buy a house or apartment. You can also use a home loan to construct a new home or renovate your chosen property. Lenders usually cover up to 75-90% of the cost of the property and some of them require you to pay a deposit - a percentage of the total purchase price. In Australia, payment terms for home loans typically range from 25 years to 30 years.    

A mortgage is a type of home loan where the property itself is used as collateral for the loan. When you get a mortgage, you pay back the principal of the loan (the total amount borrowed), plus interest, over a period of time through a series of mortgage repayments.

The total amount of interest that is paid on your mortgage is determined by your loan size, duration of the loan and the interest rate charged. Interest is usually calculated daily on your outstanding loan balance, then collected when you make a repayment.

As the interest rate is key to the total amount of interest payable over your loan, we’ve made it easy to get an indicative interest rateˇ from Pepper Money online. We’ll first ask you to answer a few questions to determine how much you could borrow. Then we’ll ask a few more personal questions to access your credit file and provide you with an indicative interest rateˇ.

Let’s get started

While a high credit score might help you get a low interest rate with the banks, credit history issues or a lower credit score is something we specialise in as a non-bank. Non-bank lending options, like ours at Pepper Money is how it may still be possible to apply for a home loan in Australia with a less-than-perfect credit score. We take a real life approach and look beyond just your credit score to see what we can do to help.

Talk to a Lending Specialist about your situation. We're here to help.

Loan to Value Ratio, also known as LVR, is the percentage of the loan size in relation to the property’s total purchase price. The size of the deposit plays a key role in what the LVR is, as the larger your deposit, the lower your LVR will be. Your LVR can impact interest rates and loan products that will be available to you, and it can determine whether you’ll need to pay a lender protection fee (LPF), or other risk fees.

To calculate your LVR, divide the amount you need to borrow (e.g. $400,000) by the value of the property (e.g. $500,000) and multiply this by 100 to give you a percentage. 

$400,000/$500,000 x 100 = 80% LVR. This would mean you have a 20% deposit of $100,000 towards your $500,000 property.

We’re one of Australia's leading non-bank lenders! 

We were established way back in 2000 to help Australians achieve their financial dreams by providing flexible financial loan options that could factor in the ups and downs of real life. Since then, we’ve become one of the largest, most trusted, and award-winning non-bank lenders in Australia and New Zealand. 

No, we’re not a bank. We’re what’s referred to as a ‘non-bank lender’. 

The main difference between Pepper Money and traditional banks is that we’re not a deposit-taking institution, so we're not regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). However, we are regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). 

As a non-bank lender, we’re bound by the same responsible lending laws that apply to banks and to operate as a consumer credit provider, we must hold an Australian Credit Licence and comply with regulations set out in the National Consumer Credit Protection Act and the National Credit Code. 

We offer a variety of lending solutions, for a wide variety of customers – often finding solutions for those that fit outside the boxes setup by the big banks. We also offer car loans, personal loans, loans for professional equipment, and commercial loans. 

Unlike banks that often fund loans through deposits placed by other members or customers, being a non-bank lender means we fund our loans a little differently. We fund our loans through a process called securitisation. This means we essentially bundle up several mortgages together and then place them on global debt capital markets to allow investors to fund them. This is all done behind the scenes and won’t have any impact on your loan with us.