Questions we get asked.

No. An initial conversation, working out your borrowing capacity and comparing lenders doesn’t involve a credit check and doesn’t touch your file.

A credit enquiry is only recorded when we lodge a formal application with a lender, and we won’t do that until you’ve chosen one and we’re confident about the outcome. Applying to several lenders at once to see who says yes is a genuinely bad idea, and it’s a large part of what a broker is for.

For standard residential lending, nothing. We’re paid a commission by the lender once the loan settles — an upfront amount and a smaller ongoing amount each year the loan stays with them. That commission doesn’t come out of your loan and it doesn’t change your rate.

Some commercial, business and equipment finance works differently, and there are situations where a fee applies. If that’s the case with your deal we’ll tell you what it is and why before you commit to anything. The commission we’ll receive is also disclosed in writing as part of the paperwork.

It depends on your income, your existing debts and commitments, how many people you’re supporting, and which lender you ask. The last one surprises people. The same set of numbers can produce meaningfully different answers across lenders because they each assess overtime, bonuses, rental income and living expenses their own way.

There’s also a difference between what a lender will approve and what you’ll be comfortable paying. We’ll talk about both, because the first number is not advice about the second.

No, but it changes things. Below twenty per cent most lenders will require Lenders Mortgage Insurance, which protects them rather than you and can be a significant cost. It can usually be added to the loan rather than paid up front.

There are also government schemes and, for some professions, lender policies that reduce or remove the requirement. Whether any of them apply to you depends on your circumstances and what’s current at the time, so it’s worth asking rather than assuming.

Not on its own. It usually means more paperwork rather than a worse outcome. Most lenders want a couple of years of tax returns and financials, and how they read those varies — some will add back depreciation and one-off expenses, some won’t, and that can change your borrowing capacity considerably.

If your last financial year doesn’t reflect how the business is trading now, say so early. There are lenders who’ll look at more recent figures, and knowing that before we apply is much better than finding out afterwards.

Having an account isn’t automatically a problem. Lenders look at it as a commitment like any other, and they’ll see it in your statements regardless of whether you mention it.

What does cause trouble is missed payments, or a pattern of relying on it. If closing an account would make a difference to your servicing we’ll tell you before we submit anything, and it’s a straightforward fix.

Generally yes, if you’re seriously looking. It tells you what you’re working with and it puts you in a better position with an agent than someone who hasn’t started.

It isn’t a guarantee, though. Pre-approval is the lender saying yes to you, not yes to a specific property, and it’s still subject to a valuation and a final check of your circumstances. It also expires, usually after a few months, so there’s no point getting one twelve months before you intend to buy.

The majors, the second tier, a range of non-bank lenders, and the specialist agribusiness and equipment financiers. Which ones are relevant depends entirely on what you’re doing — the best lender for a first home in town is rarely the best lender for a cattle property or a piece of machinery.

We’ll tell you who we’re recommending and why, including where a cheaper option exists that we’ve ruled out and the reason we’ve ruled it out.

Yes, and messy files are usually more interesting to work on than straightforward ones. Short time in a job, a business that’s only been trading a year, a default from years ago, an unusual property, a family arrangement that needs explaining — none of that automatically means no.

It might mean a different lender, or waiting a few months for a good reason we can explain to you. Either way you’ll get a real answer rather than being quietly dropped.

Almost always worth checking. Lenders price new business more sharply than existing business, so the rate you signed up to tends to drift away from what that same lender is offering someone new. Sometimes a phone call to your existing lender fixes it, and that costs you nothing.

Where it isn’t worth moving, we’ll say so. Switching has costs — discharge fees, registration fees, potentially break costs on a fixed rate — and a slightly lower rate doesn’t always cover them.